Grazing cattle for 365 days of the year and finishing animals without any concentrate feeding is no easy feat.
While land type and climate are key factors in keeping animals at grass, both in the early and later stages of the year, so to, is farm management.
Michael Shannon runs 210 acres at Thankerton Camp farm, near Biggar in Lanarkshire. He is assisted by his wife and eight children. Originally from Rathfriland, Co Down, Michael purchased his Scottish farm back in 1996.
He operates a store-to-beef herd, finishing 150 cattle annually that are sold through his on-farm butchery shop, which also has a sizeable online customer base across the UK.
Cattle finished are usually heifers and killed off grass from 15 April to 15 October. After this, cattle are finished using grazed kale and fodder beet, with grass silage offered as a buffer feed. No concentrate is fed at any point to cattle.
The fact that his Angus cattle are slaughtered with no meal feeding gives Michael a unique selling point over competitors also operating farm shops.
In recent years, the farm has expanded to also carrying a 280-ewe flock. Ewes are Scotch Mules and tupped with Texel rams. Two to three lambs are marketed weekly through the farm shop with the remainder sold fat for slaughter.
Setting up
Having spent many years working in the UK grass seed industry, where his work often took him to New Zealand, Michael is a firm believer in the advantages of top-class grassland management and rotational grazing.
On setting up the farm, Michael wanted to do something different. Most importantly, he wanted something that was profitable. A low-cost grazing system, with low overheads, was his aim.
The farm was fully reseeded and mapped. A total of 175 acres of grassland is split by one main road.
Cattle are grazed in one-day and two-day paddocks, something Michael originally saw in practice, when out in New Zealand.
Winter feed is mostly kale and grown in rotation to break up grazing ground and allow for new grass to be laid down.
“There is no winter housing facility. Cattle are outdoors all year round in rain, hail and snow and we get plenty of bad weather. But cattle suffer no ill effects and continue to thrive on our system,” said Michael.
Cattle
Heifers are preferred to steers as they are easier to finish on a grass system. Cattle are mainly Aberdeen Angus cross and purchased around 350kg to 400kg liveweight. Heifers are beef-bred Angus, rather than sourced from dairy herds.
Michael purchases all cattle through Lanark, Stirling or St Boswells Mart. He generally sources cattle in the spring and autumn.
Heifers are killed at 550kg to 580kg liveweight with Michael favouring a 300kg to 320kg carcase. Three cattle per week are required for sale through the farm shop.
A local abattoir in Wishaw in north Lanarkshire slaughters the cattle and hangs them for 21 days before returning to the farm shop for boning out.
Economics
Like Northern Ireland, store cattle prices in Scotland have been buoyant this spring. The purchase price has risen from £2.40/kg to £2.60/kg liveweight in recent weeks.
The average purchase price for cattle in 2016 was £2.13/kg, which is £175 per head less than cattle are currently being bought for.
“Price is becoming an issue. Cattle have to be bought to a budget to make money. Premium breed schemes like the Angus has made them more expensive as there is more buying competition. Numbers coming through the mart would also be tighter in recent years,” maintains Michael.
As part of his accounting process, cattle are sold from the farm to the butchery at the weekly Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) reported price. “The farm and butchery are two separate businesses. The butchery does not subsidise the farm and vice versa. That’s a false economy. The farm is paid a price to reflect an R4L animal going into any meat plant,” said Michael.
Cattle finishing is fully costed. Animals receive an EID tag on arrival to the farm and are weighed regularly. Michael has a target of clearing £1/day on cattle, when all costs have been factored in.
“As purchase price rises, I am looking at buying a slightly heavier animal to reduce cost per kilo. I am also looking at the number of days on farm as this is an area where I can save money,” he said.
For instance, a group of heifers purchased last spring weighed 304kg liveweight, while a different group averaged 390kg liveweight.
The first animals were on farm at 422 days and killed out at 287kg, while the heavier animals at purchase killed out at 315kg and were on farm for 241 days. Daily feed costs were £1.18. At a beef price of £3.70/kg, the heavier animal is worth £103 more but, more importantly, cost £213 less to feed.
Outwintering
The winter grazing period starts on 15 October with cattle moving on to 20 acres of kale and 15 acres of fodder beet.
Maris Kestrel and Swift are the two types of kale grown annually. The fodder beet was introduced three years ago as Michael was struggling to get heifers to fat class 4L on kale, plus grass silage alone.
Since fodder beet was introduced to yearling cattle, Michael maintains that weight gain during the winter increased from 0.5kg/day to 1kg/day.
Fodder beet is grown in one 8ac field where heifers will be fed to finish along with silage. The rest of the fodder beet crop is grown in a 26ac field alongside the kale.
Round bales of silage are laid out in the field in midsummer so that no machinery has to enter the field in winter, causing compaction and rutting. Up to 100 store animals will be grazed on these 26 acres over the winter, before moving back to grass on 15 April.
210ac farm.175 acres grassland.35 acres of forage crops for winter grazing.Finishing 150 cattle annually.280 ewes (Scotch Mule).Cattle grazing all year round.Selling meat through the farm shop.
Grazing cattle for 365 days of the year and finishing animals without any concentrate feeding is no easy feat.
While land type and climate are key factors in keeping animals at grass, both in the early and later stages of the year, so to, is farm management.
Michael Shannon runs 210 acres at Thankerton Camp farm, near Biggar in Lanarkshire. He is assisted by his wife and eight children. Originally from Rathfriland, Co Down, Michael purchased his Scottish farm back in 1996.
He operates a store-to-beef herd, finishing 150 cattle annually that are sold through his on-farm butchery shop, which also has a sizeable online customer base across the UK.
Cattle finished are usually heifers and killed off grass from 15 April to 15 October. After this, cattle are finished using grazed kale and fodder beet, with grass silage offered as a buffer feed. No concentrate is fed at any point to cattle.
The fact that his Angus cattle are slaughtered with no meal feeding gives Michael a unique selling point over competitors also operating farm shops.
In recent years, the farm has expanded to also carrying a 280-ewe flock. Ewes are Scotch Mules and tupped with Texel rams. Two to three lambs are marketed weekly through the farm shop with the remainder sold fat for slaughter.
Setting up
Having spent many years working in the UK grass seed industry, where his work often took him to New Zealand, Michael is a firm believer in the advantages of top-class grassland management and rotational grazing.
On setting up the farm, Michael wanted to do something different. Most importantly, he wanted something that was profitable. A low-cost grazing system, with low overheads, was his aim.
The farm was fully reseeded and mapped. A total of 175 acres of grassland is split by one main road.
Cattle are grazed in one-day and two-day paddocks, something Michael originally saw in practice, when out in New Zealand.
Winter feed is mostly kale and grown in rotation to break up grazing ground and allow for new grass to be laid down.
“There is no winter housing facility. Cattle are outdoors all year round in rain, hail and snow and we get plenty of bad weather. But cattle suffer no ill effects and continue to thrive on our system,” said Michael.
Cattle
Heifers are preferred to steers as they are easier to finish on a grass system. Cattle are mainly Aberdeen Angus cross and purchased around 350kg to 400kg liveweight. Heifers are beef-bred Angus, rather than sourced from dairy herds.
Michael purchases all cattle through Lanark, Stirling or St Boswells Mart. He generally sources cattle in the spring and autumn.
Heifers are killed at 550kg to 580kg liveweight with Michael favouring a 300kg to 320kg carcase. Three cattle per week are required for sale through the farm shop.
A local abattoir in Wishaw in north Lanarkshire slaughters the cattle and hangs them for 21 days before returning to the farm shop for boning out.
Economics
Like Northern Ireland, store cattle prices in Scotland have been buoyant this spring. The purchase price has risen from £2.40/kg to £2.60/kg liveweight in recent weeks.
The average purchase price for cattle in 2016 was £2.13/kg, which is £175 per head less than cattle are currently being bought for.
“Price is becoming an issue. Cattle have to be bought to a budget to make money. Premium breed schemes like the Angus has made them more expensive as there is more buying competition. Numbers coming through the mart would also be tighter in recent years,” maintains Michael.
As part of his accounting process, cattle are sold from the farm to the butchery at the weekly Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) reported price. “The farm and butchery are two separate businesses. The butchery does not subsidise the farm and vice versa. That’s a false economy. The farm is paid a price to reflect an R4L animal going into any meat plant,” said Michael.
Cattle finishing is fully costed. Animals receive an EID tag on arrival to the farm and are weighed regularly. Michael has a target of clearing £1/day on cattle, when all costs have been factored in.
“As purchase price rises, I am looking at buying a slightly heavier animal to reduce cost per kilo. I am also looking at the number of days on farm as this is an area where I can save money,” he said.
For instance, a group of heifers purchased last spring weighed 304kg liveweight, while a different group averaged 390kg liveweight.
The first animals were on farm at 422 days and killed out at 287kg, while the heavier animals at purchase killed out at 315kg and were on farm for 241 days. Daily feed costs were £1.18. At a beef price of £3.70/kg, the heavier animal is worth £103 more but, more importantly, cost £213 less to feed.
Outwintering
The winter grazing period starts on 15 October with cattle moving on to 20 acres of kale and 15 acres of fodder beet.
Maris Kestrel and Swift are the two types of kale grown annually. The fodder beet was introduced three years ago as Michael was struggling to get heifers to fat class 4L on kale, plus grass silage alone.
Since fodder beet was introduced to yearling cattle, Michael maintains that weight gain during the winter increased from 0.5kg/day to 1kg/day.
Fodder beet is grown in one 8ac field where heifers will be fed to finish along with silage. The rest of the fodder beet crop is grown in a 26ac field alongside the kale.
Round bales of silage are laid out in the field in midsummer so that no machinery has to enter the field in winter, causing compaction and rutting. Up to 100 store animals will be grazed on these 26 acres over the winter, before moving back to grass on 15 April.
210ac farm.175 acres grassland.35 acres of forage crops for winter grazing.Finishing 150 cattle annually.280 ewes (Scotch Mule).Cattle grazing all year round.Selling meat through the farm shop. 
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