Farmland Farm size
74 Hectares 90% reseeded in last 4 years.
Soil sampling approximately 33% every year
Minimum 2:5 tons of lime spread per acre at reseed regardless of soil sample results
Red and white clover incorporated into all swards at reseed
Only LESS used to spread all slurry. First spreading across all farm from last days of March weather permitting at 2500 gallons per acre. Applied with GPS and pump metering. 2000 gallons per acre applied immediately after 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cut of silage.
Total of 16 tons of 46% protected urea and 1 ton of 10/10/20 purchased and used this year. 10/10/20 used on a new reseed 100 kg per HA used on all silage ground for 1st cut 50 kg per HA used after 2nd and 3rd cut 50 kg per HA used on low clover or no clover swards for 4th cut. High clover swards receive only slurry. Protected Urea applied 6 to 7 days after slurry applied. Balance of urea applied to grazing ground with none applied from mid July due to high clover in swards.
Approximately 2100 tons of high quality silage cut of 48 Hectares over the 4 cuts 300 bales of surplus grass made from grazing pasture.
Cows
30 in milk Fleckvieh cows imported from Austria on October 20th 2021. 68 in calf Fleckvieh heifers imported from Austria during August and September 2021. 40 maiden Fleckvieh heifers imported from Austria September 2021. (All sourced through Cows.ie in conjunction with Genetic Austria.) 10 cows in milk and 8 Heifers purchased at Celtic Fleckvieh auction August 2021. Of 104 cows milked over the last year, 92 were first lactation herd is on target to produce just over 7,000kg of milk and over 500 kg of solids. Target from year 3 is 10,000 kg of milk with 750 kg of solids. All young stock are being reared bulls which will be sold for breeding. Excess heifers, once target numbers are achieved, will be sold at point of calving
Health
Animal health programmes put in place from outset to focus on disease prevention. All breeding heifers and cows are routinely vaccinated to protect against IBR, BVD, Leptospirosis, Mastitis (Staph aureus, E. coli and Strep uberis) and calf scour. All young stock are routinely vaccinated against IBR, pneumonia and clostridial disease. Faecal egg counts are performed at periodic intervals as appropriate to determine if any coccidiosis, worm or fluke treatments are required. Footbathing is carried out routinely to maximise hoof health and lameness scores are well within industry standards. Health parameters including activity, feeding minutes, rumination minutes and heats are detected by the Allflex collars and monitored daily to assist in detecting cows requiring attention. Health management is simplified as a result.
EQUIPMENT
2 Lely A5 robots with provision left for a third. Lely Discovery slurry collector, Lely Vector automatic feeding system and Lely Calm automatic calf feeder. All slurry and silage equipment owned in house.
Why Fleckvieh?
Ability to produce milk from forage. Excellent temperament, very robust, excellent cull value and excellent calf value. Austria is joint first with Ireland in dairy sustainability worldwide and Austria is first on it's own in beef farming sustainability. 90% of all bovines in Austria are Fleckvieh.
