Towards the end of 2014’s grazing season I began to measure grass and operate a paddock system on one third of the three-way fragmented farm. Some of the research trials carried out as part of my PhD involve stringent grass management protocols (none involve opening bales!), some of which I applied to our farm.

The block I measured was divided into six paddocks and was carrying replacement heifers. It was a mini trial to see how it could benefit us. I wanted to put a figure on the productivity of the recently reseeded land too. We were able to graze to 4.5 cm where previously we couldn’t, whilst producing exceptional regrowth. I used the days ahead principle and calculated daily herbage dry matter demands with the assumption that every animal would eat 1.75% (suckler cows are closer to 2%) of her liveweight each day. With growth levels high near the end of the summer; we could afford to go as low as 12-15 days ahead whilst moving closer to 30 as October crept in.

One of the changes I hope to make in 2015 involves tightening up the remaining land into smaller paddocks, shifting slightly away from an extensive system we currently operate. It’s a difficult thing for a beef farmer to do. Where’s the incentive? No monthly milk cheque round these parts! But, our animals are performing well at the moment in every sense, which is exciting. Is there scope to squeeze out some extra kilos by incorporating a simple enough grass management strategy? If turned out on 1st April and housed 1st November, an extra 50 grams of growth per day would give you 10.5kg more live weight per animal. Doesn’t seem like much? But, what if you have 30 animals? That’s the equivalent to weaning an extra calf.

Top quality grass isn’t too far off barley in terms of energy content, especially early on in the year. It’s the equivalent of a suckling bull calf consuming an extra 0.1 UFV and 25g of PDI daily via either more nutrient rich grass or his dam’s increased milk production. 1kg dry matter of spring grass contains 1.03 UFV and 103g PDI. Perhaps someone could enlighten me as to the values for suckler cow milk in terms of the growth of their progeny?

In the New Year I’ll also look closely at our concentrate diets in terms of nutrient supply and demand. Crude Protein and ME values rule the roost in beef but can be somewhat vague. The UFL and PDI system for predicting energy and protein requirements respectively is much more accurate, but the values can be difficult to calculate. Diets can be formulated for growth rates using the system and in my view there is scope to eliminate unnecessary, expensive protein from rations with the help of the system.

For example, in a situation where growing weanlings are being offered good quality silage, a supplementary ration could be simplified significantly, with substantial savings as a result. Though ration prices are competitive at the moment, there are often cheaper ingredients available, some of which we evaluate with our research. I’ll also try to jazz-up our bull finishing ration, again eliminating unnecessary protein and incorporating more cost-effective ingredients. On the subject, one of my finishing studies features in the next beef newsletter for those who receive it.

There are many more questions to be answered in 2015. Do we need to throw out a clean-up bull at the end of breeding? Do we need to invest in a weighing scale? Is a 16 month bull system too volatile? Can we do more reseeding (the measuring should help answer this)?

For now the said couple of changes will be enough to keep us busy.

Wishing a prosperous New Year to all.