Knockenjig farm is run by the Walker family, with Jim and his two sons, Stuart and Michael, taking on the farm together in the latter half of 2015. The family business is spread across three farms in total. Knockenjig, an 800ac ex-dairy farm, makes up just part of their 4,500ac farm enterprise, with both Tower and Drumbuie farms completing their portfolio.

Farm system

The Walkers run a 650-suckler cow herd, comprised of typically Aberdeen Angus cross cows, as well as a nucleus herd of pedigree Charolais cows from which they breed their own stock bulls. Alongside the suckler unit they also run a flock of 2,500 ewes, comprised of 2,000 Blackface and 500 crossbreds. There are seven full-time labour units in the business.

Expansion

The suckler unit has undergone rapid expansion in recent times, increasing breeding cow numbers from 300 to 650 in just two years. While the Walkers had run a closed herd for many years in the past, once they took on Knockenjig the decision was taken to go out and purchase over 180 breeding cows to stock the farm, as well as bringing in over 100 of their own heifers as well. The herd will become closed once again as they want to reduce the risk of introducing any disease in the future.

Calving is just about to get under way on the farm, with the first cows due from the beginning of February. Calving is quite protracted, running to the end of May. This can often be the case during a time of rapid expansion. When you are trying to increase numbers it is difficult to be as strict with the culling policy as you may like. However, it is something they are actively working on and have already pulled a number of weeks off the calving spread in the last two years. A decent cull cow price at present makes bringing in replacements that bit easier.

Reproductive performance

One method they have employed to help reduce the calving spread has been the use of fixed-time AI. Last year, 350 cows were synchronised and AI’d to maternal-type bulls with the plan of using the heifers as replacements. The thinking behind this, Michael explained, was that you were selecting replacements from your most fertile cows that held to first service and so should lead to more fertile cows coming into the herd in the future.

They achieved a conception rate of 66% to first service. While a decent result, Stuart pointed out that a large proportion of these had been the bought-in cows which were adapting to the new system. It is something they will do again this year and would expect improved conception rates. This method is quite easy for them to do as the cows are still indoors for breeding. Once they are turned out to grass, Charolais stock bulls are let off with the cows.

Breeding lasted 16 weeks last year. Scanning results showed 98% of cows that went to the bull were in-calf, and 95% weaned a calf.

Heifers

A large number of cows comes with a need for a large number of replacement heifers. This year, the Walkers will bring in around 100 heifers to the herd as they strive to achieve their desired cow type. What is it? A cow with decent frame and length and plenty of milk. Stuart says that looking at the weaning weight of the calves over the last few years, nearly all cases of lighter calves can be traced back to poor milking mothers. Therefore, they are placing a large emphasis on driving milk back into the herd where required.

Everything on-farm calves for the first time at 24 months and the heifers calving down this year have a mixture of Simmental, Angus, Limousin and Hereford breeding among them. However, given the variation between the different breeds, the evenness of the batch of heifers has to be commended. Likewise the yearling heifers are like peas in a pod in terms of size and shape. Average cow weight is currently just over 700kg. Stuart is happy with this, as a decently sized cow is fit for purpose.

Grazing

The farm sits at 175m above sea level. Of the 4,500ac about 1,200ac would be considered silageable ground, with the remainder being rough pasture. Farming in a high-rainfall, late-season area, turnout didn’t begin until the first days of June last year. The grazing period in 2017 lasted just 100 days, with rehousing commencing in early September due to poor weather conditions. Given the long housing period on-farm, decent cattle accommodation is required and Knockenjig certainly ticks all the boxes here.

Standing in the main cow shed, the pens of cows seem to go on for an eternity. With capacity for 220 cows plus their offspring, this shed has all the bells and whistles. On one side is a slatted tank with a straw-bedded lie-back behind, and a feed barrier with a scrape pass to the exterior. On the other side are back-to-back slatted pens, where calves can creep out from the cows, again with an exterior feed barrier.

The new shed.

Creep gate for calvers.

Each cow pen is fitted with locking feed barriers. Decisions like this were made with labour in mind – the idea is that one labour unit should be able to carry out all tasks on-farm when required.

A task such as vaccinating the cows would have taken a full day if they had to be moved from the pens, but with the locking barriers it’s a 45-minute job for 220 cows. They also make use of the barriers during times of dosing, bolusing and AI as well as injecting any sick cow when needed.

Slurry storage

Given the long wintering period, slurry storage is also a major issue on farm. The new shed, which is in its second winter of use, has 10ft tanks as well as a suspended centre pass to boost capacity, which is in excess of 1m gallons.

One of the deciding factors for building the new shed at Knockenjig was the fact that over 75% of the silage ground for the entire unit surrounds the farmyard and is accessible with an umbilical system, allowing them to make best use of their slurry and keeping spreading costs to a minimum.

Young stock

Weaning occurred at the end of November and early December last year. Calves are taken through the first winter and typically sold between nine and 11 months of age. Last year the steers averaged 410kg and heifers 375kg at the point of sale. The Walkers predominantly sell privately on-farm – having such numbers available for sale gives them plenty of bargaining power with buyers and they are building up a number of repeat customers.

Stuart says the fact that buyers can come and see the cattle relaxed in their own environment, and knowing the health status and vaccination protocols they have in place, is worth a lot. Cattle are weighed prior to leaving the farm and are sold on a p/kg basis.

Diets

Currently cows are being offered one of three diets – either 30kg, 34kg or 36kg of grass silage (21% DM, 11 ME and 11.8% CP) plus 2kg of straw, depending on whether cows need to lose, maintain or gain condition. Michael explained that they like to keep cows in decent condition in the run-up to calving due to the fact that they will spend so long post-calving indoors – they hope many of them will be back in-calf by turnout.

Growing stock is offered the same grass silage plus 2kg of concentrate. Michael admitted the silage was wetter than they would have liked, but again it was down to weather conditions and by the time they got to make it they were just happy to have it in the yard.

Pedigree herd

The Walkers run a small herd of pedigree Charolais cows to produce bulls for use on the commercial herd under the prefix Drumbuie. With 32 bulls currently on-farm, there is need for a constant flow of bulls coming through the system, as they look to replace around eight per year.

One of the reasons for breeding their own is it allows them to know the background and feeding regime of their stock bulls and they are able to select bulls that perform well in their production system. They also feel they have fewer problems with bulls going off their feet and less fertility problems with their own bulls. It also allows them to produce quality bulls for their commercial cows without having to pay the ringside price tag.

Any bulls that don’t make the grade for breeding are slaughtered. Bull performance is also closely monitored through the performance of their progeny.