The milking herd is averaging 24.6 litres from 5.5kg of concentrates.
First-cut silage on Richard Marshall’s farm was ensiled 10 days later this year when compared with the 2020 campaign.
Similar to previous years, it was carried out in two phases, and the first 40 acres was mowed down on 16 May.
“The first bit was snatch and grab. It was cut one day and then was put in the next morning. It got a light bit of rain, although it wasn’t too bad. Another 80 acres was put in on 24 May in ideal conditions,” Richard said.
“It has been a later year for growth, so we had to wait like everyone else. Although considering that it was cut later, quality still seemed reasonable. It is not rocket fuel by any means, but I am happy enough,” he added.
SHARING OPTIONS:
The target is to have bullocks at 353kg and heifers at 338 kg on 11 March at turnout.
With beef finishing margins extremely tight, there is no room for error or poor performance in any beef system.
This is particularly true in a dairy-calf-to-beef system.
A prolonged period of poor performance or what is often referred to as a store period will have a severe impact on animals’ ability to hit weight targets and will significantly increase the costs to get that animal finished at the other end.
This is especially true for farmers in a 19- to 20-month finishing system. The idea in this system is that most animals are slaughtered off grass at the end of the second grazing season. If target weights are not met along the way, this will mean housing, which will increase costs significantly. Many of the Thrive programme farmers have gone down this road as housing space is limited on farms and they don’t have the option of ho
SHARING OPTIONS:
Holding off concentrate supplementation until early- to mid-September resulted in fewer cattle being slaughtered off grass.
In the previous pages we have outlined what needs to be done to remain on target up to the final phase. Here we outline finishing targets for stock
19-month system
For cattle on target to be slaughtered at the end of the second grazing season, concentrate supplementation will more than likely need to be introduced from early August.
In recent years on the demonstration farm, introducing concentrates a fortnight earlier in the season increased the proportion of cattle slaughtered off grass and reduced the overall concentrate input compared to cattle housed for finishing.