Last week Teagasc in Mayo hosted a BTAP approved suckler cow seminar in Castlebar. The packed hall of over 500 farmers heard presentations from John Noonan, Teagasc, Alan Kelly, UCD, Chris Daly ICBF and Paul Nolan of Dawn Meats.
John Noonan, Teagasc, Mayo told the crowd that with cow costs so high, it is extremely important to do everything you can to reduce costs. He said that the most cost effective way to do this is to reduce the housing period. Noonan said that grass is five times cheaper than meal and three times cheaper than silage.
Vivian Silke, John Noonan, Teagasc, Alan Kelly, UCD, Paul Nolan, Dawn, Chris Daly, ICBF and Alan Nolan, Teagasc.
The national average of days at grass is 220, but Noonan said that suckler farmers should be looking to target 280 to 300 days depending on weather and ground conditions. He produced figures showing that every additional tonne of grass eaten per ha will increase profits by €105/ha on beef farms or €42/acre.
Maximise beef output from grass
Noonan advised farmers to try and increase the amount of grass eaten on the farm to 10t/ha and to target ten grazings per paddock, per year.
To maximise performance, Noonan said that farmers should be targeting the ideal pre and post grazing covers of 8-10cm or 1,300 to 1,600kg DM/ha and to graze fields out to 4cm, to set the farm up for excellent quality re-growths.
He added that heavy covers should be taken as very high quality surplus silage. This will ensure that the paddock rejoins the grazing rotation quickly and will keep cattle on track, eating the ideal covers.
To maximise production, he said that soil fertility should be a focus. He outlined that only 15% of soils in Ireland are at optimum fertility.
He advised farmers to have soil samples analysed if they have not taken anything in the last five years and to construct a nutrient management plan to help improve fertility and allow the farm to grow more grass.
Noonan advised farmers to implement a rotational grazing system if possible. He said that grass should be grown in three weeks and grazed in three days. For a 20 cow suckler herd the ideal paddock size is 1ha and there should be seven-to-eight paddocks per group.
Key points
Increase the utilisation of grass grown to 80%.Reduce pre-grazing covers to 8-10cm.Graze out paddocks to 4cm.Increase the proportion of high quality grass in the diet.Improve soil pH and P and K levels to optimum.Lengthen the grazing season. Alan Kelly spoke on the topic of “Feeding the suckler cow for maximum reproductive efficiency’’. He focused on two main strategies, increasing output to dilute cow costs and to reduce costs. On the issue of costs, he outlined figures in Table 1.
He said that it costs about €635 to maintain a suckler cow and calf to the weanling stage, with about €552 of this attributed to the suckler cow alone. He added that if you factor in a land charge, this increases the costs to keep the cow and calf to weanling stage to about €782.
The single largest cost for suckler farmers is feed costs. Kelly said that in a spring calving suckler system that is €420 per cow and calf. In a suckler-to-weanling system, the cow accounts for about 85% of the costs in the system, while in a suckler to beef system about 50% of total costs are cow related.
Feed requirements of the suckler cow
Kelly outlined the three important stages when it comes to the feed requirements of the suckler cow. The first is mating or breeding, second is calving and third is weaning.
As the winter period is the most costly in the system, Kelly said that farmers should be aiming to build up body reserves where possible at grass and these reserves can be utilised during the winter when feed costs are at their highest.
He advised farmers to base the cows feed requirements on the cow’s body reserves.
To do this you will need to body condition score the cow and use the excess reserves to restrict winter fodder requirements, but only to reduce condition to 2.5 or greater at calving. Figure 1 shows the cow’s target body condition.
The cow’s body condition should be highest at housing and it can be reduced by 0.5 of a condition score over the winter to help reduce silage use.
However, Kelly warned that the body condition of the cow at calving is very important.
At calving the BCS should be 2.5-3 and should be no lower than 2 at mating. Excessive BCS loss between calving and mating can reduce fertility.
He advised farmers to assess cow condition at weaning and housing. Cows should be divided into three groups at housing, fat cows with a BCS of over 3.5, those in target BCS of 2.75-3 and thin cows with a BCS of 2.5 or less.
These should be fed separately for the winter. Fat cows can be fed a restricted diet, target cows can be fed ad-lib, while thin cows may need some supplementation in order to increase BCS to target. This should be done well in advance of calving.
He said that where cows are thin at housing at BCS of 2, they need ad-lib good quality silage along with 2kg of concentrates per day to increase BCS to 2.5 by 6-8 weeks prior to calving.
He advised farmers to correct cow BCS six-to-eight weeks prior to calving, as excessive feeding in late pregnancy leads to increased calf birth weight.
This combined with increased fat deposits in fat cows can increase the incidence of calving difficulty.
Post calving recommendations
For farmers calving suckler cows in January and February, the cows need to be fed good quality silage of 70 DMD or better where possible along with 1.5-2kg of concentrates per day.
Those who are calving within a month of going to grass will not need to be supplemented, provided that silage quality is good.
Kelly said that suckler farmers have only a narrow window of 2-3 cycles to get cows back in calf in order to have them calving again inside 365days.
One issue that can influence this is the post partum period, which is the period after calving when a cow is not cycling.
Kelly said that cow condition at calving can have a major impact on this. For cows that calve down in a BCS of 2, they take 2-3 weeks more to go back in-calf.
He also advised farmers to assess cow condition at calving and again prior to mating.
Cows should lose no more than 0.5 of a condition score in this period.
ICBF Data is your data
Chris Daly of ICBF encouraged suckler farmers to go into the new BEEP scheme. He said that the data collected by farmers through the scheme will help improve the quality of data recorded on the farms.
According to Chris, the BDGP scheme is starting to have a positive effect. From 2000 to 2014, milk was becoming more and more of an issue, but now they are seeing it increase once again in heifers data.
The quality of cattle in marts has decreased in recent years, but Chris said this was down to a greater proportion of dairy cattle sold in marts. In terms of genetic gains for finishing animals, he said that while carcase weights are similar, the average age of cattle at slaughter is a month younger. Chris advises that farmers assess their targets, in terms of breeding goals. He said that 80% of marts are now displaying the star rating of heifers on mart boards and this is very useful when sourcing heifers for replacements.
Last week Teagasc in Mayo hosted a BTAP approved suckler cow seminar in Castlebar. The packed hall of over 500 farmers heard presentations from John Noonan, Teagasc, Alan Kelly, UCD, Chris Daly ICBF and Paul Nolan of Dawn Meats.
John Noonan, Teagasc, Mayo told the crowd that with cow costs so high, it is extremely important to do everything you can to reduce costs. He said that the most cost effective way to do this is to reduce the housing period. Noonan said that grass is five times cheaper than meal and three times cheaper than silage.
Vivian Silke, John Noonan, Teagasc, Alan Kelly, UCD, Paul Nolan, Dawn, Chris Daly, ICBF and Alan Nolan, Teagasc.
The national average of days at grass is 220, but Noonan said that suckler farmers should be looking to target 280 to 300 days depending on weather and ground conditions. He produced figures showing that every additional tonne of grass eaten per ha will increase profits by €105/ha on beef farms or €42/acre.
Maximise beef output from grass
Noonan advised farmers to try and increase the amount of grass eaten on the farm to 10t/ha and to target ten grazings per paddock, per year.
To maximise performance, Noonan said that farmers should be targeting the ideal pre and post grazing covers of 8-10cm or 1,300 to 1,600kg DM/ha and to graze fields out to 4cm, to set the farm up for excellent quality re-growths.
He added that heavy covers should be taken as very high quality surplus silage. This will ensure that the paddock rejoins the grazing rotation quickly and will keep cattle on track, eating the ideal covers.
To maximise production, he said that soil fertility should be a focus. He outlined that only 15% of soils in Ireland are at optimum fertility.
He advised farmers to have soil samples analysed if they have not taken anything in the last five years and to construct a nutrient management plan to help improve fertility and allow the farm to grow more grass.
Noonan advised farmers to implement a rotational grazing system if possible. He said that grass should be grown in three weeks and grazed in three days. For a 20 cow suckler herd the ideal paddock size is 1ha and there should be seven-to-eight paddocks per group.
Key points
Increase the utilisation of grass grown to 80%.Reduce pre-grazing covers to 8-10cm.Graze out paddocks to 4cm.Increase the proportion of high quality grass in the diet.Improve soil pH and P and K levels to optimum.Lengthen the grazing season. Alan Kelly spoke on the topic of “Feeding the suckler cow for maximum reproductive efficiency’’. He focused on two main strategies, increasing output to dilute cow costs and to reduce costs. On the issue of costs, he outlined figures in Table 1.
He said that it costs about €635 to maintain a suckler cow and calf to the weanling stage, with about €552 of this attributed to the suckler cow alone. He added that if you factor in a land charge, this increases the costs to keep the cow and calf to weanling stage to about €782.
The single largest cost for suckler farmers is feed costs. Kelly said that in a spring calving suckler system that is €420 per cow and calf. In a suckler-to-weanling system, the cow accounts for about 85% of the costs in the system, while in a suckler to beef system about 50% of total costs are cow related.
Feed requirements of the suckler cow
Kelly outlined the three important stages when it comes to the feed requirements of the suckler cow. The first is mating or breeding, second is calving and third is weaning.
As the winter period is the most costly in the system, Kelly said that farmers should be aiming to build up body reserves where possible at grass and these reserves can be utilised during the winter when feed costs are at their highest.
He advised farmers to base the cows feed requirements on the cow’s body reserves.
To do this you will need to body condition score the cow and use the excess reserves to restrict winter fodder requirements, but only to reduce condition to 2.5 or greater at calving. Figure 1 shows the cow’s target body condition.
The cow’s body condition should be highest at housing and it can be reduced by 0.5 of a condition score over the winter to help reduce silage use.
However, Kelly warned that the body condition of the cow at calving is very important.
At calving the BCS should be 2.5-3 and should be no lower than 2 at mating. Excessive BCS loss between calving and mating can reduce fertility.
He advised farmers to assess cow condition at weaning and housing. Cows should be divided into three groups at housing, fat cows with a BCS of over 3.5, those in target BCS of 2.75-3 and thin cows with a BCS of 2.5 or less.
These should be fed separately for the winter. Fat cows can be fed a restricted diet, target cows can be fed ad-lib, while thin cows may need some supplementation in order to increase BCS to target. This should be done well in advance of calving.
He said that where cows are thin at housing at BCS of 2, they need ad-lib good quality silage along with 2kg of concentrates per day to increase BCS to 2.5 by 6-8 weeks prior to calving.
He advised farmers to correct cow BCS six-to-eight weeks prior to calving, as excessive feeding in late pregnancy leads to increased calf birth weight.
This combined with increased fat deposits in fat cows can increase the incidence of calving difficulty.
Post calving recommendations
For farmers calving suckler cows in January and February, the cows need to be fed good quality silage of 70 DMD or better where possible along with 1.5-2kg of concentrates per day.
Those who are calving within a month of going to grass will not need to be supplemented, provided that silage quality is good.
Kelly said that suckler farmers have only a narrow window of 2-3 cycles to get cows back in calf in order to have them calving again inside 365days.
One issue that can influence this is the post partum period, which is the period after calving when a cow is not cycling.
Kelly said that cow condition at calving can have a major impact on this. For cows that calve down in a BCS of 2, they take 2-3 weeks more to go back in-calf.
He also advised farmers to assess cow condition at calving and again prior to mating.
Cows should lose no more than 0.5 of a condition score in this period.
ICBF Data is your data
Chris Daly of ICBF encouraged suckler farmers to go into the new BEEP scheme. He said that the data collected by farmers through the scheme will help improve the quality of data recorded on the farms.
According to Chris, the BDGP scheme is starting to have a positive effect. From 2000 to 2014, milk was becoming more and more of an issue, but now they are seeing it increase once again in heifers data.
The quality of cattle in marts has decreased in recent years, but Chris said this was down to a greater proportion of dairy cattle sold in marts. In terms of genetic gains for finishing animals, he said that while carcase weights are similar, the average age of cattle at slaughter is a month younger. Chris advises that farmers assess their targets, in terms of breeding goals. He said that 80% of marts are now displaying the star rating of heifers on mart boards and this is very useful when sourcing heifers for replacements.
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