In the last of our series on the 2019 results, we head to the Websters at Ardhuncart at Alford. Ardhuncart is a mixed upland unit of 250ha.

Around 40ha of spring barley is grown each year, with some retained for feeding and the remainder sold.

There is a 100ha hill that is used for grazing and the rest of the land is down to rotational grass carrying suckler cows, breeding heifers for sale and a sheep flock.

Cows

The 85-cow herd is based predominantly on Simmental genetics, with the target to produce a good-quality breeding heifer.

The best of the heifers are retained and bulled, with a draw being kept for the herd and the remainder being sold with calves at foot in the spring.

In the 2016 benchmark year, the weaning rate was low with 66 calves being weaned from 88 cows.

Fast forward to 2019 and 89 cows weaned 78 calves, an 18% rise. When this is combined with a sale value per calf that is practically the same as 2016, the calf sales per cow to the bull in 2019 rose by £121.

This contributed most of the £136 increase in output per cow. Replacement costs were broadly similar across the two years.

However, due to there being more calves on the ground in 2019, the calf premium per cow to the bull has risen as well.

On the costs side, the business has faced some difficult years over the life of the project.

A crop of kale was put in to carry the cows outside for longer

It is very reliant on bought-in straw and the long winter and drought of 2018 cost a lot of money. Straw that had been bought in previous years at £10 to £12 a bale delivered was suddenly double that level.

However, in the winter of 2018 in to 2019, things changed. A crop of kale was put in to carry the cows outside for longer.

This meant that they were not housed until January, reducing winter cost considerably. Silage was also short, so draff was purchased to extend stocks.

Webster's cow and calf.

While 2019 did not see the same silage shortages, Charles liked the effect that the draff had on the cattle, so they pitted nearly 200t in summer.

This is now the only bought-in protein for the herd, so while it is an additional cost, it did displace more expensive alternatives.

Vet costs were nearly halved

This meant that overall, feed costs were well up on the 2016 benchmark. However, other costs were well back.

Vet costs were nearly halved and other livestock expenses were also reduced by a third.

While the increase in the weaning rate due to less calves lost means that there are more animals overall to sell, it also means that there are lower disposal costs.

This all means that gross margin per cow has risen by £24 to £344. However, due to a rise in the stocking rate, this actually means that the gross margin per hectare has risen by £258/ha to £592/ha.

Sheep

The ewe flock at Ardhuncart numbers around 200 ewes to the tup each year. The ewes are Texel and Texel cross Cheviot, with Texel and Millennium Blue tups used. The wedder lambs are mainly sold fat through the prime ring. The best of the ewe lambs are gimmered, with some retained for the flock and the remainder sold in the breeding sales at Thainstone in the autumn.

The farm has moved its lambing date to later in spring reduce feed costs.

In the 2016 benchmark year, the weather during lambing in late February and early March meant the business had to buy a lot of feed to carry the ewes through.

This coupled with a lot of lambing losses meant that the ewe flock broke even on a gross margin basis.

Lambing date was moved back to nearer to the middle of March in 2019

Unfortunately, lambing was taking place too early and while the earlier lambs were getting away at better prices, overall, due to feed costs and losses, the sheep were not making a lot of money.

Lambing date was moved back to nearer to the middle of March in 2019. This coincided with better weather and more grass being available, reducing the feed bill significantly.

In 2016, ewe output was £90/ewe and in 2019, ewe output was £91/ewe. This is despite a fall in the sale value of the lambs.

However, the real difference for the ewe flock is the level of inputs used. Average feed and bedding costs over the 2016 to 2018 seasons was £45. In 2019, this fell by two-thirds to £16.

The farm grows around 40 hectares of spring barley each year.

When this is all put together, the ewe flock had a gross margin per ewe of £58. Compared to breaking even in 2016, this is a significant improvement.

While the ewes do use the hill a bit, they are mostly on the in-bye land, therefore, when this is allocated against the sheep, they have a gross margin per hectare of £598.