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As a new year gets under way, take a moment to review how your suckler farm business performed in 2017.
For instance, do you know how many kilos of beef you sold off-farm, or do you know the average sale price for cattle you sold last year?
More importantly, what did it cost to produce 1kg of liveweight on your farm?
Ideally, you should carry out a profit monitor for your farm now. Once completed, it is time to take action if you are seeking to make improvements.
Simply relying on market price alone will not make you more profitable. A strong sale price is of little benefit if you have fewer cattle for sale because of high levels of mortality on farm.
Equally, a higher price will be offset if you sell cattle that fall well short of target weights.
Profit is a combination of price, cattle performance and the numbers produced annually. It is also about planning.
Putting a plan in place
When developing a farm plan, it must be simple if it is to be effective. The key things to identify are where changes have to be made and avoid trying to do too much in year one.
Changes should be small, gradual and ongoing. This way, you can adapt your herd management to suit.
Target the areas that are a high priority for change in year one, which are medium and which are low priority.
If you wish to start making effective changes on farm this year, some areas to focus on are outlined as follows:
Breeding
Are you producing the right type of cattle to suit the market or are you breeding the right type of cattle to suit your land type?
Changing the breeding of your suckler herd is a long-term project. Introducing a new stock bull this year to change breed type, or produce herd replacements, will take three to five years before you see any real benefit coming through.
Animal performance
How much weight have cattle gained since housing? How much liveweight did they gain at grass? What was the average weaning weight for calves on your farm and how will this be improved in 2018?
Calving pattern
When do cows start to calve and when do they finish? When will the stock bull go out with cows and what date will the bull be removed?
Doing the same thing every year will give you the same results.
Grazing management
Plan now for when fertiliser is going to go out in preparation for grazing.
What fields need slurry? What fields need lime? Which cattle will be turned out first and how much grazing ground do you have to offer them?
Animal health
What diseases are recurring problems on farm and how will you change this in 2018? Identify the key risk periods and plan ahead for dosing, worming and vaccinating to reduce the risk.
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