There are a number of key areas where farmers can implement simple changes for positive results. Over the next few weeks, we will look at what changes need to be implemented on the farm to increase the margin by the equivalent of €150/cow.

This week, we look at grass and the huge potential there is for improvement on beef farms.

While it’s disappointing to see current beef prices below the cost of production, in a year where margins are going to be tight it’s important that decision making is orientated to becoming more efficient and attention is paid to areas that will increase efficiency and in turn profits.

Grass is a key area for beef farmers to make real progress in. When compared to dairy farmers, many beef farmers have not adopted low-cost grazing principles and areas such as soil fertility, grazing infrastructure like paddocks, roadways and drinkers, grass budgeting and reseeding have been neglected in recent years on many beef farms.

Maybe it’s a symptom of the low-margin game that beef farming has become – there is neither cash nor enthusiasm to implement these simple technologies on many beef farms.

Beef farmers could, however, increase margins considerably by growing and utilising more grass on their farm. Teagasc estimates that for every 1t of grass utilised/ha on a beef farm, this can return €105/ha net margin to the farm. If we take a 40ha farm, that’s €4,200 from 1t/ha extra or €8,400 for 2t/ha extra.

If this farm was stocked with 45 suckler cows selling 42 beef animals at an average carcase weight of 350kg or 14,700kg carcase in total, that’s the equivalent of a €0.57/kg beef price rise or almost €186/cow from utilising 2t/ha more grass on your farm.

The question is how do we reach these grass-based heights?

Soil fertility

One of the first steps to increasing grass growth on beef farms is to get soil fertility right. The three key components of soil fertility are phosphorous (P), potassium (K) and pH (lime).

The optimum level for P and K in soil is an index of 3 to 4, based on a scale of 1 to 4. In physical quantities, the ideal level of soil P is >5.1 mg/l and the ideal level of K is >101 mg/l.

The optimum pH in soils is pH 6.3. However, soils high in molybdenum may be <6.2. Soil nutrient tests should be taken every three years on farms to maintain a handle on nutrient levels.

Most recent figures in 2015, taken from a Teagasc pool of 13,541 samples on Irish drystock farms, show that 91% were lacking in at least one of the three major soil nutrients.

It must be noted that these figures represent a small portion of the 110,000+ drystock farms in Ireland – arguably the most progressive portion.

Of the samples, just 39% had a P index of 3 or 4, and 46% had a K index of 3 or 4. These figures represent a decrease in soil P and K levels from 2014, when 44% of samples had optimum P levels and 49% optimum K levels respectively.

Soils with a P index of 3 will grow approximately 1.5 t dry matter/ha per year more than soils with P Index 1 in a given year.

Worryingly, given that correcting pH (lime) is cheap and extremely cost-effective, only 36% of samples had a pH greater than 6.2.

Liming will increase both the supply and rate release of nutrients within the soil. Research shows that 5t/ha lime applied to soil with a low pH increases grass production by 1.5 t DM/ha in the following two-year period, even when P and K levels are sub-optimal.

Indeed, when pH alone is corrected from a low baseline on any grassland, regardless of P and K status, grass production should increase by around 10% without any additional fertilisers or differing management.

Stocking capacity

Furthermore, the application of 7.5t/ha of lime to a low-pH soil will increase the stocking carry capacity of the ground by 100% by year four in a four-year programme as well reducing the synthetic nitrogen fertiliser requirement by the equivalent of €4,900 worth of CAN.

Lime is cheap and can provide a 6:1 return on investment in its application where 1t of lime/ha/year is applied over a five-year period.

If the extra grass grown is utilised by grazing livestock it can reduce farm feed bills by €150/ha/year. With lime valued at €25/t/ha, this represents a sixfold increase on investment and this doesn’t even include the potential for reducing fertiliser costs/ha.

On many drystock farms, the number of paddocks per grazing group is inadequate and paddocks are too large with set-stocking practiced.

With a set-stocking scenario, the quality and quantity of the sward is compromised and the productivity of these fields can be severely reduced.

In this scenario, regrowths are often grazed too quickly, nitrogen application is irregular, pre-grazing yields are too high and utilisation is poor and this results in fields having to be topped to clean off the heavy residual.

Teagasc has shown that there is a direct relationship between the number of paddocks on a farm and the number of grazings that take place on that farm. The more paddocks, the more grazings and more grass grown. Dividing fields into paddocks need not be an elaborate construction project and in many cases reels and poly wire may be used to temporarily split fields for grazing. Having adequate drinkers in fields is very important to facilitate subdivision.

Roadways

Roadway construction is the final piece of the infrastructure jigsaw and the most expensive. Fences and drinkers should be worked on first, with thought given to where roadways can be sited at a later date.

Grass bugeting/measuring

The uptake of grass budgeting on beef farms is low. In 2016, Pasturebase Ireland had 100 drystock farmers actively measuring compared to 650 dairy farmers.

Bear in mind there are five times as many drystock farmers as there are dairy farmers in the country too.

There are a variety of ways to measure, the simplest being eyeballing and the most accurate being cutting and weighing the grass.

The specific technology used is irrelevant and the most important aspect of grass budgeting is walking your farm to determine what grass is available and taking corrective action depending on what you find. Talk to an adviser or an active measuring farmer or search www.farmersjournal.ie for advice on getting started with grass measuring.

Reseeding

Reseeding rates in Ireland are extremely low, with Teagasc estimating that less than 2% of Irish pastures are reseeded on an annual basis.

As grass is the main source of feed, be it in the form of grazed grass or grass silage on beef farms, it is very important that farms have ryegrass-dominated swards to increase production, quality of swards and efficiency of fertiliser.

Perennial ryegrass swards have been shown to be 25% more responsive to available nutrients such as nitrogen when compared to old permanent pasture.

Reseeding increases the stock-carrying capacity of the farm and in turn increases the proportion of grazed grass in the diet of the beef animals on the farm.

At a cost of €700/ha it’s not cheap but will pay for itself in two to three years. On many farms, reseeding will be the final step and correcting soil fertility issues and addressing grazing infrastructure should be completed first.

Case study: Willie Treacy

Willy Treacy was one of the original BETTER farmers in 2008 – his tenure ending in 2015.

“What a journey it was. During those eight years, my farm reached a level I never thought it would. I’m carrying almost twice the amount of stock now than I was in 2008 and my feed and fertiliser bills have remained relatively unchanged.

“The secret has been grass – we are growing and utilising as much of it as we possibly can. I got P, K and lime right, put in more paddocks and drinkers and began measuring grass weekly. This was key.

“Of course I was sceptical of what the team was telling me I could achieve, but measuring gave me peace of mind that I could in fact feed these extra mouths they were calling for. More numbers from the same base also diluted my costs. I got stick for saying this before, but I’ll say it again: it’s like having two farms now.

“As well as extra stock, the benefits lie with long grazing seasons and short winters. Sometimes it’s out of your hands with weather, but if you don’t budget to have grass in the shoulders of the year you don’t have a chance to capitalise.”