Legumes – the main driver of organic livestock production

Organic farmer Gordon McCoy and his family hosted a farm open day on Wednesday as part of a series of national organic farming open days run by Teagasc, the Department of Agriculture and organic organisations. The farm itself is an adventurous enterprise with organic beef, sheep and poultry on a 76-acre site in Clones, Co Monaghan. Over 100 visitors entered through the farm gates on the day.

Beef

Seventy stores and yearlings are bought into the farm each year at various ages with the main objective of finishing on grass. Twenty-three yearlings have been out on the farm since the first week of February and are now currently on their second rotation.

For most of February and March, these yearlings were fed on a total of 10 bales which would have been a lot more had these animals been indoors. They have gained 0.3kg per day over the period since their release to grass.

An additional 17 yearlings have been let out since the beginning of March, leaving a total of 40 animals out at grass currently.

Yearlings out on grass since the beginning of February.

Yearlings out on grass since the beginning of February.

The more forward stock on the farm (animals over 500kg) were too heavy to let out to grass this spring. These cattle were fed on quality silage along with 3kg to 4kg of an organic mix of barley and oats.

Nine bullocks were recently slaughtered from the farm at an average weight of 654.8kg, achieving a 53.5% kill-out with an average grade of R-3=. Around €4.80/kg is the going rate for organic beef.

Gordon’s gross margin figures are comparable with the top one third of beef farmers in the country, which is exceptional for an organic producer.

Grass

Teagasc organic farming specialist Dan Clavin spoke of the excellent soil nutrient management that Gordon has implemented on the farm. Poultry and cattle manure was used to improve NPK content with the soil.

Dan also told of the important rule that nitrogen has to play in an organics system: “Nitrogen is the element that farmers need in the most quantity. All farmers, especially organic farmers, need to be looking at adding legumes into the sward, mainly red and white clover, in order to drive production on their farms.”

“Organic farmers do not have the option of buying in fast-acting chemical fertilisers like conventional farmers. The more clover in the sward the more nitrogen that’s fixed; a sward with a good white clover establishment can make up to €130 in terms of the nitrogen it fixes from the air.”

"Swards that have plenty of clover will also have high levels of protein which is great for fattening livestock.”

Grass swards with good clover establishment.

You can't do anything about the price; only hope you're killing stock when the prices are good. You can control what you put into stock in the line of feed and grass is the most economical feed available.

Sheep

A small flock of 20 ewes is also kept on the farm, not for profit as such but mainly to clean off marginal area or to run along with the livestock to get better clean-outs on pastures.

Gordon would have to travel as far as Irish Country Meats in Wexford if he wanted to kill his sheep to get organic premium on them. The other option is to sell them conventionally in the local marts.

Feeds

Sourcing organic feeds can be quite a task as they are not readily available in every local co-op. Gordon and some of the members of his producer group decided to come together to source feed from Scotland as they believed it was the best-quality feed. It also worked out to be better valve as they bought it in bulk.

It is a barley and oat mix. Organic feeds range from €480 to €500/t.

Organic cattle feed costs €480-€500/ t.

Hen feed on the farm is supplied by john Thompsons and sons, the only organic poultry feed manufacturer in Ireland. Organic layer works out at €520/t. Ingredients for this include organic soya, wheat.

Hens

Gordon spoke of his investment in poultry: “The first hens arrived onto the farm in April last year. There is no exact cost of investment as of yet. There is a ballpark figure of between €70 and €80 per hen for setup, because when the cost of buying the hen and feed is taken into account it will work out more than this.”

Gordon currently holds a total of 6,000 hens. Organic farmers are restricted to only being allowed house 3,000 hens together. The shed is divided into two, with 3,000 hens per side and nest boxes located in the centre of the house.

Gordon supplies his eggs to Nestbox, a company based in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan. Nestbox has a growing market for organic eggs in the Middle East.

The hens run freely on a total of 15 acres, which is fenced off from the rest of the farm. Other livestock are not allowed graze this but silage can be taken from it.

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