Large crowds of farmers and agri-industry personnel attended a Kepak sustainability farm walk in Athleague, Co. Roscommon on Thursday (July 27).
The host farmers were William and his son James Fitzmaurice who are suckler and sheep farmers bringing their beef and lamb progeny to finish with a major focus on grass utilisation.
The duo operate a mid-season lambing flock and ewes are lambed outdoors. William explained that lambing outdoors requires a particular management style and noted that good covers of grass and plenty of shelter are essential factors to ensure the success of outdoor lambing.
Once lambing is complete, the suckler herd grazes off these paddocks to the residual sward height.
William said that last year, the scanning rate of the flock was 1.74 lambs/ewe and 1.51 lambs/ewe were sold to the factory at an average carcass weight of 20.1kg.
The flock uses primarily Texel and Beltex rams and last year, 73% of the progeny from the flock graded E and U.
A Suffolk and an Aberfield ram is also used. The Aberfield ram is a cross of a purebred Bluefaced Leister ewe and a purebred Texel ram. This ram was used to add length to the replacement ewes on the farm.
Ewes are fed a high-spec pre-lambing nut and receive no meal post-lambing. Lambs receive concentrate supplementation through a creep feeder from six weeks of age onwards.
The Fitzmaurices previously fed no meal to lambs until post-weaning but noticed the response in liveweight gain is higher when the lambs are offered meal at a younger stage.
Sucklers
In the suckler herd, the cow type is a Limousin-cross Shorthorn and all replacement heifers are bred on the farm.
Male progeny are slaughtered as bulls at 19-months-of-age with an average carcass weight of 420kg and heifers are slaughtered at 20-months-of-age at an average carcass weight of 340kg.
William said that male progeny are finished as bulls due to limited winter housing for cattle.
He added that the suckler herd works well in conjunction with the flock of ewes. He said that the cows graze out rougher areas of the farm and also are used to clean off headlands after mowing.
He added that keeping the suckler cows is not as expensive as farmers might think, when they are managed to clean off paddocks and rougher grass during the grazing season.
He also explained that because he retains all of his weanlings to keep for replacement heifers or beef, it allows him to manage the cows in a way that suits their system.
William explained that his son James takes care of the grassland management and soil fertility on the farm.
He said that James measures grass weekly on the farm using a plate meter which he was sceptical of when it first arrived, but that it’s now the key tool used in making grazing, silage, and reseeding decisions on the farm.
James added that 10% of the farm is reseeded every year and recently, the farm has started to incorporate multi-species swards (MSS) into the grassland.
He added that the MSS are working well in their suckler and sheep grazing system and require much less fertiliser than conventional perennial ryegrass (PRG) swards.
Other speakers at the Kepak sustainability event
There were a number of other industry experts speaking at the event. These included Philip O’Connor and Tommy Fallon from the Ifac, who gave an overview of farm succession and tax.
Energy and rural development specialist with Teagasc, Barry Caslin, gave an overview of the support and funding available for solar panel instillation and discussed the benefits and challenges associated with installing solar systems.
Thomas Cassidy of the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) outlined some of the stark statistics associated with farm accidents and offered farmers advice on preventing accidents when working on their farms.
Founder of the Fit Farmers programme Laura Tully, offered farmers advice on healthy diets and the importance of both sleep and exercise. She explained these health factors can often be overlooked in the farming community and emphasised that a farmers’ health is paramount to the success of their business.
Dr. Thomas Moloney of DFL Seeds gave an overview of the multi-species swards and explained how they can benefit drystock farmers.
The event drew to a close with complimentary food for the farmers and their families who travelled to attend the event.