Barry Carty will host the second autumn farm walk organised by the BETTER Farm NI programme on Thursday 5 September.
The event is open to the public and free to attend. Two walks will take place on the day, with the first tour getting underway at 2pm and the second at 7pm.
Barry runs 60 suckler cows near Garrison in west Fermanagh, with the herd split between 40 autumn- and 20 spring-calving females.
Farm size extends to 119ha (293ac), of which 57.2ha are owned (141ac) and the rest rented.
As land blocks are small in size, cows graze in small groups and tending to livestock during the grazing season is time-consuming
Land type is extremely heavy, and as a result grazing livestock is challenging, with a large percentage of the farm classified as SDA. Land is also extremely fragmented.
As land blocks are small in size, cows graze in small groups and tending to livestock during the grazing season is time-consuming.
Changing the system
Prior to joining the programme, progeny were traditionally sold as weanlings straight off the cow. Calf quality was excellent, due to AI use on the farm.
However, sale weight and value struggled to generate sufficient income to cover the cost of keeping cows.
Since joining the programme, the system has changed to selling calves as either strong weanlings or light stores. This has seen a significant increase in the sale value of cattle.
Increasing sale weights
On joining the programme in 2017, the farm was benchmarked to establish a baseline in terms of cattle performance and output.
Back in 2016, sale weights averaged 350kg liveweight for males, with heifers averaging 275kg. Since then there has been steady progress in increasing both the sale weight and value of cattle.
In 2018, the average sale weight of male calves increased to 368kg, with heifers rising to 353kg when sold
To ease cashflow on-farm, the transition to selling strong weanlings and light stores has been a gradual one.
In 2018, the average sale weight of male calves increased to 368kg, with heifers rising to 353kg when sold.
This was further increased in 2019 with steers averaging 445kg at 13.5 months, and with cattle sold in February averaging £1,024/head. Heifers sold in February averaged 379kg.
Compact calving and making best use of AI
The herd has traditionally combined AI and natural service to breed cows. Prior to the programme, the herd had a drawn out calving pattern.
Autumn cows calved from July to December, with spring cows calving from January to April. Barry has made real progress in getting cows into a much more defined calving pattern.
The 40 autumn cows now calve from early August to late September. The spring cows calve from January to March. There were several reasons for tightening up the calving pattern. These include:
Breeding: Compact calving makes it easier to use AI during the breeding season. With autumn cows now calving in August and September, they are housed and settled on a winter diet before the breeding season. With cows calved in a tight period, they should be coming back in heat at a similar time.
This makes it is much easier to monitor cows for heat activity. All AI work is carried out by Barry. Breeding starts on 25 October for the autumn cows and lasts for nine weeks.
For the spring cows breeding starts on 1 February, and again lasts for nine weeks. Spring cows are not turned out to grass until settled in-calf. Compact calving means this is easier to achieve, as animals will return to heat at a similar stage post-calving.
Even batches of calves for sale: With compact calving, Barry has bigger groups of cattle for sale at times when there is growing market demand. Calves are also much more uniform in size and weight when sold. Spring calves are sold around February to March, targeting the early demand for grass cattle. Autumn cattle have been sold as strong weanlings, with the first group of stores being grazed this summer with the aim of selling as yearlings. Targeted feeding: With compact calving, it is much easier to target high-quality silage and concentrates to increase milk production in autumn and early spring-calving cows. Targeted feeding makes it easier to maintain body condition in autumn cows over winter. Spring cows can be batched and penned based on their expected calving date, with feeding matched to body condition. High-quality silage for winter
A key factor in making successful changes to the farm system is being able to use high-quality silage during winter. Since joining the programme, Barry has consistently made some of the best silage across all of the BETTER farms.
Silage is baled with Barry using his own equipment, to capitalise on the brief windows of opportunity for cutting, wilting and baling silage when grass is at the optimum stage for harvesting.
Being able to feed high-quality silage to autumn cows cuts down on the level of concentrate supplementation required.
In 2019, silage was harvested from 23 to 25 May and the feed value is higher than the previous year
In 2018, first-cut silage had a dry matter of 42.8%, protein at 13.2% and D-Value 70%, which is excellent-quality forage.
In 2019, silage was harvested from 23 to 25 May and the feed value is higher than the previous year.
Silage analysis shows dry matter ranges from 27% to 40%, with protein over 14% and D-Value close to 74%. Feeding this forage to freshly calved autumn cows will limit concentrate feeding to around 1kg-2kg/day during the breeding season.
Once breeding is finished, cows will still produce high levels of milk from a forage-only diet. The performance of spring-born calves will also be boosted over winter, helping to maximise sale weight next year.
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Barry Carty will host the second autumn farm walk organised by the BETTER Farm NI programme on Thursday 5 September.
The event is open to the public and free to attend. Two walks will take place on the day, with the first tour getting underway at 2pm and the second at 7pm.
Barry runs 60 suckler cows near Garrison in west Fermanagh, with the herd split between 40 autumn- and 20 spring-calving females.
Farm size extends to 119ha (293ac), of which 57.2ha are owned (141ac) and the rest rented.
As land blocks are small in size, cows graze in small groups and tending to livestock during the grazing season is time-consuming
Land type is extremely heavy, and as a result grazing livestock is challenging, with a large percentage of the farm classified as SDA. Land is also extremely fragmented.
As land blocks are small in size, cows graze in small groups and tending to livestock during the grazing season is time-consuming.
Changing the system
Prior to joining the programme, progeny were traditionally sold as weanlings straight off the cow. Calf quality was excellent, due to AI use on the farm.
However, sale weight and value struggled to generate sufficient income to cover the cost of keeping cows.
Since joining the programme, the system has changed to selling calves as either strong weanlings or light stores. This has seen a significant increase in the sale value of cattle.
Increasing sale weights
On joining the programme in 2017, the farm was benchmarked to establish a baseline in terms of cattle performance and output.
Back in 2016, sale weights averaged 350kg liveweight for males, with heifers averaging 275kg. Since then there has been steady progress in increasing both the sale weight and value of cattle.
In 2018, the average sale weight of male calves increased to 368kg, with heifers rising to 353kg when sold
To ease cashflow on-farm, the transition to selling strong weanlings and light stores has been a gradual one.
In 2018, the average sale weight of male calves increased to 368kg, with heifers rising to 353kg when sold.
This was further increased in 2019 with steers averaging 445kg at 13.5 months, and with cattle sold in February averaging £1,024/head. Heifers sold in February averaged 379kg.
Compact calving and making best use of AI
The herd has traditionally combined AI and natural service to breed cows. Prior to the programme, the herd had a drawn out calving pattern.
Autumn cows calved from July to December, with spring cows calving from January to April. Barry has made real progress in getting cows into a much more defined calving pattern.
The 40 autumn cows now calve from early August to late September. The spring cows calve from January to March. There were several reasons for tightening up the calving pattern. These include:
Breeding: Compact calving makes it easier to use AI during the breeding season. With autumn cows now calving in August and September, they are housed and settled on a winter diet before the breeding season. With cows calved in a tight period, they should be coming back in heat at a similar time.
This makes it is much easier to monitor cows for heat activity. All AI work is carried out by Barry. Breeding starts on 25 October for the autumn cows and lasts for nine weeks.
For the spring cows breeding starts on 1 February, and again lasts for nine weeks. Spring cows are not turned out to grass until settled in-calf. Compact calving means this is easier to achieve, as animals will return to heat at a similar stage post-calving.
Even batches of calves for sale: With compact calving, Barry has bigger groups of cattle for sale at times when there is growing market demand. Calves are also much more uniform in size and weight when sold. Spring calves are sold around February to March, targeting the early demand for grass cattle. Autumn cattle have been sold as strong weanlings, with the first group of stores being grazed this summer with the aim of selling as yearlings. Targeted feeding: With compact calving, it is much easier to target high-quality silage and concentrates to increase milk production in autumn and early spring-calving cows. Targeted feeding makes it easier to maintain body condition in autumn cows over winter. Spring cows can be batched and penned based on their expected calving date, with feeding matched to body condition. High-quality silage for winter
A key factor in making successful changes to the farm system is being able to use high-quality silage during winter. Since joining the programme, Barry has consistently made some of the best silage across all of the BETTER farms.
Silage is baled with Barry using his own equipment, to capitalise on the brief windows of opportunity for cutting, wilting and baling silage when grass is at the optimum stage for harvesting.
Being able to feed high-quality silage to autumn cows cuts down on the level of concentrate supplementation required.
In 2019, silage was harvested from 23 to 25 May and the feed value is higher than the previous year
In 2018, first-cut silage had a dry matter of 42.8%, protein at 13.2% and D-Value 70%, which is excellent-quality forage.
In 2019, silage was harvested from 23 to 25 May and the feed value is higher than the previous year.
Silage analysis shows dry matter ranges from 27% to 40%, with protein over 14% and D-Value close to 74%. Feeding this forage to freshly calved autumn cows will limit concentrate feeding to around 1kg-2kg/day during the breeding season.
Once breeding is finished, cows will still produce high levels of milk from a forage-only diet. The performance of spring-born calves will also be boosted over winter, helping to maximise sale weight next year.
Read more
Live exports to Northern Ireland double in 2019
Farmer Writes: smash and grab harvest
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