Peter Wastenage
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
I REGRET once again having to mention the weather, but unfortunately on a high forage system that W word keeps coming up.
August started very dry, with grass growth all but halted. During the past week we have had heavy thunderstorms and hot days, which has resulted in an explosion of grass growth.
At present the cows are being kept on kale and maize silage with limited grazing in order to build up a decent feed supply of grass in front of them. It would be a huge sacrifice to graze this young growth off before a good sward cover is established.
The maize has changed out of all recognition over the past month. It has shot up, turned dark green and has excellent cobs forming. We hope to be harvesting by mid-September.
Eight acres of stubble turnips are now finished and we are going to reseed this with a four- to five-year grazing mixture. For the first time this will include some of the new large leafed white clovers, such as Alice and Aral. It has been an excellent year for clover, but I have noticed more than ever how much cows like grazing high clover swards and, more importantly, how much the milk goes up.
After saying last month that we would be moving away from all-year-round calving, to calve from late autumn to early spring, we decided to buy a beef bull to serve out-of-season breeders. This will allow us to rear all our replacements in one group, hopefully simplifying the system even further.
Hence, we promptly brought a good looking young Limousin bull from the Killerton herd near Exeter. All was well and he settled quickly; the first afternoon he had served his first cow. But by the following morning he had served two of the best yielders, and the novelty of a beef bull was beginning to wear off. Although we have had a couple of Simmentals in the milking herd, Limousin would be too much. *
The novelty of a beef bull is beginning to wear off after Peter Wastenages new Limousin bull served two of the best yielders in the herd rather than just the out-of-season breeders as intended.