Winter Fodder

John McSweeney keeps 29 cows on 24ha near Lissarda in Cork. His sucklers are predominantly Angus and he also rears 100 dairy beef calves, finishing some and moving the rest on as stores. His own suckler calves are finished as bulls, typically under 16 months, with heifers finished at 20 months. John is confident that his average winter period will be 4.5 months from now, when early turnout of very light stock is taken into account. This is one of the advantages of having lots of your spring stocking power in the form of yearling dairy-bred calves. He will have calves coming in January, but there is a good degree of shed space that can be utilised should weather not allow for the turnout of heavier suckler cows. John has all stock housed since late October and has nice covers of grass to carry into the spring for early grazing. Silage quality results were excellent on the farm, with baled silage for weanlings and finishers coming in at 71-76% DMD. Some lower-quality silage at 66% DMD will be fed to dry cows prior to calving. Weanlings are housed on high-quality silage, along with 1kg of a 19% protein ration and 1kg of a molasses-based liquid feed. This is fed with a diet feeder as part of a total mixed ration (TMR). The suckler bulls will be built up on the 4kg ration before moving to the ad lib ration for the last 100 days. The target carcass weight is around 380kg. John previously finished dairy bulls under 16 months, but has decided against it this year and will castrate all males with a view to finishing late next year or selling live off grass as steers. All have been clipped and a pour on for lice has been administered. Dosing will take place for fluke and worms over the coming weeks. John completed a fodder budget to assess his winter requirements (Table 3). He has 470 bales at 30% dry matter (600kg). When this is calculated out it equates to 423t equivalent of silage. This means he has adequate supplies for a predicted winter of 4.5 months. The main aim on this farm once Christmas is over is to plan to get nitrogen (N) out in mid January with a view to turning stock out as soon as possible once fertiliser has been applied