It was a very challenging August this year and for the monthly Grass10 update, Niamh discusses how farmers have fed silage out over the past few weeks.

Calves have been creep grazed in front of cows to break the bond and concentrates supplemented earlier as well as calves being weaned earlier in September versus late September. Supplement introduced 4 weeks pre weaning and will be continued 2 weeks post weaning and possibly longer on some farms.

Most of the farmers in the Future Beef programme have scanned and given the difficult spring, overall scanning rates were good so various options are being discussed for empty cows to sell live and, depending on the farm where fodder is available, they will be finished on farm.

Finishing stock have been housed and speaking with farmers they were lighter than cattle this time last year. They will be built up over the coming weeks and the plan is to have them finished before Christmas which will be a challenge on some farms due to the poor weather impacting on performance and late turn out last spring.

Niamh also highlights the management of red clover swards in coming weeks and the key points for managing grass in the coming weeks are:

·      Empty slurry tanks when possible

·      Assess growth on farm versus demand

·      Review fodder budget

·      Visit ploughing stand to meet the Grass10 team and Teagasc staff  

Niamh also advises the last day for spreading chemical fertiliser is 14th September.

For more, you can subscribe to the Grass10 newsletter here:

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/grassland/grass10/grass10-enewsletter/

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge

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