At the recent BETTER Farm Programme livestock demonstrations, suckler cow efficiency was discussed in detail.

Co Armagh programme farmer Mark Lewis discussed the issues around controlling mature cow size within his suckler herd.

Alongside this, addressing milk production in suckler cows is another key area. He is focusing his herd breeding programme to produce more cows with greater milking ability.

Farm background

Mark farms 165 acres of productive lowland ground near Portadown. The farm carries a spring-calving herd of 48 Limousin cows, which are scanned in-calf for 2018. To increase cow numbers, he also has 34 heifers scanned in-calf for springtime also.

The farm also carries a small autumn-calving herd of 20 cows, but to simplify management, these cows will be moved to the spring herd next year, making the system 100% spring-calving.

All male progeny are taken through to slaughter, with males finished as young bulls. Heifers not suitable for breeding are generally finished, but have also been sold live in the past.

The farm also carries a poultry unit and brings in store lambs for autumn grazing.

Cow efficiency

Mark outlined at the demo that he wants an efficient cow within his system. There is little point in building numbers towards 110 cows and still carrying passengers within the breeding herd.

Since joining the programme, completing exercises, such as working out a calf weaning percentage, have been an eye-opener towards the performance of what he perceived as being good cows.

While the weaning percentage does have some limitations, it gives a good overview of cow performance within the herd.

Based on the data outlined in Table 1, average daily liveweight gains (DLWG) are below target. This indicates that the level of milk production within cows is probably on the low side.

A good target weight gain for a suckler bred calf from birth to weaning is 1.2kg/day. With heifers averaging 1.01kg/day and bulls averaging 1.1kg/day, this would indicate that the cows are lacking in milk.

Heifers

Heifers averaged 266kg at weaning on 2 October, but this is corrected to 247kg at a standard calf age of 200 days to allow for a fairer comparison across all calves.

Cows averaged 641kg, giving a weaning percentage of 39%. The top five cows weaned a calf averaging 267kg, with cows weighing 623kg. This gives a weaning percentage of 42%.

In contrast, the bottom five cows weighed 688kg, making them 47kg heavier than the group average and 65kg heavier than the top five cows.

They weaned calves weighing 237kg at 200 days, 10kg less than the group average and 30kg less than the top five cows.

Taking a value of £2.40/kg based on the current live trade, the top five cows generated an extra £44/cow in output value compared with the group average and £66 more output than the bottom five. This is not accounting for a lower feed requirement than the heavier cows.

Bulls

In terms of the bull calves, the group of 27 calves averaged 269kg at 200 days of age. The cows weighed 619kg, with a weaning percentage of 44%.

The top five cows weighed 567kg and weaned calves weighing 297kg, giving a weaning percentage of 53%.

The bottom five cows weighed 683kg, 116kg more than the top five cows, yet they weaned calves averaging 244kg. This gives a weaning percentage of 36%.

At £2.20/kg, the top five cows produced an additional £116 of calf output over the bottom five cows, yet feeding costs will have been considerably less.

Putting it into practice

A comparison of performance was outlined between two spring-calving cows within the herd. Both cows produced bull calves in 2017 that will be taken through to slaughter next year.

Cow A is a Limousin cow bought in as an in-calf heifer that calved at 24 months of age in 2015 and has calved consistently each year since then.

Cow B is a 14-year-old Limousin-cross-Friesian cow and has calved consistently year on year.

Mature weight for cow A is 795kg versus 580kg for cow B. Weaning percentage was 30% for cow A and 50% for cow B.

The dairy background of cow B gave a much higher calf performance, gaining 1.29kg/day from birth to weaning, compared with 0.98kg/day for cow A’s calf.

As a result, the actual weaning weight for the calf from cow B was 305kg on 29 September, compared with 240kg for the calf from cow A, despite being one week older.

It is worth noting that calf quality in both cases is excellent, but the lighter weaning weight makes the calf from cow A more of an economic challenge to finish as a bull by 1 June.

Based on slaughter data from previous years, the bull calf from calf A took one month longer to finish compared with cow B. Carcase weight was also 8kg lighter.

Based on current weight, if Mark wishes to push the two calves through to slaughter as young bulls, the calf from cow A needs to average 1.9kg/day from now until slaughter on 1 June to achieve a 420kg carcase.

The heavier weaning weight in cow B’s calf means it only requires 1.6kg/day between now and slaughter to reach the same carcase weight on the same date.

Feed saving

With winter fodder tight, there will be considerable savings with smaller cows. Based on cow A (795kg), it will eat 20% more than cows at similar weights to cow B (580kg).

Over a 180-day winter, there will be a saving of approximately £50 to £60/cow in silage costs (£30/t) between the two cows.