Archive Article: 1998/07/24
FARMERFOCUS
Gerald Murphy
Gerald Murphy runs a 107ha
(275-acre) farm in partner-
ship with his parents in
County Waterford on the
south-east coast of Ireland.
Dairying is the main
enterprise with emphasis on
milk from grass. The mainly
all-grass unit carries 110
Holstein Friesian cows and
also grows forage maize and
cereals for home
consumption.
THE dull damp summer continues on its merry way. We are getting used to rushing at every job we undertake.
The second cut silage is in the pit, dry against all the odds, having been cut on Jul 13 and 14. The sugars were 2.5-3%, which was not bad given the dull over-cast weather. The nitrates were all low but for one sample which was slightly high at 400.
On the day of cutting the motor in the applicator gave up the ghost and we had a choice of stopping while this was repaired or picking up the grass without the additive. With rain forecast the choice was simple, so apologies to our supplier who made a big effort to get us the additive on time – we will have to wait until next year to see how good it is.
We were forced to cut excess grass on the rented farm. This was wrapped because it is impractical to make conventional silage because of the distances involved. This form of silage-making is a bit more expensive, but when grass is getting ahead of animals, either cow grazing paddocks or on the outside farm it is a good management tool to keep grass quality up without adversely affecting the rotation.
The maize crops seem to be thriving under new sites but maybe they are like the rest of us – longing for a few bright warm summer days before the autumn. Speaking of autumn, the first of the autumn calvers were tubed this morning. How time flies. *
John Alpe
John Alpe farms in partnership
with his parents at New Laund
Farm at Whitewell near
Clitheroe in Lancashire.
Besides the tenanted 80ha
(200 acres) at New Laund
Farm, the family own a
neighbouring farm of 36ha
(90 acres), and rent a further
40ha (100 acres). About 60
dairy cows and 60 followers,
500 Swaledale and Mule
ewes and 250 store lambs
are run on the farms. Bacon
pigs are also fed on contract.
JUNE has proved to be a very poor weather month. High rainfall in conjunction with some cold spells has had a large impact and influenced our work schedule significantly.
We have finished shearing, though at times it proved a struggle to gather the sheep and house them with dry fleeces. The flock generally seems to look quite well, both sheep and lambs appear to be thriving, which is more than can be said for the dairy cows. The dreary weather being the culprit for their general poor condition and lack of lustre.
Grass growth in the cow pasture has been slow and a 10 day delay in silaging has meant extra acres for grazing have not been released. This has lead to quite a drop in milk production.
Luckily, nearly all the dairy cows are in late lactation and hopefully the situation will have changed by the time calving gets underway.
Still on a weather theme, Sat Jun 27 brought a violent thunder storm. The following morning we found a horned ewe and lamb casualty that had been struck by lightning under a large Lime tree. Unfortunately it was one of our most valuable ewes, but fortunately we are insured for stock killed by lightning, otherwise this sad story could have been much worse.
We have now finished first cut silage, and instead of mixing sweet and dry absorbent as usual to the clamped grass, this year we added sugar beet which is much cheaper.
Another change from previous years is that we have bought a half share in a Swathwilter, the aim being to try and dry the rows of condition mowed grass more prior to foraging.
It certainly has helped and we are pleased with the job it has done. It also took me down memory lane as 20 years ago we had a Bamford Wuffler for haymaking. When we converted to a silage system, I sold it to a scrap yard for £12. When purchasing our new machine, I noticed many similarities. It is practically the same machine in shape, style, and its intended job, but admittedly it has a few more fancy gadgets and a nice coat of red paint. It also cost a lot more than £12. What goes around comes around. *
Dennis Bridgeford
Dennis Bridgeford farms 50ha
(125 acres) at Petley Farm,
about 40 miles north of
Inverness. The farm comprises
of a 480-sow indoor unit
producing 95kg pigs for one
outlet and 85kg pigs for a
more local abattoir. A further
320 sows are run outdoors,
with progeny sold at 7kg.
WHEN you think the pig price has reached the bottom and it cant get much worse, the new contracts hit your desk.
Over the last year we have supplied Halls of Broxburn, now part of the Grampian Food Group, with pigs killing out at 72kg, with a probe up to 14mm for a top-grade pig. Our other outlet has been Munro our local abattoir, which takes 70 to 90 pigs a week, but needs a lighter pig for the fresh meat market.
Both contracts have worked well, allowing us to empty pens and avoid weighing any pigs. Halls, however, have announced a new contract requiring a heavier pig with a drop in probe from 14 to 12mm, and tighter specification. The contract manager of Halls has just been renamed Mr Deduction.
I appreciate the meat trade is going through just as difficult a time as we are, but lets be quite blunt, all they want is cheaper pigs.
Over the past few years, I have no doubt that we have improved the eating quality of pig meat by encouraging ad lib feeding, and adding some Duroc blood. Are we going to put this improvement out of the window to get pigs into the high 70kg weight band, lean and probably tough as well?
If they want cheaper pigs, lets talk about the price and dont mess about with carcass quality. Its a wait-and-see scenario, but it looks like they are going to take over £2 off a bacon pig.
The service shed, built last Oct, has been a great success; there has been no effect on numbers born – if anything conception has slightly improved, and we have managed to control bullying to an acceptable level by sizing sows as they are weaned into deep-bedded pens. The only slight concern is that the odd sow is not drying up well after weaning, with the occasional bad quarter in the udder.
The amount of straw needed has increased with the new shed. But its a cost we must be prepared to pay to keep the supermarket buyers happy – that is until they go to the Continent to buy foreign pig meat out of stalls and fed on meat and bone meal.
We have been trying to reduce production costs, even down to the farm insurance. We have used the same firm of brokers since I started out in business. This year we decided to shop around and the saving has been considerable. *
Peter Wastenage
Peter Wastenage, in
partnership with his parents,
farms a 121ha (300-acre)
farm tenanted from Clinton
Devon Estates. He milks
175 cows, rears his own
replacements and grows
40ha (100 acres) of maize
DUE to bad weather and our young beef bulls being over-worked, April and Mays conception rates were disappointing, hence, we have now finished serving cows, using AI to make sure we catch any late returns.
Although at first it might seem like a total disaster, its not, as I intended to drop a month in the calving pattern to now begin on Jan 20. Even so, a lesson has been learned, and if we are to maintain a tight calving pattern bull management is key.
Grass continues to grow well, which is unusual on our soil at this time of the year. However, this and the fact that we tried to carry too much cover has resulted in some paddocks having stemmy growth, which is not being eaten as tightly as I wanted.
To rectify this, weve been mowing paddocks 24 hours before grazing. This has proved to be an excellent management tool with the cows clearing up all the cut grass and the subsequent regrowth is of a superior quality.
Stubble turnips have started to be added to the cows ration. This is providing a welcome second forage, although not entirely necessary at the moment. However, if the turnips are not put in the grazing pattern now the quality will deteriorate by the time we reach the end of the field.
Maize continues to grow well, with the late drilling and lack of heat units I expected the crop to be further behind. The most forward field started to tassle in Royal Show week, so harvest will possibly be no later than usual. Late weed flushes have been bad in a couple of fields, leading to blankets of nightshade in the crop. Although I dont think it will affect this years crop, weed seed build up will have to be dealt with better another year.
Our cow sale seemed to go well. As with any sale, some cows went for more than expected, and some less. My fear was that the cost of advertising, catalogues, selling, washing and clipping would outweigh the selling price we could get privately, but the auctioneers did an excellent job, especially with the current trade. *