Considering options for weaning diets at housing

THE current prices on offer for the younger and lighter type weanlings, both bulls and heifers, may have some farmers asking the question: should I sell these weanlings now or should I hold onto them until next spring? If I do, how much will it cost to keep them over the winter?

The prices paid for weanlings have always been determined by both the weight for age of the animal, as well as the animal’s breed, conformation and quality.

There are a number of key variables and questions you need to ask yourself before making the decision on whether to keep weanlings over the winter. The is to see if you have the required housing for these animals in addition to all other stock to be housed on the farm.

Have you got the required feeding space and slurry storage capacity?

Following on from that, you need to assess if you have enough fodder in terms of silage or hay and, if you will be purchasing fodder to carry these weanlings, is it viable?

The next questions are ‘Can I afford to keep these weanlings? What impact will keeping them have on my cash flow?’

As you can see, there are a lot of questions to be answered before deciding on whether to keep or sell. If you keep these weanlings, then the next question is ‘What market are you going to be targeting with them for next spring?’

This will have an impact on their diet after weaning and going through the winter period.

If you are doing out a budget you probably should be targeting a 120-to-150-day period for feeding. The minimum target of a weanling diet is to achieve 0.5kg liveweight per day over the housing period and, realistically, the average daily gain per day should be double this at 1kg/per day in order to achieve a margin over the winter period.

If weanlings are gaining any less than 0.5kg per day, it will lead to a stunting effect on the animals – mainly due to their minimum requirements for protein, which is essential for growth and development – as well as the weight targets not being achieved.

The growth rate required over the winter period is heavily dependent on the market.

Where cattle are being sold from the shed or being targeted for the young bull market, it will pay to have them gaining more weight indoors, even though it will increase the cost of the system in the short term.

However, if animals are be- ing turned out to grass the following spring on your own farm, the additional meal feeding required for rapid additional growth will not be justified as research has shown. due to what is commonly referred to as compensatory growth and the animal’s ability to readjust to utilising higher volumes of forage versus concentrates.

Silage quality is the key determinant on the level of meal feeding required.

Where silage quality is good, 1-2kg-concentrates will be adequate for achieving moderate growth rates of 0.5-0.7kg per day over the winter. Average-quality silage is significantly less digestible than this which leads to a high level of compensatory meal feeding to achieve the same dietary targets.

The reality is that a drop of five per cent in silage DMD can mean an increase of 1-1.5kgs of concentrate per head/day to achieve the same liveweight gain. It is very important, therefore, to test your silage.

We cannot change the quality once it is in the pit or bales, but we can, however, plan what we need to feed in addition to compensate if the quality is low.

Where silage quality is good, there can be significant cost savings as you can afford to feed less concentrate to achieve the same targets. You can also determine which animals get what silage, as a dry cow’s dietary