Milking the basics of suckler production in Donegal

The final open day in phase two of the BETTER farm beef programme takes place on Tuesday 12 July on the farm of Co Donegal farmer James Strain, who will give an overview of his suckler to weaning/store system.

James has been part of the programme since 2012 and has been focused on improving his farm profit while holding down full-time employment with the local Inishowen Co-op.

Working off-farm is a key driver behind James wanting a simple farming system as his time is limited. Management tasks have to be prioritised so that essential tasks are completed on time and carried out properly.

James is able to call on the support of his wife Dawn and daughter Gemma to help out on-farm. He also relies on advice from programme adviser Catherine Egan and local Teagasc adviser Gary Fisher to help to keep the farm on track.

System

The 21.3ha farm is completely laid out in grass. The farm is mainly one consolidated land block, but it straddles two roads, which complicates stock movement.

Soil type predominantly consists of medium to heavy clay. This makes grazing in spring and autumn tricky to manage. For the past 15 years, James has operated an autumn-calving herd aimed at producing strong weanlings.

Since joining the BETTER farm programme, the system has evolved slightly to increase output. Bull calves are still sold at 10 to 11 months, with sale weights typically hitting 480kg to 500kg liveweight.

Heifers are now stored over a second winter and sold the following spring at 15 to 17 months of age.

“I find the autumn-calving system works better for this farm. In a spring-calving system, it would be a struggle to get the weight on to calves before selling in October, as spring turnout is always a challenge with land type.

“With the autumn system, we can use on-off grazing in March to get weanlings out to grass, which boosts growth rates in spring. Cows remain housed until late spring. Better use of grazing helps to get bulls up to 500kg in time for sale in autumn. This has a big impact on generating more profit.

“Heifers are carried over winter because we have adequate housing and, since joining the programme, we have worked hard at improving silage quality. We make plenty of good silage now and can bring heifers to 550kg by 15 to 17 months of age. Again, this increases output and there is always a good demand for these animals in spring.”

Gross margin

Gross margin has increased from €126/ha to €629/ha from 2011 to 2015. The system has scope to improve further, as the breeding herd has yet to reach maturity.

James has refocused the breeding programme to produce more cows with high milking ability. Replacements are homebred and come from a base of Simmental-cross-Friesian cows bought in 2012. These heifers have been crossed to Limousin and Simmental bulls.

As more maternal heifers calve into the herd and cows mature, weaning weights will increase further.

Flexibility

For James, being able to complete the majority of vaccinating, dosing and breeding tasks when cows are housed makes the autumn-winter calving system easier to manage when working full-time off farm. It leaves him to concentrate on grazing management during the summer along with a couple of routine worm doses.

The system offers flexibility in a wet grazing season. Cows can be housed during a wet summer, leaving calves to graze, thereby preventing any check in calf performance. As cows are settled in-calf before turn-out, there is no negative impact on herd fertility if cows need to be rehoused during the summer.

If grass supplies are tight in summer, November- and December-calving cows can be weaned, reducing grazing demand.

AI is used during the first five weeks of breeding. FSZ and OZS have been used to inseminate cows this year. A Simmental stock bull is used to serve the remainder of cows and any repeats.

Cows are scanned around 17 March before turnout and, with cows still housed at this stage, it is easily completed.

Added cost

What about the added costs of calving in late autumn and winter? There is no doubt the system has added costs in terms of additional meal used, straw bedding in calf creeps and use of scour vaccines.

In James’s opinion, the additional liveweight when selling cattle covers any added cost. Meal use has actually dropped on farm over the past few years (€243/ha v €156/ha) despite holding heifers for longer on farm. It highlights that James’s efforts to improve milking ability in his cows, use top genetics and focus on grass quality for grazing and silage is bearing fruit.

Three key lessons learned so far on James Strain’s farm

1. Breeding cows with more milk to produce heavier weanlings

There was little point in trying to increase sale weight of cattle if it was not going to be achieved through milk while on the cow. Ad-lib feeders will increase sale weight, but at a cost. James was quick to realise he needed cows that can convert grass to milk, which will drive weaning weight with less purchased feed.

Cows are mainly Limousin or Simmental breeding, with a good number of homebred heifers coming from a Friesian-cross-Simmental base. When crossed to a five-star terminal sire, the end result is heavier cattle.

Over the past four years, daily weight gain is increasing in calves. James weighs cattle regularly and has moved from bull weanlings gaining 1kg to 1.2kg/day to an average of 1.6kg/day last year. Heifers have increased from 0.8kg to 1.3kg/day. Over a 200-day period, this equates to an additional 80kg to 100kg of liveweight gained while the calf is on the cow.

2. Improved silage quality to hold cow body condition

Silage quality in 2015 was 74DMD and 72DMD for first- and second-cut respectively, which is a significant improvement on previous years. The big push to improve silage quality is down to two reasons:

Better silage allowed James to cut meal feeding from the traditional 2kg/day over the full winter period to a much more tailored feeding programme matched to silage quality.

In winter 2015, cows were offered 1kg of a 75% barley and 25% soya blend. A high phosphorous mineral was also fed. Meal was cut from all cows in mid-February. Taking a mean calving date in early December, cows would have consumed around 80kg of meal in total, costing €19 (€240/t ration). This has helped to cut out a lot of the added costs from autumn/winter calving.

3. Improved soil fertility has helped to increase grass growth

At the outset of the programme, soil samples indicated the farm was low in phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and lime (pH). Higher levels of compound fertiliser have been spread on the farm, which is reflected in a higher fertiliser bill. Soils have been corrected to pH6.3 and above. P and K levels are at 60% and 100% respectively for index 3 and 4. Improved soil fertility has helped to increase grass growth, especially on the shoulders of the year.