Farmers planning to house cattle for winter finishing should delay introducing concentrates until animals are brought indoors, AFBI beef researcher Dr Francis Lively told farmers at last week’s AgriSearch beef finishing roadshows.
Outlining the results from finishing trials, Lively said that feeding 2kg to 2.5kg of concentrate per head to stores at grass in the autumn did increase liveweight gain during that period.
However, when the cattle were housed and put on to a finishing diet, those fed grass-only diets exhibited higher weight gains (compensatory growth), resulting in final carcase weights that were not significantly different compared to those fed concentrates at grass.
It is better to delay feeding until the cattle are housed, and also prevent poaching around troughs
“There is the potential to save 200kg of concentrate per head. There is no point feeding meal to stores at grass at this time of the year.
"It is better to delay feeding until the cattle are housed, and also prevent poaching around troughs,” said Lively.
He also pointed out that while grass quality does tend to reduce in the autumn, in well-managed systems it is still a high-quality feedstuff, with ME and crude protein (CP) contents comparable with many silages, but without the cost of feeding out.
Housed
Once cattle are housed, Lively said it was important to establish groups of similar size and growth potential.
Larger-framed continental cattle should be offered low protein (11% to 14%), high-energy diets to encourage earlier fat deposition, while native breeds should potentially be on lower energy diets to prevent them going overfat.
Growing cattle require higher CP diets (14% to 16%), while smaller-framed native breeds should not be overfed with concentrates early in life.
Lively also pointed to the potential for high-quality silage to lower the overall cost of feeding cattle.
In studies where Holstein and continental bulls were offered either ad-lib concentrates, or a 50:50 diet of concentrates and high-quality silage, weight gains and
final carcase weights were similar.
Fewer NI cattle inside gold box
With an increasing proportion of beef cattle coming from the dairy herd in NI, it means fewer cattle are meeting gold box specification, LMC economist Seamus McMenamin told attendees at the roadshow held at Markethill Mart.
Over the past five years, U grades are down by 3%, and R grades down by almost 5%.
Heavy carcases end up in lower-value markets
As a result, just 45% of NI steers and heifers grade E, U, R, fat class 3, 4- or 4=, and O+3.
In terms of carcase weight, 60% of steers and 76% of heifers meet the ideal 280kg to 380kg weight limit specified by UK retailers. This leaves 35% of steers finished above the 380kg weight limit. “Most of these are continentals out of suckler cows. Heavy carcases end up in lower-value markets,” suggested McMenamin. However, across various other retailer specs (four farm residencies; UK origin; under 30 months; farm assured) the vast majority of NI cattle comply.
Challenges
Looking to future challenges, there is the continued narrative around veganism and climate change, plus uncertainty around access to EU markets after Brexit. These EU markets traditionally take offal-type products, so are important to maintain carcase balance.
“There is also the move towards lifetime farm quality assurance, which is coming down the line. Currently about 65% to 70% of our beef is lifetime assured. In Britain, they don’t know as yet,” said McMenamin.
Farmers can influence beef eating quality
Work done across Europe shows that up to 20% of grilled striploin, 25% of grilled rump and over half of topside roasts are rated as unacceptable in consumer taste tests.
“Is this sustainable for an expensive food product?,” asked Dr David Farrell from AFBI during his presentation at the AgriSearch event at Markethill Mart.
Quoting some recent work, Farrell highlighted how steer beef outperformed young bulls, which in turn rated significantly higher than cow beef across various eating quality parameters such as tenderness, juiciness and flavour.
More controversially, he also pointed to research which showed that beef from Holsteins performed better in meat quality tests than that from continental beef breeds (Blonde d’Aquitaine, Simmental, Limousin). In general, the differences were relatively small, but overall they were statistically significant. The difference is thought to be due to the fact that dairy-bred animals have higher levels of intramuscular fat.
When cattle are overly stressed it can lead to DFD (dark, firm, dry) meat that has poor shelf life and reduced value
When it comes to the nutritive value of beef, Farrell highlighted that it is a rich source of protein, contains minerals and vitamins, and when the diet is mainly grass rather than grain, it has a much higher ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids. In other words, there are potential health benefits from eating grass fed beef.
The other issue that farmers can influence is stress pre-slaughter. When cattle are overly stressed it can lead to DFD (dark, firm, dry) meat that has poor shelf life and reduced value said Farrell.
However, there are also numerous factors outside of the control of the farmer. They include mixing or standing too long in the lairage, how the carcase is hung, the temperature in the factory chill, the length of time the meat is matured, and ultimately the cooking ability of the chef.
MSA
To try to give consumers a more reliable eating experience, a number of countries have looked at the grading system produced by Meat Standards Australia (MSA), which puts an eating quality star rating on each cut of beef.
In the mid-2000s, scientists at AFBI evaluated the system for possible use by NI processors. They concluded that a new model adapted for NI could accurately predict eating quality. However, in the end NI processors were unable to find a retailer willing to take on the new system.
Since then other countries have evaluated the MSA model, including France and Poland. At the end of 2018, scientists in Wales announced they were developing a new eating quality grading system based on the MSA model.
Minimise weanling stress at housing
To reduce the potential for an outbreak of disease such as pneumonia at housing, farmers should carefully plan their strategy over the weeks ahead in conjunction with their vet, advised AFBI vet Lindsey Drummond.
Ideally calves should be weaned gradually in the field before housing, and at housing it is important to ensure that they have sufficient feed space, are not subjected to any unnecessary procedures and do not have a high worm burden.
When it comes to buying in weanlings, Drummond suggested it is best to bring in a group of calves together rather than buying calves in twos and threes and adding them into pens of other cattle.
Vaccines can offer vital cover against pneumonia, but they are fragile, and must be handled and administered correctly
She also warned anyone who has retained an animal persistently infected (PI) with BVD to get rid of it now rather than housing it and potentially leaving other cattle more susceptible to disease. “When I was working in vet practice, 95% of the time I was asked to investigate vaccine failure it was due to the presence of a PI calf,” said Drummond.
Vaccines can offer vital cover against pneumonia, but they are fragile, and must be handled and administered correctly as per the manufacturer’s instructions.
“There are a lot of different options. Use the product most appropriate to the class of cattle that you have. Speak to your vet – they should be able to guide you,” said Drummond.
For those buying in weanlings, she maintained that these cattle should be allowed to rest for a couple of days, ideally on a straw bed, before the vaccine is administered. “A bought-in weanling is stressed to the max – its immune system is on the floor. The immune system needs to be able to respond to the vaccine,” she advised.
Worms
It is also important to take advice from your vet on treatments in and around housing for gut and lungworm, lice and liver fluke said Drummond.
A number of the most commonly used flukicides only kill adult fluke, so many farmers will wait to eight weeks post-housing before treating.
However, in some wetter parts of the country it is probably good practice to treat at housing, and again at eight weeks.
This autumn pick a good wormer and think about liver fluke rather than rumen fluke
On the issue of rumen fluke, Drummond believes that its significance might be overstated.
“Don’t become preoccupied by it. This autumn pick a good wormer and think about liver fluke rather than rumen fluke,” she said.
She also warned against administering a worm or fluke dose via a diet feeder, suggesting it could mean some animals are under-dosed, which inevitably leads to the development of drug resistance on the farm.
Short payback on rubber strips
Over the years there has been some conflicting evidence on the production benefits gained from having cattle on rubber covered versus uncovered concrete slats, but the latest results from AFBI suggest that there is a significant financial benefit to be had.
Presenting the combined results of three studies using dairy-bred bulls, those housed on slats with rubber strips over a 190-day winter finishing period produced 9kg more carcase compared to those on slats only.
There is very strong evidence that cattle prefer rubber to concrete slats
Assuming an initial cost for the rubber of £100/animal, it is a payback of 3.5 to four years, which would be less if the house was in continuous use.
“We are confident that cattle on rubber have better performance than cattle on slats. There is very strong evidence that cattle prefer rubber to concrete slats,” Dr Denise Lowe told farmers.
An analysis of animal behaviour shows that cattle on concrete slats get up and down less often when compared to those on rubber strips or straw. The studies confirm that lying behaviour is improved when rubber is used.
“It is not quite up to the standard of straw. But we were comparing against a very well bedded straw system.
“Remember also there is only enough straw in NI to bed 20% of the cattle, and a badly bedded straw system certainly is not a high-welfare system,” said Lowe.
Read more
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Sustainability to be a key theme at the Ploughing
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Farmers planning to house cattle for winter finishing should delay introducing concentrates until animals are brought indoors, AFBI beef researcher Dr Francis Lively told farmers at last week’s AgriSearch beef finishing roadshows.
Outlining the results from finishing trials, Lively said that feeding 2kg to 2.5kg of concentrate per head to stores at grass in the autumn did increase liveweight gain during that period.
However, when the cattle were housed and put on to a finishing diet, those fed grass-only diets exhibited higher weight gains (compensatory growth), resulting in final carcase weights that were not significantly different compared to those fed concentrates at grass.
It is better to delay feeding until the cattle are housed, and also prevent poaching around troughs
“There is the potential to save 200kg of concentrate per head. There is no point feeding meal to stores at grass at this time of the year.
"It is better to delay feeding until the cattle are housed, and also prevent poaching around troughs,” said Lively.
He also pointed out that while grass quality does tend to reduce in the autumn, in well-managed systems it is still a high-quality feedstuff, with ME and crude protein (CP) contents comparable with many silages, but without the cost of feeding out.
Housed
Once cattle are housed, Lively said it was important to establish groups of similar size and growth potential.
Larger-framed continental cattle should be offered low protein (11% to 14%), high-energy diets to encourage earlier fat deposition, while native breeds should potentially be on lower energy diets to prevent them going overfat.
Growing cattle require higher CP diets (14% to 16%), while smaller-framed native breeds should not be overfed with concentrates early in life.
Lively also pointed to the potential for high-quality silage to lower the overall cost of feeding cattle.
In studies where Holstein and continental bulls were offered either ad-lib concentrates, or a 50:50 diet of concentrates and high-quality silage, weight gains and
final carcase weights were similar.
Fewer NI cattle inside gold box
With an increasing proportion of beef cattle coming from the dairy herd in NI, it means fewer cattle are meeting gold box specification, LMC economist Seamus McMenamin told attendees at the roadshow held at Markethill Mart.
Over the past five years, U grades are down by 3%, and R grades down by almost 5%.
Heavy carcases end up in lower-value markets
As a result, just 45% of NI steers and heifers grade E, U, R, fat class 3, 4- or 4=, and O+3.
In terms of carcase weight, 60% of steers and 76% of heifers meet the ideal 280kg to 380kg weight limit specified by UK retailers. This leaves 35% of steers finished above the 380kg weight limit. “Most of these are continentals out of suckler cows. Heavy carcases end up in lower-value markets,” suggested McMenamin. However, across various other retailer specs (four farm residencies; UK origin; under 30 months; farm assured) the vast majority of NI cattle comply.
Challenges
Looking to future challenges, there is the continued narrative around veganism and climate change, plus uncertainty around access to EU markets after Brexit. These EU markets traditionally take offal-type products, so are important to maintain carcase balance.
“There is also the move towards lifetime farm quality assurance, which is coming down the line. Currently about 65% to 70% of our beef is lifetime assured. In Britain, they don’t know as yet,” said McMenamin.
Farmers can influence beef eating quality
Work done across Europe shows that up to 20% of grilled striploin, 25% of grilled rump and over half of topside roasts are rated as unacceptable in consumer taste tests.
“Is this sustainable for an expensive food product?,” asked Dr David Farrell from AFBI during his presentation at the AgriSearch event at Markethill Mart.
Quoting some recent work, Farrell highlighted how steer beef outperformed young bulls, which in turn rated significantly higher than cow beef across various eating quality parameters such as tenderness, juiciness and flavour.
More controversially, he also pointed to research which showed that beef from Holsteins performed better in meat quality tests than that from continental beef breeds (Blonde d’Aquitaine, Simmental, Limousin). In general, the differences were relatively small, but overall they were statistically significant. The difference is thought to be due to the fact that dairy-bred animals have higher levels of intramuscular fat.
When cattle are overly stressed it can lead to DFD (dark, firm, dry) meat that has poor shelf life and reduced value
When it comes to the nutritive value of beef, Farrell highlighted that it is a rich source of protein, contains minerals and vitamins, and when the diet is mainly grass rather than grain, it has a much higher ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids. In other words, there are potential health benefits from eating grass fed beef.
The other issue that farmers can influence is stress pre-slaughter. When cattle are overly stressed it can lead to DFD (dark, firm, dry) meat that has poor shelf life and reduced value said Farrell.
However, there are also numerous factors outside of the control of the farmer. They include mixing or standing too long in the lairage, how the carcase is hung, the temperature in the factory chill, the length of time the meat is matured, and ultimately the cooking ability of the chef.
MSA
To try to give consumers a more reliable eating experience, a number of countries have looked at the grading system produced by Meat Standards Australia (MSA), which puts an eating quality star rating on each cut of beef.
In the mid-2000s, scientists at AFBI evaluated the system for possible use by NI processors. They concluded that a new model adapted for NI could accurately predict eating quality. However, in the end NI processors were unable to find a retailer willing to take on the new system.
Since then other countries have evaluated the MSA model, including France and Poland. At the end of 2018, scientists in Wales announced they were developing a new eating quality grading system based on the MSA model.
Minimise weanling stress at housing
To reduce the potential for an outbreak of disease such as pneumonia at housing, farmers should carefully plan their strategy over the weeks ahead in conjunction with their vet, advised AFBI vet Lindsey Drummond.
Ideally calves should be weaned gradually in the field before housing, and at housing it is important to ensure that they have sufficient feed space, are not subjected to any unnecessary procedures and do not have a high worm burden.
When it comes to buying in weanlings, Drummond suggested it is best to bring in a group of calves together rather than buying calves in twos and threes and adding them into pens of other cattle.
Vaccines can offer vital cover against pneumonia, but they are fragile, and must be handled and administered correctly
She also warned anyone who has retained an animal persistently infected (PI) with BVD to get rid of it now rather than housing it and potentially leaving other cattle more susceptible to disease. “When I was working in vet practice, 95% of the time I was asked to investigate vaccine failure it was due to the presence of a PI calf,” said Drummond.
Vaccines can offer vital cover against pneumonia, but they are fragile, and must be handled and administered correctly as per the manufacturer’s instructions.
“There are a lot of different options. Use the product most appropriate to the class of cattle that you have. Speak to your vet – they should be able to guide you,” said Drummond.
For those buying in weanlings, she maintained that these cattle should be allowed to rest for a couple of days, ideally on a straw bed, before the vaccine is administered. “A bought-in weanling is stressed to the max – its immune system is on the floor. The immune system needs to be able to respond to the vaccine,” she advised.
Worms
It is also important to take advice from your vet on treatments in and around housing for gut and lungworm, lice and liver fluke said Drummond.
A number of the most commonly used flukicides only kill adult fluke, so many farmers will wait to eight weeks post-housing before treating.
However, in some wetter parts of the country it is probably good practice to treat at housing, and again at eight weeks.
This autumn pick a good wormer and think about liver fluke rather than rumen fluke
On the issue of rumen fluke, Drummond believes that its significance might be overstated.
“Don’t become preoccupied by it. This autumn pick a good wormer and think about liver fluke rather than rumen fluke,” she said.
She also warned against administering a worm or fluke dose via a diet feeder, suggesting it could mean some animals are under-dosed, which inevitably leads to the development of drug resistance on the farm.
Short payback on rubber strips
Over the years there has been some conflicting evidence on the production benefits gained from having cattle on rubber covered versus uncovered concrete slats, but the latest results from AFBI suggest that there is a significant financial benefit to be had.
Presenting the combined results of three studies using dairy-bred bulls, those housed on slats with rubber strips over a 190-day winter finishing period produced 9kg more carcase compared to those on slats only.
There is very strong evidence that cattle prefer rubber to concrete slats
Assuming an initial cost for the rubber of £100/animal, it is a payback of 3.5 to four years, which would be less if the house was in continuous use.
“We are confident that cattle on rubber have better performance than cattle on slats. There is very strong evidence that cattle prefer rubber to concrete slats,” Dr Denise Lowe told farmers.
An analysis of animal behaviour shows that cattle on concrete slats get up and down less often when compared to those on rubber strips or straw. The studies confirm that lying behaviour is improved when rubber is used.
“It is not quite up to the standard of straw. But we were comparing against a very well bedded straw system.
“Remember also there is only enough straw in NI to bed 20% of the cattle, and a badly bedded straw system certainly is not a high-welfare system,” said Lowe.
Read more
Watch: Ballyjamesduff picket remains in place
Sustainability to be a key theme at the Ploughing
Villiers quizzed on “crazy” no-deal tariff plan
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