Offloading cull cows after early scanning

Nine out of 10 programme farmers have now scanned their spring calving cows with the final farm due to scan next week. With barren cows identified, the farmers are taking the decision to remove these animals from the herd early.

This reduces the demand for winter feed as well as freeing up housing for other cattle. Where barren cows are carrying plenty of body condition, the farmers are in a position to either offload cows quickly through the mart or sell direct to the factory.

Demand for cull cows is currently strong and having animals in a finished condition improves their sale value.

Where cows are marked for culling but lacking in flesh, the programme farmers have opted to sell animals after a short intensive feeding period.

Cows are generally being fed 5kg/day of a high-energy ration for a period of 30 to 40 days along with good-quality silage.

Where silage is not of suitable quality for finishing cattle, or in limited supply, cows are being fed ad-lib meal and straw

At the outlined feed rates, cows should realistically gain between 0.75kg to 1kg/day, which will yield 0.4kg to 0.5kg/day of actual carcase gain during a short intensive finishing period. Daily feeding costs will be more than covered at current cow prices.

This week, we feature an update on Stephen Maguire.

Although Stephen is no longer one of the 10 programme farmers, he is still one of four farmers from the previous programme who still play a role as mentors to provide advice to the new programme farmers looking to implement changes on farm.

Almost all of my cattle are housed. With a seven- to eight-month winter ahead, early housing is putting winter feed stocks under pressure.

A quick silage budget on indicated that I would probably be running around 50t short on silage.

Included in this budget is a small third cut which I hope to harvest as soon as the weather and ground conditions allow. There are 10 acres to cut, which will be made as bales rather than pit silage.

Therefore, I am planning to purchase some additional silage bales to make sure winter fodder stocks are adequate.

I bought straw last week and it has become an expensive commodity at just over £20 for a round 4x4 bale delivered. The cost of bales delivered to the yard has almost doubled from last year.

Restricted feed

Cows were housed in good body condition, so silage can be restricted to bring them down to a condition score of 2.5 to 3.0. Cows are being fed 25kg/day of second-cut silage through the diet feeder. Straw could be offered, or hay, as a way to stretch silage supplies.

I started housing cattle back on 25 August. Initially, I was hoping they would only be indoors for a period of one week to 10 days before going back out to grass again. But with poor weather continuing throughout September, the majority of the herd have remained housed.

I did manage to get eight late-calving cows with their calves back to grass in early September, along with 20 spring-born heifer calves that were weaned.

However, the grazing season will finish for the late-calving cows this week and they will be housed for the winter and their calves weaned.

Scanning

All cows were scanned at the end of August and there were three empty cows and three empty heifers.

They were weaned and penned as a separate group and fed 5kg/day of meal to improve their body condition and sale value. The heifers and cows have now been sold through the mart.

This leaves me with 44 cows and 11 heifers to calve next spring. The calving pattern has slipped slightly in the past couple of years due to the use of some harder calving sires.

To tighten the calving pattern, I am planning to cull late-calving cows this year. With a group of 20 spring-born heifer calves just weaned and being retained for breeding next year, I am being less tolerant of late-calving and poor-performing cows.

Changing to bull beef finishing

My suckler herd has traditionally sold cattle as weanlings or yearling stores. However, this winter I am keeping the 10 heaviest bull calves to finish as young bulls.

I feel that given the type of animal I am breeding on farm, there is potentially more money to be made by finishing the group as bulls.

The group were weighed at weaning on 13 September and averaged 314kg. They were penned separately and fed 3kg/day of concentrate plus ad-lib first-cut silage. On Monday, the group were increased to 4kg/day of meal and will be built up to ad-lib meal feeding plus straw later this year.

Last year, I sold the heaviest bull calves in the autumn weanling sales and they averaged 364kg at £2.20/kg, giving them a sale value of £800/head. I think finishing these animals as bulls will give a better return.

Stores

This leaves a group of 19 spring-born male calves to carry over the winter. They will be wintered on silage and 3kg/day of meal and sold directly to a finisher next spring. This has proved to be a good market outlet for later-born calves which were always too light to sell in autumn as weanlings.

The same group are also too light to take through as bulls, so selling as yearling stores works well and improves cashflow in spring.

The stores are sold to the same buyer every year and the relationship works well for both parties. A price is agreed and paid when cattle are weighed on leaving my yard.

Without the stress of moving through the mart, the cattle have higher performance levels when they arrive on the next farm.

Additional output

If the bull finishing system proves to be a good way to increase the sale value of cattle on farm, I will consider buying in a few additional bull weanlings for winter finishing this year. I have enough winter accommodation to handle additional bulls. If I decide to bull them, they will be offered ad-lib meal and straw and ideally finished by April. Like all things, it will depend on buying good-quality cattle at value for money, meal price and a positive market for beef in spring.