Earlier in the year, the Irish Charolais Cattle Society ran a suckler cow competition, inviting farmers to enter and compete for top prizes. Entries were shortlisted to a panel of six finalists from right across the country. The judging team visited all six and after much debate, the winner and runner-up were identified.

At last week’s National Ploughing Championships, presentations were made to the winner Hubert Nicholson from Slane, Co Meath, and runner-up Christy Comerford, Co Kilkenny, at the society stand.

Maternal strategy

Hubert Nicholson farms just outside Slane, Co Meath. Over the years, he has been focused on maternal breeding. Although the herd is predominantly made up of Charolais genetics, the maternal focus down through the years has had a major influence on cow type.

While there are larger pedigree cows in the herd, the majority of the commercial cows on the farm are maternal Charolais cows (photo, right) that are very functional, productive, have good levels of maternal milk and are not overly large.

With the current focus on maternal traits, the new replacement index and the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP), the herd is an outstanding example of what can be achieved on farm through the focused use of maternal breed lines. Along with using Charolais, Hubert has also used Simmental genetics in some of the commercial herd.

The herd consists of 116 cows in total. The weanling bulls are sold to a finisher to be finished under 16 months, while heifers not kept as replacements are sold as stores. In addition to the suckler herd, Hubert runs a flock of 145 early lambing ewes. The replacement rate in the herd varies from year to year, but is around 20% on average.

A mixture of AI and stock bulls are used on the farm. AI maternal sires are used on 60 cows, while stock bulls are used on the rest of the herd. All of the judges on the day were surprised by the strong maternal characteristics of the herd. Not only are the maternal characteristics of the herd visible on the ground, but they can also be seen in the ICBF reports.

Hubert’s recent BDGP report shows that out of the number of cows and heifers in the herd, 93 are four- or five-star currently, meaning that although the herd has been using mostly Charolais breeding down through the years, he has managed to meet the 2020 requirements for the BDGP scheme in year one.

Out of the 116 cows on the farm, just under half (55) are four- or five-star, while another 38 heifers (photo, right) are four- or five-star.

Prior to the change in the replacement index, Hubert had issues with the rankings of some of his cows. However, since recent changes to the replacement index, he feels that it now reflects the herd in a more accurate way.

Over the years, sons of bulls such as Repair, Meath Alcazar and Urtillo BP have been used within the herd. The majority of the cows on the farm today are bred down from these lines. The first stock bull on the farm is Dreena Bevis, a nine-year-old with a calving figure of 4.3% and a five-star replacement index. Bevis is a son of Vera Cruz out of a Doonally Olmeto bred cow. The second is a young homebred sire, Fennor’s Inferno, which is also five stars on the replacement index. This young bull is sired by Rancard and out of a homebred dam whose pedigree goes back to Dovea Gin Tonic.

Focus on calving ease

Because the herd is 100% spring-calving, the calving interval is a major focus on the farm. Hubert wants cows that calve down as close to the 365-day target as possible to focus the workload.

The herd has a calving interval of 381 days, some 26 days shorter than the national average.

Because he is on his own when it comes to calving cows in terms of labour, calving ease is essential. Mortality at birth was 3.1% on the farm last year, well short of the national average.

Output is good on the farm. Last year, it produced 0.89 calves/cow/year – 0.06 higher than the national average.

This means that he is producing between six and seven more calves/cow/year than the average farm of similar size. Taking a weanling value at €900, that can translate to almost €5,500 higher output than the average farmer.

Exceptional calf quality in Kilkenny

The runner-up was well-known Charolais breeder Christy Comerford from Castlewarren, Co Kilkenny. Christy has built up his farm gradually over the years and his pedigree Charolais herd with it. Christy runs a herd of 90 commercial suckler cows, selling weanlings, breeding some replacements from within the herd and buying in others.

The herd calves from February through to April and almost all weanlings (bar replacements) are sold from September to October (photo, below).

The suckler herd itself consists mainly of Charolais crosses, with some Limousin and Simmental crosses present. Milk plays a huge role in the herd as a main driver of weaning weights.

Fertility is critical to any spring-calving system and this is an area Christy has not ignored. He has focused over the years on removing unproductive cows and replaced them with heifers from fertile mothers.

Two Charolais terminal stock bulls are used on the cows to produce well-muscled calves suitable for the export or domestic trades.

For Christy, maximising sale value is crucial to offset cow costs and to help provide a margin. The average daily liveweight gain of the weanlings last year was 1.48kg/day. His last batch of weanlings sold in October of 2014 at an average weight of 430kg, at an average price of €1,250 (€2.90/kg).

The calving interval is 388 days, while last year he produced 0.91 calves per cow per year. Mortality on the farm is very low at just 2%.