28 January 2022
Newford Notes – Week of 17th January 2022
Newford Farm is gearing itself up for the 2022 calving season at the moment with calving expected to start in late January/early February. Michael Fagan, Teagasc Technician on the Newford Suckler Demonstration Farm, Athenry, has details of cow management, comparisons of cattle sale figures and more
Photo above: Cows licking up their pre-calving minerals
Suckler Cows
All expecting cows are in good health and body condition. The first of the earlier calving cows due to calve, up to the 17th March have received their Rotavec Corona vaccination. The later calving cows will be vaccinated around the 16th of February.
The first of the cows to calve down are due at the end of January / early February but an extra eye is now being kept on them now in case there is any calf born ahead of its due date.
All cows have been treated for fluke with “Levafas Diamond” at the start of the year. Dosing of the cows has been later this year due to the late housing in early November due to the good weather late last autumn
All the cows are on 100 g of pre-calving minerals. This is being spread on top of silage each morning
The nine cows which were grouped for preferential treatment have responded well to concentrate feeding and recorded a significant lift in body condition score. As such concentrate supplementation has now been ceased.
Slats are being scraped and a thin coat of lime is being spread daily on them. The thinking behind this task is that it will reduce the risk of mastitis establishing and also help to keep udders / teats cleaner.
Photo taken shortly after slats were scraped and lime was applied.
2020 Beef Born Progeny
All of the 2020 beef born progeny has been slaughter in 2021. The last 22 bullocks and 3 heifers were sent to the factory on the 17th of December 2021. The following table shows the breakdown of the beef grades between the bullocks and heifers for 2020
The following table shows the comparisons for each year of the beef sales since Newford Farm commenced.
Weanling performance
All the weanlings are receiving 2 kg of a high-energy, 18% crude protein ration and good-quality silage offered ad lib.
All the weanlings were weighted on the 6th of January and the male weanling achieved ADG of 0.67 Kg since housing (18th Nov) and the heifers achieved ADG of 0.71 Kg since housing (7th Dec) The below table shows their weight on the 6th January .
Grass walk
First of the year grass walk and measurement took place on the 12th of January, previous grass cover measurement was carried out on the 15th December 2021.
Listen to Michael on the Teagasc Beef Edge podcast here below
For more episodes and information covered on the Beef Edge, visit the show page at: www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge
More information on the Newford Herd can be found here