Beef and sheep notes November 2008

As winter approaches, many of you have cattle already housed due to continued poor weather leaving fields saturated. Combined with delays in harvesting second cut silage, the question you should be asking is have you enough fodder to carry stock over the winter period?

Believe it or not, closing fields from mid October onwards and housing cattle can be beneficial. It allows grass covers to build up providing an opportunity to turn cattle out in early March when grass alone can support growth rates in excess of 1.2KG/day, compared with growth rates of 0.4KG/day on autumn grass.

Before planning a winter feeding budget, it is advisable to analyse silage to determine feed value. Results from Hillsborough indicate first cuts with an average Metabolisable Energy of 11.1 but later cuts average 10.4 and are very variable.  

To plan a fodder budget follow these simple steps:

1. Calculate tonnes of silage on farm  by adding

2. Calculate stock requirement (tonnes silage/month) X no. stock.

3. Calculate stock requirement X no. months housed

4. Quantity of silage required = total silage in store – total stock requirement.

Low silage stocks can be stretched by culling any unproductive or problem cows, selling stores, early turnout of weanlings. The least cost effective methods are feeding increased meal and buying in silage.

Finishing cattle should be gaining 1KG liveweight/day, with younger cattle gaining 0.6KG/day. Recommended concentrate feeding levels are outlined below based on varying silage quality.

Over the course of a 90 day finishing period, an animal being finished on high quality silage will require 270KG less meal than an animal on poor quality silage.

With cereal prices falling you should be able to formulate a ration for less than £160/ tonne , this equates to almost £43/head of a saving. The saving increases as the finishing period increases.

After the wet summer, fluke will be common. As with worms, cattle liveweight gain is affected. However, unlike a worm problem, fluke affects both young and older stock, due to low immunity developed.

Fasinex targets immature fluke and can be given around one week after housing. Trodax and Flukiver target mature fluke and can be given five to six weeks after housing.

Out wintered stock should be dosed by January. Again consult with your vet.   

Store lambs when purchased should be within 5-7KGs of their optimum slaughter weight and therefore ready for slaughter within 60-80 days. Lambs should be assessed by handling prior to purchase. Only select lambs with a condition score of no less than 2.5, with good conformation and healthy appearance. Avoid late lambs that were stunted and did not do well over the grading season. Stocking rates from November onwards will depend on the breed type of the lamb and grass availability and might range from 20-30 lambs per hectare.

It is estimated that 10KG of meal fed to lambs at grass will give 1KG of carcase gain. With lamb prices around £2.40 per KG the extra carcase gain would pay for meal easily if purchased at around £150-£160/tonne. Your local feed merchant could easily formulate a quality ration containing 85percent barley plus 15percent soya bean meal and minerals this year at around these prices. For best results treat lambs for worms and fluke, buy competitively and feed economically.

Careless use of injectable medicines causes carcase damage. Avoid injecting animals in the loin, hindquarter or other high value meat cut areas. Maintain strict hygiene standards during injections. Use single use (disposable) needles and syringes. In the unlikely situation of a needle breaking ensure that it is removed.

Store lambs at Greenmount