Long read: BETTER farm open day double-header in Wicklow and Galway

Next week, two Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Farm Beef Challenge national open days will take place in Wicklow and Galway.

The BETTER farm national open days are an excellent chance for people to see, first-hand, the beef systems operated by the BETTER farmers and more importantly the changes made by the participants which have all been geared towards increasing the efficiency and profitability of their farms.

Whether you are a regular follower of the programme or simply just have an interest in beef farming, both of these days are sure to provide some interesting advice and discussion around key performance areas as well as giving an opportunity to hear from the farmers themselves.

Both events are Knowledge Transfer (KT) approved and Department officials will be present on the day for sign-in.

Brian Doran, Croneyhorn, Carnew, Co Wicklow, Y14 AH01

Farm walk date and time: Tuesday 17 July 12pm and 5pm

On Tuesday, Wicklow BETTER farm representative Brian Doran will open the gates of his farm to the public to show the progress he has made within the programme over the last 18 months.

Brian is farming on 84ha of top-quality, free-draining land just outside Carnew in Co Wicklow. Forty-one hectares are in tillage while the remaining 43ha are in permanent grassland.

It is on these 43ha that Brian operates an impressive suckler-to-steer beef system. A very strong emphasis is placed on keeping the system as simple as possible, with the plan being to calve 50 cows in the spring, bringing all progeny to steer and heifer beef.

To supplement Brian’s cow-calf enterprise, he also purchases store cattle in the spring, at 400kg to 470kg and these cattle fit in very well with his own stores in their second year at grass. The aim is to buy 25 to 30 of these. Steers are then usually slaughtered at 22 to 24 months of age, while heifers are killed younger, at 18 to 20 months of age.

Grass is key

Since the beginning of the programme, Brian has really bought into the idea that good grassland management is the key to unlocking the full potential of a farm. It is worth the trip to Wicklow alone to see the excellent grazing infrastructure that has been put in place on the farm, with all fields now in paddocks and some reseeding already after being carried out. However, while that has required investment, the return is already proving to outweigh this.

So much greater is the volume of grass grown, that surplus bales are being taken-out on a regular basis. In one particular field, Brian pointed out that “I am carrying extra stock on this piece of ground and they have plenty of grass in front of them. Before, a smaller number of stock would have been running tight. I am even getting to take surplus bales out of it now too.”

With extra grass being grown, Brian has also begun a dairy-calf-to-beef system on the farm. This year, 20 calves were purchased, with the ultimate goal being to rear 25 calves and bring them to slaughter also.

Because Brian only runs one stock bull, keeping replacements isn’t an option. Instead, replacement stock are sourced usually through purchasing in-calf heifers or cows with calves at foot. That system has worked well with 40 cows. However, with the plan being to move to 50, some thought will have to be put into how to breed all of the cows and how to source replacements.

Soil analysis

The maintenance and improvement of soil fertility is essential to maximise grass growth. Approximately 90% of the soils sampled in Ireland are sub-optimal in one of the three major nutrients phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and pH.

As part of the BETTER Farm Beef Challenge, the soil health challenge aims to improve soil fertility on participating farms. The targets for farmers participating in the challenge is to have an average pH of 6.1 on mineral soils and an average pH of 5.7 for peaty soils.

Along with looking to improve pH levels, farmers also must improve P and K levels, with the aim to have at least 70% of the farm at index 3 for both P and K by the end of the programme.

Brian soil-sampled the entire farm in early 2017 to determine the P, K and pH status of the soils and, subsequently, a nutrient management plan was completed, aiming to correct any imbalances. Table 1 gives a breakdown of the soil samples taken on Brian’s farm.

A soil pH of between 6.3 and 6.5 is ideal to allow for maximum nutrient uptake by roots of the grass. Correcting the pH is the first requirement in optimising grass growth.

The results set out in the table above show that all of Brian’s samples are pH 6.3 or higher. Therefore, Brian just needs to monitor and maintain these levels in the future.

Recent studies have shown that grassland soils maintained at pH 6.3 to 6.5 have the potential release approximately 60kg to 80kg/ha more nitrogen (N) than soils with pH 5.0, thus representing a significant cost-saving opportunity on Irish farms.

As can be seen from Figures 1 and 2, there is investment required in building soil P and K levels. Figure 1 tells us that Brian’s entire farm is low in P, with 51% of the farm at index 1 and the remaining 49% at index 2.

Phosphorus is very important for crop establishment and root development; it also plays an important role in the nutrition of livestock. Soils at a P index 1 will produce approximately 1.5t/ha less of grass dry matter compared with soils at index 3.

With that in mind, the plan for the coming years is to target low-index paddocks with slurry and compound fertiliser such as 18:6:12 and 10:10:20 to build P, as opposed to straight N which was usually applied in the past.

Potassium levels are not as big of an issue, with over 43% of the farm at index 3. Potassium increases stem strength, improves drought resistance, cold tolerance and, most importantly, increases yield.

Lower-index paddocks are targeted with cattle slurry and compound fertiliser throughout the year to build levels. Cattle slurry is a good source of K, with approximately 30 units of K per 1,000 gallons of cattle slurry.

Along with the compound fertiliser, it is planned to spread a bag of potash on index 1 paddocks at the back end of the year to build levels.

The herd health challenge

With the continued threat of antimicrobial resistance and the negative financial impact that a herd health issue could have on farm, a major focus has been placed on improving herd health on farms over the course of the programme.

The negative effects of herd health problems on the profitability on beef farms come in the form of higher animal mortality rates, reduced performance, substantial costs of treatment, costs of prevention and additional labour.

As part of the herd health challenge, the team digs deep into vet bills to establish what are the main offenders requiring antibiotic use at farm level and then the strategy is to implement proactive rather than reactive approaches in managing these issues. The ultimate aim is to develop blueprints that favour the targeted use of vaccines and optimum herd management and husbandry practices to cut down on high-risk diseases – hence reducing antibiotic inputs by 20%.

On all farms, a detailed herd plan was put in place in conjunction with the local vet. During the planning, vets also looked at the environment where stock were kept, as well as taking a detailed look at hygiene and air flow.

Along with aiming to cut down on antibiotic usage, parasitic burdens will be regularly monitored with pooled faecal samples tested for infestations at regular intervals throughout the year.

Like a lot of herds, there were a few lingering herd health issues present. Last summer, a herd health plan was put in place in conjunction with the local vet.

The plan targeted areas that previously caused issues on the farm. The fact that the herd was buying in stock, extra precautions had to be taken to prevent a herd health breakdown. A vaccination policy was introduced for the herd and improvements were also made to housing and the implementation of stricter bio-security measures.

Improvements

In the year prior to the commencement of the programme, the gross margin was €579/ha.

Early last year, the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER farm management team, along with Brian’s local B&T adviser Eoin Woulfe, identified key areas for improvement on the farm.

At next week’s open day, a walk of Brian’s farm will include five stops describing the key changes that have taken place so far, with gross margin climbing €255 year-on-year, and they will outline how Brian hopes to double the kilos of beef produced on the farm and reach a gross margin of €1,200/ha by the end of the programme.

Nigel O’Kane, Caraun, Claregalway, Co Galway, H91 K862

Farm walk date and time: Thursday 19 July 12pm and 5pm

On Thursday, the Teagasc/ Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Farm Beef Challenge will head west to Nigel O’Kane’s farm outside Claregalway in Galway. On 25ha of free-draining land, Nigel is farming a 27-strong continental-type herd of cows all while running a full-time plumbing business.

With this in mind, the farm very much needs to run as one with the business and so simplicity is, just like on Brian Doran’s farm, key.

The farm is very typical of many farms in Galway and it is perhaps one of the most aesthetically pleasing in the programme, with miles of stone walls providing a perfect paddock grazing infrastructure. Nigel is no stranger to good grassland management either after being part of a grassland management discussion group prior to joining the programme and it is interesting to hear how he utilises grass so effectively.

A flair for breeding

One look at Nigel’s cows and it is easy to see that he has a taste for breeding, with a common trend of large-framed, continental cows with lots of milk running through the herd. For the breeding season, six weeks of AI is carried out before a Charolais stock bull is used to breed any remaining cows.

All replacement heifers are sourced from within the herd and the use of AI greatly facilitates this by providing a high number of maternal heifers for selection. The way in which Nigel operates AI while working full-time is sure to be of interest at next week’s open day.

With the assistance of the BETTER farm management team and local B&T advisers Damian Costello and Keith Fahy, Nigel was able to identify areas which could increase the efficiency and profitability of the farm, without having to add a greater workload on himself.

One area that was immediately identified was the manner in which progeny are sold. Previously, a weanling system was in operation on the farm. However, a decision was made to move towards a finishing system.

The farm also operates a dairy-calf-to-beef operation and it has done so for the last number of years. Each year, approximately 30 dairy-bred calves are reared and are subsequently sold live before the end of July in the following year, at 17 months of age. Selling these animals live works well for Nigel given the fact he is reducing the stocking rate at grass as growth rates dip later in the year.

Soil analysis

The soil fertility on the farm is currently very good. Nigel has always kept a close eye on the lime status of the farm. Although the majority of the soil is home to limestone bedrock, this doesn’t always mean soil pH will be at the optimum 6.3.

Soil pH has a large effect on the availability of nutrients, especially phosphorous (P). Phosphorous is essential for grass growth and this is the main area where Nigel needs to concentrate.

When the pH of grassland soils is maintained close to the optimum range, increased grass production of at least 1.0t DM/ha/year can be achieved.

If this extra grass production is utilised by grazing livestock, it has the potential to reduce farm feed bills by €105/ha/year on a drystock farm.

For example, if Nigel can grow 1t of additional grass production each year over a typical five-year liming period (5t/ha lime applied), this represents a 4:1 (grass €105/t: lime €25/t) return on investment in lime, not including the potential for reducing fertiliser costs into the future.

Only 13% of all the ground on the farm is deficient in lime.

There is big room for improvement on the soil fertility challenge as Nigel tries to build both P and K indices over the next couple of years. Figure 1 shows the levels of P and K.

Phosphorous is an issue on the farm, with 62% of all ground index 1. To tackle this, Nigel spread one bag of SuperP/acre on the poorest paddocks in late 2017.

Clever expansion

Without wanting to significantly increase the workload, Nigel set about expanding his operation through the construction of a slatted shed. The shed was built through TAMS where a 60% grant was availed of.

Next Thursday, a stand will be erected inside the shed and attendees will be provided with the opportunity to hear how the shed has reduced Nigel’s workload, as well as being given information on the workings and the advantages of TAMS.

In 2016, Nigel’s gross margin stood at €678/ha. Going forward, Nigel hopes to increase the output on the farm by 400kg/ha and finishing his homebred stock will hopefully contribute largely to this.

Next week’s open day will include a farm walk with six stops which will again go through the changes made on the farm to date and the plans for the future development of the farm.