Winter finishing of cattle is a costly business. Once cattle are brought indoors, the cost of producing 1kg of carcase escalates immediately.

Young bulls are the most cost-effective cattle at converting feed to lean meat. Steers and heifers are less efficient and the older these animals are, their efficiency at converting feed to lean meat decreases further.

Put simply, the younger the animal, the better their food conversion rate and therefore the cheaper the cost of carcase gain.

On the vast majority of finishing farms, cattle will be housed for the winter and put on to a store diet until early to mid spring. At this point, they are normally pushed for a finishing period of 70 to 100 days in most cases.

When analysing the economics of finishing cattle, the store period is the most expensive period of weight gain for cattle.

High cost

For example, on most beef finishing farms, cattle will typically gain between 0.3kg to 0.5kg of liveweight on a daily basis during the store period. This means these animals are achieving between 0.17kg and 0.29kg of carcase gain every day.

At a beef price of €4/kg, this would translate to a daily income of €0.68 to €1.16 per animal per day. Assuming a 550kg steer housed and offered a daily diet of 3kg of ration at €240/t and 25kg of silage at €25/t, the animal has a daily feed cost of €1.38. This means the animal is losing money every day during the store period.

Compare this to when a steer is being intensively finished and gaining 1kg of liveweight on a daily basis. This would give a daily carcase gain of 0.57kg at 57% kill-out, which is a daily income of €2.28 at a beef price of €4/kg.

Assuming a 600kg steer is being fed a daily diet of 8kg of concentrates, plus 12kg of silage, the animal is just covering its daily feed cost. Fixed costs are an additional cost to be incurred after feed costs.

Considering the costs begs the question – is storing cattle over winter for finishing next spring feasible, or is killing cattle at a lighter carcase weight a more profitable option?

Merits of storing cattle

The answer to this question will depend on a couple of factors, such as liveweight at housing and cattle type.

For instance, a 450kg to 500kg steer of continental breeding and housed on 1 November will not be finished to market spec if it is put straight on to a 100-day finishing period.

Likewise, plainer cattle with dairy breeding influence will struggle to generate a viable sale price in the mart. Therefore, finishing these cattle is usually the best market option, especially if they qualify for a premium due to breed type. Depending on housing weight, there may be a requirement to store these animals, but it should be kept as short as possible.

Negatives of storing cattle

As outlined, the store period is one of lower liveweight gain but higher feed costs. Generally, animals will not be covering their feed costs, never mind fixed costs.

Trying to push cattle to gain more liveweight during the store period means they will have a lower weight gain response once moved on to the finishing diet, especially steers and heifers.

Storing well-bred cattle is equivalent to stalling their performance, or putting the brakes on for a short period. Slowing down the animal’s daily liveweight gain, more or less, defeats the purpose of breeding faster-growing cattle for finishing.

Using grazing margins

When cattle are at grass, they will have a high daily liveweight gain and a low feed cost, which helps to generate a margin over feed every day.

The more weight gain that can be achieved at grass, the more profit that can be generated on the animal that can support the winter finishing period.

For instance, a steer turned out to grass on 1 April and housed 1 November has a grazing season of 214 days, which for the sake of this article will be taken at 200 days to allow for a changeover in diet after turnout when the animal would not have gained any weight.

Taking a turnout weight of 380kg and housing weight of 560kg, the steer would have an average daily grass intake of 10kg DM/day over the grazing season. At an average grazing cost of 6c/kg DM of grass, feed cost is 60c/day.

On good-quality grass, this animal should be gaining 1kg of liveweight per day, or 0.57kg of carcase weight per day. At a beef price of €4/kg, the animal is generating €2.28/day or €1.68 over its feed cost.

Over a 200-day grazing season, this animal would have, in theory, built up a margin over feed costs of €336/head (excluding vet and fixed costs). Once cattle are housed for finishing, they will be eating back into this profit margin.

The longer they are held on a store diet, or finishing diet that is not covering the animal’s feed costs, the more of the profit margin built up at grass is used to subsidise the winter finishing period. Fixed costs and vet costs have to be covered by the margin built up at grass also.

Killing cattle at a lighter weight

The idea of killing steers and heifers at a younger age or lighter weight will not be shared by everyone. In Ireland, around 60% to 70% of steers are finished under 30 months of age.

Management will play a big factor in killing more cattle at 22 to 24 months. The logic that continental cattle cannot be properly finished at 24 months at an acceptable carcase weight and fat class is not true.

For instance, at 24 months of age, a steer will be 730 days old. As the animal has a birth weight of 45kg to 60kg, it needs around 640kg to 655kg of liveweight gain over its lifetime, or around 0.9kg/day from birth to slaughter.

Fat cover will be influenced by genetics and diet. If cattle farmers can finish continental young bulls at fat class 2+, or fat class 3, by 16 to 18 months of age, then it is reasonable to expect continental steers to reach fat class 3 by 24 months.

To get the animal properly finished in terms of fat cover, the energy content of the diet needs to increase earlier, while at the same time, decreasing the protein levels to 12% to 14%. Too much protein will keep the animal growing frame rather than flesh.

Finishing cattle earlier

There are a number of beef finishers who do not store cattle that are within 100kg of potential finish weight. Table 1 outlined two options for forward steers this winter.

Option one outlines a 550kg steer housed on 20 October and put on to a store diet for 100 days, with a total liveweight gain of 50kg during this period.

After this, the animal moves on to a 100-day finishing period, gaining a further 100kg of liveweight. When slaughtered, the animal has a carcase weight of 399kg and sale value of €1,596.

Option two outlines the same animal housed on 20 October at 550kg liveweight and put straight on to a 100-day finishing period, gaining 100kg of liveweight. The animal is slaughtered at a carcase weight of 371kg and sale value of €1,484.

In the example, once feed costs are deducted, the steer in option two has left €23 more than the steer in option one, despite being on farm for 100 days less and having a 28kg lighter carcase.

The example shows just how costly the store period can potentially be, if not carefully managed in terms of duration. The additional feed costs incurred in option one of €135 is where the loss was made and cancelled out the value of the extra carcase weight.

There are no fixed costs or veterinary costs included for the example, as both animals would be receiving similar management in terms of parasite control after housing.

Comment

There are plenty of farmers who do a good job of storing cattle for a short period and finishing them at heavy carcase weights, maximising carcase value.

But as mentioned earlier, the store period is the most expensive period for beef finishers. Housing weight will determine whether a store period is required and how long for. But there is potential for a greater number of Irish steers and heifers to be finished at an earlier stage by reducing the length of, or cutting out the store period entirely.

It will not be an option for everyone as cattle type, housing facilities and personal preference must be considered.

But there are numerous cattle farmers successfully killing cattle at 22 to 24 months of age and 360kg to 390kg carcase weight without any storing period.

In most of these instances, the farmers will be housing cattle in late September to push animals for slaughtering before the busy Christmas trade when prices are usually firm.

As always, the important thing to note if you are planning to finish cattle this winter is to do a similar budget as outlined. Using accurate housing weight and realistic weight gains and feed prices will leave you in a stronger position to base your decisions for finishing cattle this winter.