The latest update from the ABP Demo Farm looks at the recent wet weather, the housing of cattle and the kill-out performance of the first of the 2022-born cattle to be slaughtered.
ABP Food Group’s Sean Maher explained that while September was a very wet month, it was not as wet as last year with 126mm of rain falling in 2023 versus 153mm the previous year.
Contrary to this, July 2023 saw 144mm of rain falling on the ABP Demo Farm in Co. Carlow versus 25mm in July 2022 and 63mm of rain in August 2023 versus 37mm in August 2022.
Sean said: “We’ve been struggling with ground conditions for some time now. Despite all this, the calves have thrived well for the last six weeks with an average daily liveweight gain of 0.82kg/day.”
These calves now average 200kg which is few kilos behind last year’s group but Sean said they are !quite happy with performance, given the conditions”.
The top performing 2023-born calves from the September weighing included:
- A 287kg bull calf from sire AA7821;
- A 259kg bull calf from LM7719;
- Another 258kg heifer calf, again from AA7821.
Sean said: “Like every farm, there are a few low performers. The weight gap between the earlier calves and the later ones continues to widen. There are still a number of calves around the 150kg mark.”
This month, concentrate feeding will be increased to 2kg/head/day and calves will receive their pneumonia booster vaccine.
“Keeping calves moving through paddocks in this weather is of utmost importance to minimise damage along with loosening them up in paddocks giving them extra space,” Sean added.
Slaughter data
A total of 120 of the 2022-born dairy-beef heifers have been drafted for slaughter on the ABP Demo Farm.
Of these, 49 were finished at the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) test centre in Tully, the national progeny test centre, where data was collected on their performance.
The heifers on the demo farm averaged 1.35 average daily gain (ADG) in their finishing phase versus 1.47kg ADG last year which was lower than originally anticipated.
Sean said this batch included some lighter heifers with lower genetic potential that were drafted as they had sufficient fat cover, albeit at a lower carcass weight.
On average, these heifers consumed 170kg of meal in their finishing period.
“The harsh spring and summer has seen our slaughter weights take a small hit, especially as we are selecting on a fat score of 3,” he said.
Below is the breakdown of the main breeds and weights:
The 2022-born dairy-beef bullocks have been recently housed on the demo farm. These have averaged 510kg which is the same weight as last year, however they have been housed 10 days later.
The disparity between top-performers and bottom-performers, as regards weights “is as wide as ever”, Sean said.
“The heaviest bullock was 638kg with the lightest bullock is 405kg. Last year, the bullocks averaged a 61 day finishing period. It will be interesting to see how this year goes,” he said.
Multi-species reseed
The farm has finished the second rotation grazing of the multi-species sward (MSS) which was sown this year.
Growth has been strong with the MSS paddocks growing 100-200kg DM/ha more than the straight grass sward in the same period.
Grazing it has been a struggle particularly as the MSS need to be carefully grazed to avoid poaching.
Lambs
The lambs on the farm are thriving well despite the wet weather. At their last weighing they came in at 32kg on grass only.
They will continue on grass for as long as possible and will be supplemented with concentrates in the new year.