Set in stone – suckler farming in the Burren

The stock bull still plays a huge role in breeding on Irish suckler farms. It is easy to see why – almost 80% of suckler calves are bred from stock bulls. The bull does the heat-detecting and inseminating for the herd owner.

With spring still the most dominant calving period and a high percentage of suckler farmers who work off farm, AI is not a feasible option on a lot of farms. When you add in land fragmentation and spread out calving patterns, it is easy to see why the stock bull remains so popular.

But does using a stock bull put the herd owner at a disadvantage to suckler farmers using AI? Not really.

Using a stock bull from a well-proven bloodline is just as good as using AI. Many stock bulls are AI bred.

If the bull’s sire has a proven breeding record for specific traits, this will transfer through to the stock bull and on to his calves. In addition, there are plenty of young AI bulls with low accuracy figures that have yet to be proven, so a well-bred stock bull can match AI.

Also, remember that the cow is responsible for breeding half the calf. Having a herd of consistent cow type will go a long way to breeding good-quality calves every year.

In a herd of 50 cows where there is very little consistency in cow type, breeding, size and weight, there will be a big variation in calf quality. AI may help to reduce this variation if the correct bulls are chosen.

But in a herd where cows are nice and uniform for the same characteristics, then a stock bull with proven genetics will be every bit as effective in producing top-quality calves every year.

The price of a stock bull can be off-putting to some buyers. When purchasing a stock bull, the buyer usually has a budget and is reluctant to go over this.

But if well managed, a stock bull can last six to seven years on the farm, which dilutes the cost of the animal when spread over the number of cows served over its lifetime. Investing in good stock bulls will pay off in the long run. Better genetics will produce heavier weaning weights, better-shaped cattle or more maternal females.

The high-valued export market is normally associated with AI-bred cattle rather than calves bred from stock bulls. But there are herd owners who are consistently producing weanlings bred from stock bulls to rival any AI bull.

In Bellharbour, Co Clare, Martin McGann has been selling weanlings to live exporters since the late 1990s. Martin runs 90 suckler cows on a fragmented farm. The home farm consists of 80 acres at Bellharbour with a further 40 acres leased near Ardrahan, Co Galway, which is 20 miles from his home.

The 90-cow suckler herd is split into 60 spring-calving cows and 30 autumn-calving cows. Travelling between the two land blocks every day to herd cattle can take up a lot of time.

Thankfully, Martin is well supported on the farm by his wife Martina even though she works full-time as a teacher. His two sons, Arron and Danyl, are heavily involved in running the farm after school, weekends and holidays.

Martin McGann, Bellharbour, Co Clare, with his sons Daniel and Aaron. \ Donal O’Leary

Farm background

The main farm at Bellharbour is where all cows are wintered. The land block at Ardrahan is laid out in two large fields and has been leased for almost 30 years. There are no housing facilities on this block, but there are handling pens adjacent to the land than can be used by Martin to load cattle or for dosing, vaccinating etc.

Cows return home from the outfarm by 1 November at the latest. Cows gradually return to this ground from mid March onwards as weather permits. Autumn cows are usually put to the outfarm as the calves are much stronger in spring, which is important given how far away it is.

Once cows go to the outfarm, they are there to stay until autumn, which can mean a later turnout date compared with the home farm. The home farm is reasonably well laid out for grazing. When grazing conditions are poor in early spring or late autumn, cows will be put out to graze during the day and rehoused at night with little trouble as they quickly get used to handling and are happy to move freely in and out of the yard.

The cow herd is made up of Limousin cross cows with a mix of Belgian Blue and Friesian breeding present. Some cows are homebred, but a greater percentage of the herd were bought in as maiden heifers and served with a Limousin stock bull for their first calving. After this, they are usually served with Blue bulls.

For Martin, the split-calving pattern works well. “Having the two calving blocks is great for cashflow and this is the main reason why I keep part of the herd to calve in August. It gives me a good source of income in May and June to keep things ticking over and pay a few bills such as fertiliser and contractors.”

Weanlings are sold direct from farm to the live shippers which works well for Martin.

At the mart, it can be hit or miss depending on the week you go

“Some weeks, there are plenty of buying agents, some weeks there may only be a couple.

‘‘We have been selling weanlings for a long time and it is much better to sell direct from the farm because you can agree a price in the field without having to remove the calf or putting animals under stress when travelling to a mart.”

Weanlings usually weigh 380kg up to 450kg liveweight when sold at 250 to 280 days of age, which is a lifetime gain of 1.5kg to 1.6kg/day. Calves are creep grazed ahead of cows to avail of better grass and meal is only offered around two months pre-sale.

Cow selection

Replacements have been purchased in marts such as Gort, Ennis and Elphin. For Martin, he wants a square functional cow with plenty of milk and length. Cow breed and colour is not as important for him.

“Milk is crucial for weaning heavy calves. I like Limousin cross cows because they are good all-round animals and they have a good cull value when they are sold. I will look for a three quarter-bred Limousin cow with Belgian Blue breeding. I don’t want extreme muscled cows as they will be too hard to calve.

‘‘But I will also buy a three quarter Limousin cross that still has some Friesian breeding because they will rear a heavy weanling. The three quarter-bred cow is needed for crossing with the Blue bulls. With a half-bred Limousin cow, she will throw variable calves from year to year, but not with the three quarter-bred cow.”

Selecting cows based on functionality helps to keep them in the herd to produce seven or eight calves. Martin will cull cows for poor temperament, especially cows that are hard to handle after calving or rears a poor calf without any genuine reason.

Cows will be culled around 10 years of age as they start to show their age. “Older cows at this stage are very hard to keep on slats over the winter period. I find they have more feet problems and udders start to give more problems with bags getting slack or hard quarters. While I want a cow to last, you still need to keep the herd reasonably fresh, so older cows will be culled out by 10 years old.”

Although he buys in replacements, Martin keeps some homebred heifers and sees fewer problems with them.

“You know the background of your own heifers and how well their mothers performed and lasted. If there are enough homebred heifers suitable for making cows, it is worth keeping them. But, some years, there will not be enough suitable heifers for breeding.

‘‘I would rather buy in a few extra heifers of good quality to make up replacement numbers instead of keeping all of my own heifers, if one or two animals are just not right to make cows.” Around 12 heifers calve into the spring herd annually with five or six autumn-calving heifers, which is a replacement rate of around 16%.

Breeding

The spring herd of 60 cows calves from January to March with autumn cows calving from August to September. The farm carries three stock bulls with one Limousin and two Belgian Blue animals.

The Limousin bull is a Wilodge Vantastic son with the previous bull sired by Mas du Clo. The two Blue bulls are bred by Dynamite and Dafydd. All bulls were five stars for terminal index when purchased and four stars for maternal traits.

The cow groups are set up from turnout by running cows with bull calves together and cows with heifer calves. This means I have one less task to do later in the year to split calves

Martin repeatedly buys the stock bulls from the same herds when they are being replaced as he knows he is buying genuine animals and has faith in the breeding. He is also certain about the health status of the bulls and that there will be no issues with the bull’s fertility.

Stock bulls go with the cows around 17 March and will stay with them until the end of June. But, by this stage, there is usually little sign of activity with cows.

“Cows are grouped together in batches of 25 with the Blue bulls. The cow groups are set up from turnout by running cows with bull calves together and cows with heifer calves. This means I have one less task to do later in the year to split calves.”

Cows will be pregnancy scanned around 35 days after the bull is removed. Once removed, the stock bulls are moved to good grazing away from breeding cows to regain body condition and rest before the autumn breeding season in November. Breeding will be finished by late December.

Autumn cows are bulled on concrete slats and so far there have been no problems with this system. “Having an experienced bull helps when breeding on slats and also not to have the bull too heavy. I used to breed cows on a bedded floor in a separate shed, but bulls were still injured because of slipping on straw so I have reverted to the slats and so far it has worked well.”

Genomics

Martin is participating in the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) and believes that not only it is worthwhile for suckler farmers, but he believes that suckler farmers cannot afford to go without the payment.

We used to be in REPS which would be worth around €8,000 per year. This payment covered the rent on the outfarm

‘‘When this scheme ended, I would have to replace this income with money generated by the cows or from another source. It was unlikely that the cows would generate this amount of money, so it has to come from somewhere else.

‘‘With the genomics, I am doing all the required tasks anyway from using five-star stock bulls, recording herd sires and weighing cattle, so I might as well get paid for it. The payment is worth over €5,000 for no extra work to me. This payment now goes a long way to covering the land rent. I really don’t see how any suckler herd can go without this kind of money at present.”

The herd has 97% of breeding females at four- and five-star maternal ratings, which probably reflects the Friesian element in the back breeding of the cows. With a well-chosen replacement heifer from his own Limousin bull or purchased heifer, he is well on track to meet the long-term eligibility criteria of the scheme.

Good stock bulls will be expensive, so it is important to take as much out them as possible. Take, for example, a stock bull bought at €6,000. If it realised a cull value of €1,800, it means the bull costs the herd €4,200. The cull value is something that is overlooked when purchasing the bull.

On Martin’s farm, a bull could breed 40 cows per year between spring- and autumn-calving. Over four years on farm, the bull will have covered 160 cows as outlined above. In year one, it will cost €105/cow to carry the bull in the herd for breeding. If he is used for a second year, then the cost of the bull is reduced to €52. After four years, the cost is down to €26/cow simply because he is breeding more and more cows each year.

The more years the bull is breeding in the year, the greater the depreciation of the animal and cheaper the bull becomes. The cost actually gets cheaper if you factor in cows that repeat.

For example, assuming a 75% conception to first service, there will be 10 cows every year that need a second service bringing the total covered cows to 200 head. This means that after four years on farm, the cost of the bull would be €21/cow/year which is competitive with AI and a good technician.

Martin has housing for 100 cows on his farm, but plans to grow the herd are limited because of the land base. The farm is heavily stocked at 2.4LU/ha, which takes excellent grassland management to maintain. “If there was ground available to lease, I would be interested but it is unlikely as ground is hard to come by here.”

If cows were increased to 100, it would be the autumn cows that would see the extra numbers added. Early weaning before turnout would mean that these cows could be tightened up in grazing behind spring cows or weanlings.

The increase in cow numbers may still happen as the cows would be calved outdoors in early August, which takes the pressure off housing facilities and off the man in charge. Other than an increase in cow numbers, Martin hopes to see an improvement in herd replacements. As the benefits of genomics is realised, he is hoping for more milk coming through in heifers to produce heavier weanlings that are worth more money, which inevitably increases farm profit.

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