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The BETTER Farm NI programme will hold a farm walk on 29 November at 2pm, with Fionbharr Hamill hosting the event just outside Downpatrick.
A key part of the event will be the role that forage brassicas play on the farm to reduce winter feeding costs.
Farmers attending the farm walk will have the opportunity to view the cows grazing forage crops at first hand, as well as get a handle on the costs of establishing the crops and the potential savings they offer compared with conventional silage diets for housed cows.
In addition, the farm runs Angus and Charolais stock bulls, with progeny taken through to slaughter. The physical and financial performance between the Angus and Charolais steers finished on farm will be detailed.
Since joining the programme in 2017, Fionbharr has implemented several changes to his suckler system. Some of these changes are included here.
Outwintering on forage brassicas
With limited housing space for suckler cows, Fionbharr previously wintered cows outdoors by sacrificing grazing fields.
Cows were fed silage in feeders in these fields. However, poaching and over-grazing limited early season grass growth and it also affected growth for the rest of the year.
However, since joining the programme, the focus has been to develop a much more defined outwintering plan.
Approximately 20 acres of forage brassicas are now grown annually to outwinter the 100-cow spring-calving herd.
The most common crop grown is Swift, a hybrid crop between kale and forage rape. Cows start grazing from early November after they have been weaned.
Cows continue to graze these crops until late January when they are housed in preparation for spring calving.
Once cows have finished with the forage crops, the fields are replanted in spring barley and then reseeded in grass in autumn.
This has proved to be an effective way to reseed old pasture into new grass.
Increasing cow numbers
At the outset of the programme, the suckler herd consisted of 80 cows split between spring- and autumn-calving.
The herd was predominantly spring-calving, with cows calving from February onwards.
Over the past two years, Fionbharr has managed to expand the herd to 100 cows, with the additional breeding numbers reared on farm.
Heifer replacements are bred on farm and calve down at 24 months of age. There is also a small number of dairy-bred heifer calves purchased at two to three weeks old, along with bull calves.
The bullocks are reared for slaughter, with some of the heifers brought into the breeding herd to increase milk traits.
AI has also been used to good effect on replacement heifers and a selection of proven maternal heifers.
Moving to 100% spring-calving
As previously stated, prior to joining the programme, Fionbharr operated a small autumn-calving herd of approximately 15 to 20 cows.
However, with a naturally dry farm, the farm is ideally set up for spring calving and, with limited housing space, Fionbharr has moved the autumn cows into the spring herd.
With all cows now calving in spring, the herd makes better use of grassland and cattle are finished from November to February.
Earlier finishing
Bullocks were previously finished at 30 months of age to maximise carcase weights.
Charolais steers struggled to meet the correct specification on fat cover to kill at a younger age.
However, since joining the programme, improved grazing management and targeted feeding has helped to reduce slaughter age for steers to 24 months of age.
Cattle rations are formulated based on silage quality, with homegrown barley used in rations.
Spring-born steers are also housed for intensive finishing in September at 19 to 20 months of age.
The earlier housing, plus having rations formulated, helps to get sufficient fat cover on later-maturing cattle, enabling them to meet market spec at the earlier slaughter age.
A new Charolais stock bull has been purchased during autumn 2018, with the aim of producing more efficient finishing cattle, especially in a steer-beef system.
Grassland management
Grazing management has been one of the main areas of farm management where Fionbharr excels.
Cattle are grazed in a defined rotational paddock system, with surplus grass harvested as baled silage.
Additional water troughs have been installed to allow grazing fields to be split into smaller grazing paddocks, with a target of two to three days between each move to fresh grass.
The dry summer of 2018 led to a drought on farm and grass growth was severely hindered. Second-cut silage had been planned for early July, but was delayed to autumn.
Winter fodder supplies are still tight on farm. But growing conditions were much more favourable this autumn, allowing cattle to comfortably graze through to November.
Spring-born calves were also weaned in October, which also reduced the grazing demand and helped to maintain body condition on cows as they moved on to kale.
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