09 September 2023

Finishing autumn born bulls down Cork side

William Kingston, a participant in the Teagasc Future Beef Programme, farms 28.13ha with his wife Diana and son Mark in Inchingerig, Drimoleague, Co. Cork.

Farming part time, William has 22 bulls for finishing under 16 months of age this year. The first eight, which were selected according to their date of birth, were housed at ~12 months of age on August 1^st. These bulls will be finished in November.

In terms of animal health treatments, these bulls were dosed with a white drench for stomach worms and lungworm. No vaccinations are given, as the herd is closed and no issues have historically arisen with pneumonia at housing time.

Due to time pressures during the silage season, cows calving and challenging ground conditions, these bulls were fed no ration pre-housing. At housing, they started eating 3kg/head/day of a 15% crude protein, high-energy ration, which was split into two feeds. This was built up gradually (0.5kg every three days) and they will eventually be finished on 10-12kg/head/day.

The next batch

The next batch for finishing will soon be housed and they will also start on 3kg of ration/head/day. They will be housed separately to the first batch of bulls to help avoid any fighting in the shed.

If weather conditions allow, the remaining bulls will be fed 2-3kg/head/day at grass before housing, as this will help them adjust to their new diet.

There is a range of 17 weeks between the youngest and oldest bulls, but they averaged 424kg on June 24^th, 2023. However, one bull was a bucket reared twin that did not perform as well as his comrades. He was only 266kg on 24^th June at 10 months of age, so William made the decision to castrate him and he will now be finished with the heifers next year.

Space allowance

Finishing bulls require 2.6m² of lying space and 0.65m feed space. William has sufficient lying space, as the bulls are housed on the cubicles and more than enough feed space is available for them. Last year, the 15 finishing bulls gained 1.31kg/day up until October 1^st and William hopes that they will perform well again this year.

This article first appeared in the Future Beef newsletter for September. For more information on William Kingston’s farm, including an update on paddock design and health and safety, click here.

Each month the Future Beef team publishes a newsletter with timely advice and updates from Future Beef Programme participating farmers. To sign up to future newsletters, click here.