Last week we looked at the differing performance achieved by the top and bottom 10% of the 70 UK and Irish farms surveyed in Steven’s report. The report found that the top 10% were consistently achieving a higher scanning, calving and weaning percentage, as well as doing so in a shorter calving time frame – 9.5 weeks compared to 28 weeks (Table 1).

To dig down into the driving forces behind these figures, Steven looked at four major influential factors on farm: nutrition, genetics, housing/management and health.

Nutrition

Cow nutrition at certain times of the year is of critical importance to maintain productivity. Steven looked at nutrition pre-calving and the period between calving and the start of the breeding season. The majority of farms (64%) made pit silage, 14% made baled silage, 16% made a mixture of the two and just 6% made no silage at all. These farms were either out-wintering cows on deferred grazing or feeding hay or ammonia-treated straw. As there was no difference between the top and bottom 10%, with some of both groups feeding all types of fodder, Steven concluded that fodder type alone had no effect on performance.

  • Minerals –There was a huge range in methods of delivering minerals to cows. Be it powder, boluses, buckets or a combination of a few. Ninety-four per cent of farms were feeding pre-calving minerals. Again, there was no difference between the top and bottom 10%. However, it’s noted that one of the farms in the top 10% fed no minerals at all.
  • Post-calving diet – In all, 77% of farms improved the diet available to cows post-calving. This was done by either turning cows out to grass or supplementing concentrate feed until time of turnout. Interestingly, six of the top seven performers all improved cow diet post-calving, while five of the bottom seven did not. This improved nutrition helped maintain body condition post calving, thus shortening the length of time it will take the cow to go back in calf.
  • Creep feeding calves – In total, 63% of farms surveyed creep-fed calves. All farms in the bottom 10% creep-fed calves while two of the top 10% fed no creep, three farms did creep feed, with another two only feeding bull calves. It’s worth noting that the average age of first-calved heifers on the top-performing herds was 2.2 years, compared to 2.8 on the bottom-performing herds, yet all of the bottom herds’ heifers were supplemented and less than half of the top herds’.

    • Genetics

  • Cow type – Across all the farms Steven visited, there were 14 cow breed types being used. The most popular of these were Limousin, followed by Simmental and Aberdeen Angus. All of the top-performing herds were cross-bred cows, while the bottom 10% were either pedigree or continental cross cows.

    • Table 2 looks at the weaning percentage, calving spread and heifer age at calving across the three main cow types. Herds using only continental crosses had poorer weaning figures and a more protracted calving spread. While native-cross cows achieved better figures than continental crosses, the mixture of native and continental breeds had the highest performance.

    Steven also noted that some farms were using dairy-bred heifers from herds focusing on milk quality and cow longevity, using more traditional dairy breeds crossed to a beef breed. These were often cheaper to source and, due to high milk yield, are producing heavier calves at weaning. On cow breeds Steven concluded that cow type plays a key role in overall productivity and certain breeds are better suited to certain environments.

  • Bull breed – On bull breed side there were 10 breeds used between all the farms. Again Limousin was most popular, followed by Simmental, Charolais, Angus, Salers, Stabliliser, Hereford, Shorthorn, British Blue and Luing.

    • While certain breeds have a reputation for being harder to calve, across all the farms, once cow type was right, farmers were achieving a 90% weaning or better from a 10-week calving spread or less from all the breeds above.

  • Age at first calving – Just 56% of the farms surveyed calved at two years old, with a quarter calving at 30 months and 19% at three years old. This 19% equates to 11 farms, three of which were hill systems on low-cost systems and were all making profit without subsidy. The remaining eight, calving at three by choice, all said they were not making a profit without subsidy.

    • The average weaning percentage of herds calving at two-years-old was 89%, with 62% of those farmers claiming to be profitable without subsidy. The average weaning percentage for those that calved heifers at three years old was 87%, with 64% of farms reporting they were not making a profit before subsidy.

  • Housing/management – Steven wanted to investigate if winter length and housing method had an effect on the herd performance.

    • Just 12 farms wintered cows outside. These farms averaged a weaning percentage of 90.6%. The remaining farms all housed cows for winter and, for herds that calved in 12 weeks or less, weaning percentages were 90.1% for bedded cattle, 86.5% for slats only and 86.7% for a mixture of both.

  • Feeding system – On his travels, Steven encountered many different feeding systems for cows. From deferred grazing, to feed trailers, to mixer wagons, to robotic feeders.

    • However, there is nothing in the data to suggest that a more mechanised method of feeding cows reduced losses. Just two of the top seven producers had mechanised systems while five of the bottom seven had.

    Health

  • Fertility testing – Fertility testing is a tool farmers can use to have more confidence that bulls are going to do their job. On the surveyed farms, 6% used AI, while of those with bulls, 33% were fertility testing annually – 67% were not. Comparing those that calve in a 12-week period, scanning percentage was 94% for those that were fertility tested, compared to 92% for those that weren’t.

    • Steven concluded that there are many pieces to the farming jigsaw that some farms can be so focused on getting some aspects of the business right that others are often overlooked.

    Good management, calving heifers at two years old, block calving, the correct type of cow and hybrid vigour are the main factors in achieving a good weaning percentage and better farm profits. While these are by no means new ideas or theories and have been discussed at farmer meeting through the years, still only 82% of cows in Scotland that are exposed to the bull wean a calf.

    No farmer likes losing stock, no farmer puts cows to the bull hoping only some get pregnant, and no farmer wants unhealthy stock. Therefore, if we can increase the number of livestock sold each year by adapting the practices of the top-performing farms, it will lead to increased profit and job satisfaction. Farmers have the information and tools needed to make these changes. Often it’s a case of putting them all together at the same time.