Creep feeding weanlings – does it pay?

On farms selling weanlings it’s coming close to the time of year where creep feeding can start.

If cows have adequate milk and you have a good supply of quality grass, you may get good calf liveweight gains, but on many farms early calved cows’ milk yields will be low and grass quality is questionable from July onwards.

You can expect a conversion rate of 6kgs meal to 1kg of liveweight gain if 2kgs are fed across the board to bulls and heifers. Bulls will have a better conversion ratio as opposed to heifers.

If we take current weanling rations at €300/tonne, that means it costs €1.80 to put on 1kg of liveweight.

Top quality weanlings are currently making €3.00-€3.50 depending on quality, so it’s a positive return, especially on the better-quality types.

Weanlings for sale will benefit most from extra feeding. Aim for a simple ration with a good cereal like barley, a source of digestible fibre like soya hulls or beet pulp, and a good protein source like soya bean meal.

Allowing calves to creep graze into adjacent paddocks will help to boost weight gains and also help to reduce the cow/calf bond in advance of weaning. Intakes in creep feeders can be variable, with stronger calves hogging the trough.

While more labour intensive, feeding in a trough in an adjacent field is a better way of making sure all calves are eating.

While the terms and conditions aren’t available yet for the 2024 Beef Welfare Scheme, meal feeding is likely to be the main component so it’s important make sure you tick this box to get payment.

Slurry

With a lot of ACRES meadows due for cutting this week and ground conditions very good, now is the time to arrange getting the last of the slurry out.

Every year we see weather conditions change towards the autumn and farmers get caught with slurry in tanks, and with fields wet an extension to the spreading period is called for.

Organise your contractor this week to get it spread. Cutting silage or hay will remove the most amount of P and K from fields, so it makes sense to return this off take in the form of slurry.

Try and agitate on a day where there is some wind. Always take any stock out of sheds before agitating, and never enter a shed when agitating is taking place.

Let someone in the house know you are working at slurry and never allow children around the yard area when tanks are open and slurry is being spread.

Bord Bia Quality Assurance

There was a huge increase in the number of farmers applying for Bord Bia Quality Assurance certification as a result of the condition that all SCEP participants had to be signed up.

You must remain a member for the duration of the five year SCEP contract, so it’s very important that you have everything up to date to pass your next certification visit.

There is a lot of paperwork involved if you leave it until the night before the inspection to complete. If you fill it out as you go along your life will be made a lot easier.

The added benefit is that if you pass the Quality Insurance inspection you should have a lot of the requirements in place to pass a Cross Compliance inspection should you get one.