Just because a farm is small, or run with part-time labour, does not mean that it cannot operate efficiently and deliver a high output and margin per hectare.

A good example is Chris McCarthy, who lives outside Mullingar, Co Westmeath, farming 55 suckler cows in a calf-to-weaning system on 28ha (70 acres) of relatively free-draining land.

Chris has his own tiling business, which generally limits him to a couple of hours of labour input per day throughout the week. He might take a few days off at calving time in the spring, but other than that, the labour input is kept to a minimum.

There are a number of key factors which keep the system as simple as possible. All the cows are calved over a 10-week period (20 January to 28 March) in the spring, with all weanlings sold off during October. The land is all in one block and split into two- to three-day paddocks to maximise the amount of gain achieved at grass.

“The added benefit of paddocks is that the cattle are all in a small space, which makes checking and moving them much easier,” said Chris.

About six years ago, he realised that his system was not sustainable. At the time, the farm was stocked with 30 suckler cows along with breeding ewes.

“I would get a phone call that there was a sheep lambing and had to leave a job to attend to a ewe that was producing lambs worth €60. I was losing too much time from work. I needed to simplify the system,” explained Chris.

He sought advice from his Teagasc adviser and a plan was put in place that involved selling the sheep and pushing cow numbers to 55.

In 2012, he joined the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Farm programme. Since then, gross margin per hectare has moved from €649 in 2011 to €952 in 2015. Stocking rate has increased from 2 to 2.3 livestock units per hectare.

The vast majority of the liveweight gain on the farm is from grazed grass, with cows fed restricted silage plus straw during winter, and only limited amounts of concentrate fed to calves around weaning. This normally takes place in mid-September, about a month ahead of sale.

Two Charolais stock bulls are kept, crossed to his herd of mostly Limousin and Simmental-cross cows. The resultant orange-coloured cattle are popular with buyers and, when sold last October in private deals, his male weanlings averaged €1,000 (360kg at 1 October), with heifers at €860 (340kg at 1 October).

To reduce the labour requirement at calving, cameras have been set up in the calving shed, which are linked to his mobile phone.

“The cameras are brilliant. I would be lost without them,” said Chris. He is also vaccinating for leptospirosis, BVD, scour and pneumonia. “I will use whatever preventative action is required. The last thing I want in an evening is to have to go outside to bring in a sick calf,” he said.

Future developments on the farm

Considering that the McCarthy system is highly dependent on grazed grass, with minimal concentrate fed, the farm is carrying a high stocking rate at 2.3 livestock units per hectare. There is limited scope to carry any more suckler cows.

One option currently being considered to increase output is to finish male calves as bulls. “I have the housing and intend giving it a go this winter. Whether it works will depend on beef prices next spring,” acknowledged Chris.

If bull finishing proves successful, it then creates the possibility of looking at the overall breeding policy on the farm. Currently, all replacements are bought in-calf to Limousin bulls, mainly in private deals off farms across the country. Each year, around eight to 10 heifers are required. On average, they cost €1,650 in 2015. “Sourcing suitable heifers is the hardest part of my job. I know that there is also a risk of disease,” said Chris.

However, if he is finishing his own bulls, then it is less important to use terminal-type bulls, which produce calves that are attractive to weanling buyers.

He could start to use maternal-type bulls, breed his own replacements and sell surplus in-calf heifers to other farmers. This would mean the disease risk is significantly lowered, but the downside is that it would necessitate a higher turnover of stock bulls.

Spring and summer split calving system in Meath

Tom Halpin, who runs a herd of 90 suckler cows on 62ha at Robertstown, Co Meath, is also a member of the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Farm programme. Since 2011, he has taken his stocking rate from 1.49 livestock units (LU) per hectare to 2.5 LU/ha. With a rotational grazing system in place and males finished as bulls under 16 months, there is scope to increase this further. The plan is to calve down 100 cows in 2017.

His cows calve in two distinct batches, with around 50 spring-calvers (February/March) and 40 cows calving in June and July. Summer calving might go against best advice, but it works on the Halpin farm.

Dry summer-calving cows can be held inside in the spring, maximising the amount of grass available to youngstock. The cows then calve outside, which minimises any disease issues and at a time of maximum day length. With suitable housing available, cows and calves are housed together, with calves weaned in February.

“It then means I have a light store that is suitable to go to grass from 1 March,” explained Tom. Bull calves stay at grass until around 1 August when they come inside for an intensive 90-day finishing period based on straw and concentrate. These bulls are sold from mid-October. Spring-born bulls are all gone by June. The split calving period extends the selling period and also makes good use of housing.

Cows are mostly Simmental, Limousin and also Charolais breeding, with all replacements bred from within the herd. “I like a big cow. They have a good resale value if something goes wrong,” said Tom.

These cows perform well on the dry land of Meath, but whether they are suitable for most farms in NI is questionable.

The spring herd is the source of replacements for the summer herd, meaning most heifers come in at 28 months. However, with the summer herd mainly providing replacements for the spring herd, some of these replacements are 32 months before they calve down.

Moving to a strict policy of calving at two years would allow output to be increased further, while reducing costs and possibly also taking some of the size out of his cows. “It is something I will look at closely in future,” said Tom.