Grass growth recovers and drafting lambs
Michael Forde, participant in the Signpost and BETTER Sheep Programmes, fills us in on the latest happenings on his farm, focusing the recovery in grass growth, fodder reserves and lambs sales.
Grass supplies
It has been a busy few weeks on the farm. Thankfully, grass growth has been very good, especially on our new reseeded field. While it was a challenging summer on many farms, it is great to see the good growth currently. I can really see paddocks performing well.
I am completing regular grass walks to record grass covers of PastureBase Ireland. I have found this to be an excellent tool, giving me the confidence to know when to take out paddocks as surplus bales while knowing that there is still enough grass on the farm for grazing.
Fodder reserves
We have sufficient fodder for both the sheep and cattle over the winter months whilst also allowing for a reserve. Silage quality should be good as it was grazed prior to letting out and manured according to the soil test results. We will know for sure how good the silage is when we test it.
Being part of the Teagasc BETTER Sheep Farm Programme, we record large amounts of data. Taking silage samples is an essential part of the programme and it is crucial that we make really good quality silage. With the cost of silage making increasing because of the cost of fertiliser, fuel, plastic and contractors, it is vital that excellent quality silage is preserved as it is one of the major costs on most farms.
Following our last silage cut of this year, farmyard manure will be applied to raise the phosphorous and potassium status. When silage is taken off ground, it is quite severe in terms of potassium uptake.
Ewe condition
The ewes are in good condition which I put down to regular body condition scoring. We would have also given preferential treatment to any ewes that may have been behind in terms of body condition score target a few months ago. This has really improved the thinner sheep. We have given them better quality grass than the ewes in above optimal condition. The rams will be introduced to the flock in the first few of days in October. The rams and ewes have also received a mineral bolus and a dose.
Lamb sales
We are still drafting lambs for slaughter, and we are happy with how they are doing. It is always obvious when the stronger lambs are taken out how well the other lambs can perform. The last lambs we sold achieved a price of €8.10 per kg. We should have another batch of lambs ready again next week, all going well.
It is always great to have help on the farm and my son Michael Junior loves helping with the sheep. Michael is in the picture below feeding some lambs ration to try and ensure a good cover of fat prior to slaughter. As we know sheep can be quite demanding in relation to labour, many hands make light work.
Cattle performance
The cattle are also thriving very well and we are pleased with how they performed over the summer. Our plan with the cattle is to finish them out of the shed and hopefully these will be gone by the Christmas period.
From talking to other farmers, there seems to be a good demand from the factories. Hopefully this will remain, if not strengthen, over the coming weeks. As they are good quality continental cattle, they should also respond well to a concentrate finish in the shed.
Michael Forde is a participant in the Teagasc Better Farm Sheep and Signpost programmes, working closely with Teagasc Advisor, Keith Fahy.
The above first appeared in the Farming Examiner as part of a Signpost Programme update.