Our grass growth is finally on the rebound

as the cows needed to be slowed down on their rotation — they were getting through the soft green grass too quickly, so it was cheaper than feeding them out valuable round bale silage.

Generally, stock seem to be very happy with the weather we are having. They have experienced little or no cold wet weather since turnout last April.

I hope they don’t become too unsettled if the weather takes a turn for the worse as I will be trying to extend the grazing into the autumn for as long as possible.

Another job I always tend to do heading towards the end of September is to leave out Hi-Mag buckets with the suckler cows.

The grass is now very lush, nights can be a little on the chilly side and calves are definitely sucking the cows dry.

It’s a cheap and easy way to try and prevent grass tetany. Hi-Mag is a special 15pc high magnesium block with a few other trace elements included.

I am still attending the Knowledge Transfer group meetings even though I have a number of issues with the scheme. It is hard to believe we are in the third final year of the scheme. I always try and attend two national events organised for both the beef and the sheep.

Last Monday night I headed down to one at Ennis Mart in association with Donal Lynch and XLVets. It proved to be an excellent presentation.

There were a number of speakers on the night, and topics discussed included breeding, feed efficiency, animal health and performance.

Itprovided plenty of food for thought and was well worth the journey.

For the last number of years a lot of the meetings and advice has been on growing grass and increasing numbers but I think there is now an increasing appetite for technical but easy to understand information on animal diets, health, and breeding.

Small changes at farm level can sometimes reap huge rewards.

On the sheep side of the farm, lambs are being drafted every three weeks at between 45kgs and 48kgs.

Their diet includes aftergrass and 300gm of lamb fattener ration fed daily in sheep troughs.

They will all need to be gone by the end of November at the latest.

I will be travelling to the Ploughing tomorrow and look forward to chatting with readers at the Farming Independent stand.

I never miss the Ploughing and find it a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening in the agri sector.

This year I will be looking out for any new labour and energy saving ideas.

THE COWS NEEDED TO BE SLOWED DOWN ON THEIR ROTATION

John Joyce farms at Carrigahorig, Nenagh, Co Tipperary