Greenmount Organic Unit update

Early spring is the time for planning farming activities for the coming season. It is also time for reflecting on the previous one – and what a season it was !

The problems of wet ground followed by a lengthy cold spell will have to be addressed as early as possible to get reseeded swards back into shape and ready for a full season of growth. As the days lengthen, enthusiasm is strengthening and there is optimism that the Unit will continue to be as successful as it has been so far.

At the latest inspection by the Soil Association carried out on 25 February, the Campus was commended by the Inspector. In particular, he cited the availability of good records which made his job much easier.

With calves weaned, the cows were put onto a straw-based diet with the calves getting good quality silage. It is now time to assess which bull will be used this spring. It has been decided to stay with the original concept of Angus and Limousin bulls and it is the intention to have a mix of crosses to show visiting farmers. Five superior heifers are being retained as replacements so the bull will be chosen accordingly to suit crossing requirements.

Calving this year should be April and the first half of May – much tighter than in previous years, which will make management easier.

Most of the finishing cattle have now been sold, having been finished on silage plus 4KG/day of home-grown triticale plus approved minerals. Average carcase weight was 335KG at 22 months of age. Benchmarking data for this year is currently being produced and will be published in the next bulletin.

The number of ewes has been increased from 60 to 70 to give better sward management and increase output from the Unit. The flock now consists of 65 purebred Lleyn and 5 Lleyn/Texel – the first cross-bred ewes that have been retained.

Ewes were housed on 16 February and are being fed an oat/soya mix left from last year. Target date for start of lambing is 1 April.

Looking back to last year, the wool was sold as organic, having to be packed in green bags to identify it.

One area, currently in weedy stubble, will be sown out to a mixture of spring triticale plus peas. It is hoped that this will suppress the weeds, and give a higher protein whole-crop silage cut from perhaps the end of June. The area will then be sown out to grass-red clover to complete the re-seeding for this field. If this is successful, a way may have been found to avoid the problems of re-seeding in August as the weather starts to deteriorate.

Part of the area will also be undersown with grass-red clover to see if it will remove the need for a full reseed.

The re-seed in the O’Neill’s Middle field struggled valiantly through the cold winter after being sown in very wet conditions. Both grass and clover survived well, but growth was very slow due to the cold. When conditions are suitable, grass and white clover will be stitched in as required.

As in previous years winter triticale in being grown for cattle feed. It is again the intention to sow a spring oat/peas mix as a higher protein feed for the ewes.