The farm is one of the eight ABP Monitor Farms that are finishing cattle in a variety of systems and are based across the country on a range of different land types.

Heifers were housed on the farm on September 24 and they averaged 455kg.

They were slowly introduced to ration and built up to a finishing diet of 5kg of a 12% protein beef-finishing nut, 6kg of beet, and a high-quality baled silage.

This second-cut silage tested at 14.1% crude protein and 74% DMD, which will be fed to finishing cattle for the moment.

John plans to have the majority of the heifers sold before Christmas.

The bullocks were housed September 17 to prevent any damage to paddocks in the case rain persisted. Thankfully, rain did not persist and grazing conditions remain good for the cows and this years' calves, which are both still out at grass.

The bullocks averaged 480kg six weeks ago. All finishing stock received a pour-on prior to housing called Moxodex, which treated them for worms, fluke, and lice. The bullocks are also receiving 5kg of the same 12% ration.

The plan will be to weigh the cattle again, after which they will feed on the heavier bunch and store the lighter cattle for another while to allow them to grow. 

Calves are thriving well and there has been little to no issues all summer, with the exception of a case of summer scour earlier in the year.

The calves averaged 225kg in September at the last weighing and John is very happy with their performance this year.

Calves also received the same pour-on as the finishing cattle. It is planned to house these calves in November.

John believes that the decision to keep the calves housed for slightly longer after weaning off milk has really helped in reducing the incidents of summer scour on the farm this year.

Johns' milking herd is performing well with the cows being pregnancy-tested through their milk recently.

John had less than 10% of the herd empty. Those empty cows will be milked on late and fattened for the factory next spring. 

More reseeding has been done since the last update from the farm.

This time, the paddock was sprayed with DB plus post sowing. John said his reseed had no issues with weeds, unlike the last reseed which saw weeds take hold in the new sward.

The reseeds that had problems with thistles in the last article were sprayed with the same product, and are now back into the grazing rotation.

John is managing grass quite well at the minute and will be looking to his final grazing rotation and closing off paddocks in the coming weeks for the winter-housing period.

Due to the good ground conditions, lime was recently applied on grazing ground that has been closed off for the winter.

The most recent soil test results on the farm showed the need for this paddock to be targeted with lime.