Farmer Focus: Late calvers go to reduce stocking rate
Ewan McCracken © Steffan Hill With September upon us and summer drawing to a close, what does your grass situation look like? Are you still feeding silage reserves? Ask any farmer in Northern Ireland and I am certain they will all give you a different answer.
Those in or near the Ards will bite your hand off for fodder, while some of those in the wild west of NI will be mowing their fourth cut of silage.
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Regardless of surplus or deficit, the new month is a reminder to start building grass covers for the autumn budget. As growths for this past week are only averaging about 36kg of dry matter (DM)/ha, every extra grazing we can squeeze in is vital.
The grazing model is reliant on extending the grazing season late into the shoulders of the year where other forms of feed increase the cost of production significantly.
A final round of calcium ammonium nitrate fertiliser and good cleanouts in paddocks to 1,500kg DM/ha will encourage better regrowth for this next stage of the year.
So, what are you doing to start increasing the days in your rotation? Now that we have finished scanning the herd for pregnancies, we have a good picture of who will be calving when next spring.
With only seven set to calve in May 2027, we are looking at selling these late calvers to reduce stocking rates on the platform (if nothing else, it improves our six-week calving rate).
Among those scanned were our R2 heifers. Back in the spring, we selected the top 50% of heifers to serve naturally on a simple prostaglandin injection programme (Estrumate), rather than the usual blanket hormone inserts, which yielded poor results previously.
Out of the 40 heifers we served, just over 60% held to the first service of sexed semen, compared with less than 45% in the years before. These results average out the number of heifer calves hitting the ground next spring at 70 (out of 130 sexed straws used).
With a minimum requirement of about 55 replacements, this gives us a solid base to work from.
With a jump in rolling annual milk fat from 4.75% in 2024-25 to 4.96% in 2025-26, and a similar trend for protein, we are moving closer to our goals of 5% and 4%, respectively, for milk solids – a real positive to come out of this season.