The home farm

With winter setting in, grass growth down to a minimum and water gathering in the fields, it was time for housing, writes JOHN HESLIN.

The group of heifers weren’t exactly uniform, but, ideally they would all be finished together, to enable more bargaining power for a higher price in the factory. Half of the group are spring ‘13 born and half autumn ’13 born calves.

Upon housing, we contemplated dividing the group in half and putting the spring born heifers on a finishing diet. From my calculations the diet, 5kg concentrates and silage to appetite, was going to cost €2/head/day.

We decided to put them on a store diet. This consisted of silage to appetite and 1kg of concentrates. Feeding the heifers on a store diet over the winter would allow us to utilise the benefits of grazed grass in the diet.

From the figure above, a 100 day finishing period would have added at least €200/head to the cost of the animals.

At time of housing, the animals were on average 450kg, with a 100 day finishing period to 550kg expected. The response would depend on the genetics and individual responses to feeding. With a beef price of €4.20/kg carcass weight, close to €1,200 would be the value of the animal after the intensive finish.

The plan however, is to let the heifers out to grass as soon as the weather allows. Growing these heifers to a heavier weight and maximising grazed grass in the diet will minimise costs.

At a cost of €0.07c per kilogram dry matter of grass consumed, it will cost close to €0.60c/day to feed the heifers at grass this spring. This is currently the best system for our farm.

Most of the stock on our farm is dry, so calving won’t be a major concern for us this year. We only have a handful to calve with the first one already having arrived.

Calving can be a dangerous time on farms and requires vigilance when inspecting animals in and around this time. The unborn calf produces the stress hormone cortisol; this hormone in turn raises the stress levels of the cow.

I was reminded of a calving experience at home when a cow had her amniotic sac (water bag) out, ready to calve. She was stressed from the hormonal impact of calving and when my father and I went out to check her she made a dart for me.

I, of course, ran like hell around a nearby tree.

I looked down and saw dung on my leg, obviously splashed up from the chase!

The cow didn’t make it around the tree to my relief. It’s a story we can all laugh about now. Though the conversation tends to grind to halt with the inevitable comment, “I’ve never seen you run as fast on a pitch!”

Sound dad.

So, remember caution and alertness are key on the farm.