Last week, the BETTER Farm NI programme held a virtual farm walk featuring Ryan McDowell’s suckler herd at Gleno, Co Antrim.
The farm has seen plenty of changes since Ryan joined the programme in early 2017, many of which have become routine management tasks.
Cow numbers have fluctuated, rising from an average of 37 in 2016 to 100 breeding females in early 2018, before scaling back to 66 cows calved down this spring.
Herd background
The current suckler herd was established in 2013, with the purchase of eight beef-sired dairy-cross heifer calves from the farm where Ryan was employed.
More heifer calves were added and in 2015, the first calves were born. Ryan came home to farm on a full-time basis in 2016, as cow numbers grew.
Gross Margin
The farm is benchmarked annually to compare financial and physical output. From the baseline year of 2016, gross margin per hectare (GM/ha) increased from £646 to £897 by 2018.
On paper, the herd was progressing towards its target GM/ha of £1,000, as the herd expanded towards the 100 cow mark.
To provide adequate housing space and slurry storage, significant capital expenditure was required to provide additional facilities
However, as cow numbers grew, Ryan reached a crossroads with the herd. To provide adequate housing space and slurry storage, significant capital expenditure was required to provide additional facilities.
Investment
“I didn’t feel comfortable taking on debt to build cattle sheds, so I felt I was better off scaling back the cows to levels that existing sheds could handle.
“I also decided to drop rented ground and just focus on working the land we own to its full potential,” said Ryan.
Dad is a big help and keeps an eye on things during the day and then I’ll do the same in the evening
At the same time, Ryan was offered employment off-farm, which he accepted. This means he is off-farm from Monday to Friday.
He is well supported by his father Raymond: “Dad is a big help and keeps an eye on things during the day and then I’ll do the same in the evening. All big jobs are carried out at the weekend. We use a contractor for all field work, including fertiliser spreading, as we need to prioritise our time for the cattle”.
Breeding
Cow type is predominantly an Angus and Hereford dairy cross. Homebred heifers are also retained for breeding.
Cows were crossed back to Angus and Hereford stock bulls, with steers slaughtered through premium breed schemes, though this is gradually changing.
Steers averaged 306.5kg deadweight last year at 18.9 months, up 15kg on the previous year
“We traditionally kill all steers during the autumn period, mostly off grass. We also sell our heifers and cull cows at this time, which isn’t ideal from a cashflow point of view. If the market is bad in autumn, this is reflected in lower prices for all stock,” Ryan said.
“Steers averaged 306.5kg deadweight last year at 18.9 months, up 15kg on the previous year. Beef price wasn’t great when the bullocks were being sold, which hit our bottom line.
“So we are starting to use other breeds to give us more sale options throughout the year, rather than having everything ready for sale at the same time.”
Changing sires
Charolais and Limousin sires have been used through AI, alongside the native breeds.
“We were using too much Angus and with the dairy breeding, we were struggling to hit our target carcase weight of 315kg.
We also have the option to sell a few continental animals as stores
“Using the continental sires will give cattle more hybrid vigour and hopefully lift carcase weight.
“We also have the option to sell a few continental animals as stores, which spreads income, as not all our eggs are in one basket.”
AI
This year, all cows are being bred to fixed time AI, with cows being inseminated on 27 June: “We used fixed time AI last year and had conception rates of 70% to first service,” said Ryan.
“These cows calved over 12 days during March, which was great, as I take annual leave to calve animals. So the more cows that calve when I’m off, the better
“The big benefit with the fixed time AI is that all cows are served on one day, which can be done on a weekend.”
Cattle performance
Cattle are weighed regularly to monitor performance. Calves were weighed on 20 June and Charolais calves weighed 153kg at an average 71 days old, giving a gain from birth of 1.5kg/day. Angus calves weighed 132kg at 68 days old, giving a gain of 1.35kg/day from birth.
There are 32 store bullocks grazing in two groups of 16. These animals are mainly Angus and Hereford cross, with the heaviest 16 weighing 429kg at turnout on 1 April. The second group were 50kg lighter.
Bullocks were recently weighed and the two groups averaged 511kg and 450kg, giving a gain of 1kg/day from a grass-only diet.
Adding value with suckler replacements
The herd is extremely fertile and with dairy genetics, cows have plenty of milk and typically wean 49% to 50% of body weight at 200 days post-calving. Calving interval in 2020 was 368 days, 383 days in 2019 and 371 days in 2018. These traits have helped Ryan establish a good market for selling in-calf heifers and suckler outfits.
This has been a huge success, with plenty of repeat customers
“As we have limited housing space, we don’t have room to house heifers for finishing. With an Angus cross heifer, we wouldn’t get enough weight on them to kill off grass,” Ryan said.
“We have plenty of milk in our herd, fertility and herd health is good, so we saw an opportunity to put all heifers in-calf and sell as replacements to add value to animals at 18 to 19 months of age.
“This has been a huge success, with plenty of repeat customers. We can sell in-calf animals for more than they would make finished or in the live ring as stores.
“All heifers are vaccinated for BVD and Lepto, and fit in with our own programme of worming and respiratory disease prevention.
“That way if we don’t sell all the heifers, we have no problem keeping them ourselves, as they are on the same regime as our cows.”