David Henderson farms 96 hectares of heavy clay land located five miles east of Enniskillen. The farm carries over 90 Simmental X Limousin suckler cows and 50 Suffolk X ewes. The cows are calved in two batches, February/March and May/June. The male calves are sold off the farm at 9 – 10 months of age and the heifers are sold as maidens for breeding stock at 18 months of age or in calf at 2.5 years old. Simmental and Charolais bulls are used with specific cows selected for AI with Limousin semen taken from a former stock bull. On average 12 – 15 heifers are brought into the herd as replacements. The ewes are tupped using Rouge and Charollais rams and lamb between 10 April and 10 May. The lambing percentage was 180% in 2013.
Turnout – Usually the February/March calvers are turned out as they calve down and the majority of other cattle are at grass by the end of March.
This year the cows and calves were at grass during March but had to be rehoused at night due to the cold weather and poor growing conditions.
As ground conditions deteriorated in early April the stock were re-housed only returning to grass on the 23 May.
Yearling heifers would normally be at grass from late March but this year turnout was delayed until late May.
In early June all cattle were out except for 40 springing cows which are due to calve by 20 June.
Silage Stocks – David would normally have a full pit of silage remaining at turnout which is used if stock have to be re-housed at any stage during the grazing period. However as the cattle were in the house for an additional two months last winter, David is now left with a half pit of silage.
Grassland Management – Silage fields (100 acres for first cut) were sowed in early April and the grazing ground sowed mid April.
Sheep were moved from the silage area on 6 April prior to sowing.
David found that the sheep helped to keep the grass covers on the grazing fields under control when the ground conditions were too poor to allow turnout of cattle.
David practices rotational grazing with electric fences used to subdivide larger fields from turnout.
3.5 ha of the grazing area which had got too heavy for grazing was baled on 1 June with 6 bales / acre harvested.
First Cut Silage – After a slow start David plans to harvest the first cut around early to mid June weather permitting.
The second cut silage area is usually 50 acres but David plans to cut 65 acres this year by increasing his fertiliser applications on the grazing area to free up the additional land for silage with the aim of rebuilding fodder stocks on the farm.
Outlook – David is keen to turn stock out as early as possible and maximise the number of days at grass but the exceptional difficult spring has meant a much longer housing period.
David aims to have silage available on the farm for 12 months of the year as stock have been rehoused at some point in most years to protect the grazing area..
Grazing swards damaged last summer are not in a position to take any more poaching this season and careful management is required.
David is hopeful that even with a later turnout this spring his stock will be able to stay out longer in the autumn than last year.
On an on-going basis David will keep a check on fodder supplies against planned stock numbers and he will take action early if he needs to.
(Source – The Impartial Reporter – William Johnston, Beef and Sheep Development Adviser, Enniskillen, – Published 20/06/2013)
David Henderson from near Tamlaght with his stock. After a difficult farming year, he says forward planning is essential to ensure there are sufficient fodder supplies this winter.