Ger McSweeney is one of two suckler farmers representing Co Cork in the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Farm beef challenge. He may have been a late-comer to the programme, but has wasted no time in trying to get up to speed with his BETTER Farm comrades.

Ger is farming just under 40ha of mostly heavy ground near Millstreet. Twenty-six hectares of this ground consists of two rented blocks, located no more than 2km away. At present, Ger is operating an under-16-month bull beef system and a 22-month heifer beef system. No extra beef stock or dairy stock are purchased in. This year, the suckler herd is made up of 36 continental- and dairy-cross suckler cows. The herd is at the halfway point of a conversion from split spring and autumn calving to 100% spring calving. A total of six good young cows that calved in autumn 2018 were held until this year’s spring breeding season. Given that Ger starts spring calving in early January, the start of breeding on 1 March was not excessively long for these cows to wait.

Target

The plan designed by the BETTER Farm management team is to get to 50 suckler cows by 2021. From a herd this size, projected yearly sales are 25 under-16-month beef bulls, 15 20-to-22-month beef heifers and 10 cull cows. Replacements are to be bred from within.

Looking at developments inside the farm gate, these targets look achievable. The first step for Ger was to find out if he could grow enough grass to feed the extra mouths. He is also in the process of developing an existing shed to increase housing capacity in the yard. Following on from that, he hopes to get cow numbers to 40 for this spring. This will involve buying six to seven in-calf maiden heifers. He did this last year too, purchasing a batch of Simmental X dairy heifers from a local dairy farmer in December. They were one month away from calving. To get to 40 by this time next year would be a big step in the right direction.

However, it must be acknowledged that this farm plan hinges on developments within the beef markets. Ger, like many other farmers in the country, made the move away from selling weanlings towards finishing bulls under 16 months. Others converted from steers. As I wrote on this page earlier in the year, for many, the switch worked and unlocked an extra level of efficiency and profitability. For others, it didn’t work because of a number of factors including the wrong type of stock, the inability to hit the required carcase specifications, insufficient housing, handling and feeding facilities and the failure to consult processors and develop an informal understanding prior to starting to feed bulls. In Ger’s case, the move worked. Last year, 93% of his 2017-born suckler bull calves hit the required age, weight, grade and fat-cover specification. With that in mind, he would like to continue with this system – it is hard to argue why he shouldn’t. But with the enormous uncertainty surrounding the system at present, he will have to keep a close and regular eye on developments.

Grass in 2019

Ger first became interested in growing grass intensively in 2017 with the help of a newly formed beef grazing discussion group in the area by Ger’s Teagasc B&T adviser Ellen Standish and co-adviser Aisling Molloy. For that year, a sward stick was used to take basic measurements and complete basic grass budgeting. In 2018, a plate meter and PastureBase software were called into action. With Ger planning to increase stock numbers, he needed to be growing more grass.

Figure 1 shows the cumulative paddock yield for all of 2018. On average, the farm grew 7.55t DM/ha, of which 1.97t DM/ha was silage. Interestingly, there was a big variation between paddocks, with nine growing over 10t DM/ha but six growing less than 5t DM/ha. As we look towards Figure 2, there is a clear sign of progress. Figure 2 shows the cumulative paddock yield so far in 2019. Already the farm has matched last year’s average. What is even more impressive is that the variance between paddocks has decreased significantly – no paddock has grown over 10.5t DM/ha and nothing has grown less than 4.5t DM/ha. I think this is where the real difference can be made in terms of growing more grass on a farm. For Ger, this has come about through a combination of reseeding and targeted nutrient application. All season, he has been applying a top-up of N after each grazing, mainly in the form of 20 units of protected urea. However, on ground with low indexes, slurry or 18:6:12 is being used. The benefits will be two-fold – more grass to provide a longer grazing season as well as more fodder in the yard. By the end of the month, Ger expects to have over 650 bales in the yard – he only needs 550 for a six-month winter. But as the stock numbers grow, so too does the need for a buffer of fodder.

Adviser comment

John Greaney

Ger has made a great progress over the past two years. The route to all evil on suckler farms is a prolonged calving spread and this is something he has placed great emphasis on since joining the programme. A tighter calving spread will reduce labour demands also by ensuring there is a more uniform bunch of stock. While Ger is eager to reach his target of 50 cows, breeding primarily from within the herd will pay dividends in the long run with maternal sires being used for replacements. The under-16-month bull system has worked well. However, weight restrictions could see Ger’s breed preference shift towards early maturing breeds to keep carcases under 400kg if required.