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Last week, the BETTER Farm Beef Challenge NI programme hosted a winter walk on Fionbharr Hamill’s farm outside Downpatrick, Co Down. Some of the key topics covered are featured as follows.
Farm plan
Cow numbers have increased from 80 at the beginning of the programme to 102 cows and heifers scanned in-calf this autumn.
All breeding females are set to calve down from early March. The target for the herd is to settle at 120 cows, with 100 animals sold for slaughter annually.
While the farm extends to 110.99ha, there is a small arable enterprise, sheep flock and a dairy-calf-to-beef herd also on farm. Therefore, 93ha of grassland is allocated for the suckler herd.
Cattle produced on farm are taken through to slaughter, with steers targeted for finishing at 22 to 24 months at 380kg carcase weight. Heifers are killed at 20 to 21 months at 290kg to 300kg carcase weight.
Once the herd reaches its target numbers, and allowing for some heifers to be retained for breeding, approximately 60 steers and 30 heifers along with 28 cull cows would be sold each year.
Output
This would generate around £140,000 in output, assuming steers are sold at 360p/kg, heifers at 354p/kg and cows at 290p/kg.
Typical meal use on farm amounts to £17,100 for approximately 90t.
Meal feeding costs will be higher for 2018/2019 due to the increase in concentrate prices.
Forage costs are typically £14,000 and veterinary costs are around £12,000. This brings total variable costs to £43,100.
Once the herd settles at its target output, gross margin for the suckler herd should surpass the £1,000/ha mark.
Limited accommodation has traditionally meant that suckler cows have always been outwintered. The farm is naturally dry and ground is suited to carrying livestock over winter.
Prior to joining the programme, cows were wintered in grazing fields close to the yard and fed silage through feeding trailers.
In the past two years, forage brassicas have been successfully used to winter cows. This year, 20 acres of a kale hybrid crop (Swift) have been grown on four land blocks.
Wintering costs
The Swift was sown in August and the costs to establish the crop are outlined in Table 1.
Although cultivation work was carried out by Fionbharr, a charge of £157/ha is factored into establishment costs to allow a fair comparison between other farms and fodder crops.
Seed costs amount to £69/ha and sown at a rate of 4kg/acre. Fertiliser costs are £139/ha and consist of three bags/acre of 16:16:16 and one bag of CAN/acre.
Total growing costs are £365/ha. Yields were measured prior to the farm walk and assuming a dry matter content of 15%, gives a yield of 7.5t DM/ha.
This gives a cost of 4.8p/kg DM of Swift for the standing crop. Excluded from this is the cost of straw or silage, which must be offered as a supplementary source of fibre and minerals.
Dry matter varies greatly, with forage crops ranging from 10% to 20% depending on weather and when the crop is grazed.
Utilisation
Utilisation of the crop can also vary. Fionbharr stated that utilisation is lower this year when compared with 2017. Therefore, assuming that utilisation is 75% of the standing crop and a group of 24 cows are eating on average 8.6kg DM/day, daily grazing costs amount to 56p/cow.
A 4x4 bale of straw is also being fed daily to 24 cows. At £25/bale, this brings feed costs to 160p/day excluding minerals.
Dry matter
The yields and dry matter of forage crops led to plenty of discussion among the group attending the event. Group members who have experience of the crop put dry matter closer to 11% to 12%.
Reducing the dry matter to this level would reduce yields to 5.5t DM/ha at a cost of 8.8p/kg DM at 75% utilisation. This would increase daily feed costs to 180p/day when straw costs are included.
Silage comparison
The cost of wintering dry cows on a silage diet inside is 70p/day, assuming silage is costed at £20/t and cows average 35kg/day from housing until calving.
While the direct feeding costs are lower in comparison, there are indirect costs that are more difficult to put a cost on. For example, slurry storage and slurry handling have to be factored into the wintering costs where cows are housed.
Other considerations
Currently, 100 cows are being outwintered on 20 acres of Swift from November to late February, a period of approximately 15 weeks.
Assuming cows are fed on average 35kg/day of silage during this period, over 100 cows there would be a daily requirement for 3.5t of silage for feeding.
Over a 15-week period, total silage fed would amount to 368t of silage. In a two-cut silage system yielding a combined 15t/acre, approximately 25 acres of grassland would be required to produce the required volume of forage.
Given that grass growth on farm was severely affected by drought in 2018, a two-cut silage system over the outlined area would not have produced sufficient winter fodder.
Therefore, growing Swift has ensured there is adequate fodder on farm for the winter period.
Reseeding
The forage crop is also grown as part of a rotation. Old grassland is ploughed and sown out in a forage crop in summer for winter grazing.
Once grazed, this ground is then sown out in spring barley. Once harvested, the land is then reseeded in grass. Cows are extremely fit at calving as a result of outwintering and experience few problems at calving time.
Conclusion
While it is not a winter system that will suit everyone, the lack of housing facilities has meant that forage crops have had a key role in providing winter feed on Fionbharr’s farm.
At the outlined costs, wintering indoors appears to be a more cost-effective approach. Additional cattle housing is being erected on farm to provide housing space for cows. This will give greater options for wintering cattle in years to come.
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