Impressive improvements on Fermanagh farm

Excellent weight gains in livestock and effective utilisation of grass were the main features of a summer farm walk held on the beef and sheep farm of John Egerton’s near Rosslea, Co Fermanagh.

The 77ha beef and sheep farm hosted around 80 members of the Ulster Grassland Society on Wednesday evening (8 July).

John runs 77 suckler cows at a stocking rate of 2.07 CE per ha. A total of 42 cows are calving in March and April and 33 calve in August and September. All cows are served with AI by John, who also works as an AI technician. There is no stock bull on the farm.

The herd is completely closed with progeny either being kept for replacements, finished or sold as in-calf heifers. There is a large demand for heifers from this farm with John concentrating on using maternal genetics on his cows, and having exceptionally quiet cattle.

For John, docility is top of the agenda when it comes to selection criteria for replacement heifers, followed by weight at bulling, milk yield from dam and sire records and Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs). John is also prepared to cull any problematic cows for issues such as infertility and lameness, as well as cows showing signs of becoming less docile.

Grassland management

Rotational grazing has been key to improved growth and utilisation of grass but rain is the biggest constraint on this farm, with anywhere between 1,200 to 1,500mm of rain falling annually.

“In theory we aim for three days grazing then three weeks growing in paddocks, but this hardly ever happens. In a wet time it can be more like one or two day rotations,” John said.

AgriNet software is used as a tool to match demand to supply of grass on the farm, although John maintains that after walking the farm weekly with a plate meter he has a good idea of what has to be done next to make the most from his grassland, without uploading the figures.

John said: “I was probably managing grass better in May when there was a shortage than in June when I had too much.” He also found May difficult for breeding with 40% conception rates with sexed semen, a stark contrast to the 100% rate achieved for autumn calving heifers the year before.

Approximately 10% of the farm is reseeded each year and regular soil sampling is carried out. Paddocks are closed up by mid-October and John resists the urge to let sheep graze through the grass covers in winter as he realises this will delay turn out in spring.

Performance

John has improved animal performance by matching calving periods to grass supply. Autumn born bulls were not housed until 22 November 2014 at 129 kg and were turned out on 10 February 2015 at 230kg to make the most from grazed grass. They will be housed in early September and finished by 15 December on silage and 7kg concentrate per day for 105 days.

The aim is to get at least 1kg daily live weight gain (DLWG) at grass with minimal concentrates fed. DLWG is often much greater, however John is prepared not to push this excessively. “One batch of heifers only need to gain 50kg in three months to be on target, they are not be pushed too hard from now on in case they are housed too fat,” said John.

Financial improvements

John joined the NI Suckler Beef Programme in association with CAFRE, the Irish Farmers Journal and ABP in March 2011. In the suckler to beef enterprise, total output per cow has increased from £656 to £1,205 from 2010 to 2014. This has increased gross margin per hectare from £295 to £939 over the same period.

Sheep

Traditional Suffolk and Texel ewes were kept on the farm, however poor prolificacy, over fat ewes and lameness prompted John to buy in Mule ewes and cross them to the NZ Suffolk. A Belclare ram was put to the NZ Suffolk cross ewe lambs.

John is aiming to have a closed flock eventually, similar to the sucklers, but sheep are let graze paddocks for up to a week at a time as keeping them fenced in with temporary electric fences proves difficult.

Recent changes to the sheep enterprises have payed dividends already with lambing percentage increased to 155%. Gross margin per ewe has risen from £28 to £49.