How to mitigate increased input prices on suckler farms

Analysis by the Irish Farmers Journal has shown that the estimated cost of keeping a continental cow in a spring-calving, weanling-production system could exceed €1,250/head this year. Compared to the 2021 figure of €930/head, this is an increase of 34% or €320/head.

Unfortunately, even with improved market prices, suckler systems cannot absorb such a level of increased costs.

While increased input prices are unavoidable on suckler farms this year, the focus should now be on coming up with a plan to mitigate the extent of these increases.

This is not a year for carrying passengers. For spring-calving herds, any cow scanned not in calf should be sold in the coming weeks, while any cow that loses a calf should also be culled as soon as she is fit to do so.

With autumn-calving herds, there is the option to remove the bottom percentage of breeding cows in the next few weeks.

These are typically cows that are poor breeders, maybe poor temperament or more commonly, cows with poor milk supply that will wean a light calf. These calves should be weaned early and the cows can either be turned out to grass for a few weeks to gain condition or sold straight out of the shed.

Any heifer that comes into the system should be better than the average cow in the herd

For herds breeding their own replacement heifers, this is a year to be more selective with the number and quality of animal you bring into the herd. Every year, we are trying to improve the quality and performance of the herd.

Therefore, any heifer that comes into the system should be better than the average cow in the herd.

These measure will do two things – firstly, remove stock that would not leave a profit on farm this year and secondly, lower your stocking rate slightly, which should alleviate some grazing pressure.

Once you have culled out the numbers you do not need to carry this year, the next thing to do is to plan for as early a turnout date to grass as possible.

This winter has been mostly mild and as a result, there is a lot of grass on farms this spring.

Lighter stock should be targeted for turnout first, as they will do less damage to ground and are likely the animals most in need of boosted growth rates, which spring grazing can offer.

Getting stock out to grass during the day can reduce their silage requirements by 80%

While it is not ideal from a labour point of view, where infrastructure allows, on-off grazing should be considered this spring.

Getting stock out to grass during the day can reduce their silage requirements by 80%. Every bale of silage that can be saved in the yard this spring should be, as it is going to cost a lot more to replace them this year.

While fertiliser is expensive, it is still important that farmers do enough to secure sufficient silage stocks to see them through next winter.

There is not going to be a huge surplus of silage made this year and so it would be naive to rely on purchased silage next winter to meet demand.

With the current trend in grain markets, it is clear to see that concentrate prices next winter are going to be some of highest we have ever experienced.

This is why it is really important, on farms where growing cattle or autumn-calving cows are on-farm, that sufficient levels of high-quality silage are made this summer.

For example, take a farm cutting 40ac of first-cut silage.

Assuming slurry is available to be spread at 3,000 gallons per acre, the additional cost of chemical fertiliser this year compared to last will be around €58/ac or a total of €2,320 for the 40ac cut.

While this sounds like a lot, given where ration prices could be next winter, this cost increase may only be the equivalent to five or six tonnes of concentrate.

Slurry needs to be used to maximum effect this year. Some beef farmers are planning on using more slurry for grazing this year, however this may not be the best approach.

In most cases, the slurry produced on-farm is the offtake from the silage ground.

Therefore, it should primarily be targeted back to this ground again.

On farms buying a lot of meal and finishing stock out of the shed, then there is a case for using some of this slurry on grazing ground

If slurry is being used for grazing ground, then silage stocks, as outlined above, are either going to cost a lot more in terms of chemical fertiliser or crops are going to be underfed, which will lead to shortages next spring.

On farms buying a lot of meal and finishing stock out of the shed, then there is a case for using some of this slurry on grazing ground, as it is over and above the offtake of the silage crop from last year.

Finally, we always hear that drystock farms do not grow as much grass as dairy farms. While a large proportion of this is down to soil fertility issues, some of it is down to the length of time stock spends grazing each paddock.

Where cattle are set stocked, they will want to graze the regrowth because this will be the youngest and sweetest grass to eat.

Every time the regrowth is nipped off, it sets the grass plant back once again. If this is constantly happening, it is going to lower the total grass production over time.

Even if stock could be moved to fresh grass twice a week, it would be a huge improvement, both in terms of animal performance and in the total level of grass grown.

Grazing infrastructure needn’t be elaborate or expensive. A lot can be achieved with a well-placed water trough and a single line electric fence.