Niall Patterson keeps a herd of 30 cows on 22ha near Carrigallen mart in Co Leitrim. He is an accountant by day and farms along with his mother Jane. Calving happens between December and March and the aim is to produce a 400kg, export-quality weanling bull by Christmas and heifer by February.
The Pattersons’ land is notoriously difficult to work with. In a good year, cattle are in for six months, stretching to seven or eight in a bad year. This year, suckler cows needed housing in late-June/early-July during the wet weather, only returning to grass last week.
While the farm’s potential to produce and perform might seem a long way shy of the heights being achieved by the Dillanes and Dineens of this world (top performing BETTER farmers in 2015), Niall Patterson’s determination and application certainly isn’t. He is one of the finest stockmen in the programme and, crucially, knows his farm inside-out.
“It’s difficult ground, but it is what it is. We’re in forestry-country here. But that said, I believe in getting the most from any asset. In beef farming your biggest output-driver is stocking rate. Ours is low as a function of the land here – big numbers and wet land don’t mix.
Drainage and reseeding
“While I’m passionate about stock, I’m passionate about making money too. I wanted to push the farm, but in order to do so the land had to be sorted. Since 2012, 16ha of the farm has been drained in some form and I’ll do another 4ha between this year and next year. It’s an expensive undertaking at approximately €2,000/ha (including reseeding), plus VAT. But you need to look at these things as a long-term investment. Draining that land has let me tighten-up the cows on less ground – increasing my stocking rate by over 30%. Land that would be saturated for a fortnight after bad rain is now drying in three or four days. I reseeded in conjunction with the drainage work too. During the hot spell in May, I was recording growth rates in excess of 200kg daily on some of the reseeded fields and 70kg on neighbouring old-pasture. On average, I find that my reseeds are growing three-to-four times what some of the worst old-pasture fields grow. I’ve gradually built a flock of 100 March-lambing ewes, who utilise grass on the wetter parts of the farm. I wouldn’t have been able to do that before – the farm is giving me back more now.
Breeding
Niall’s passion is stock. We spent hours discussing bloodlines, top-lines and walking through what is a top-quality herd. The silver lining of such a long indoor wintering period is that Niall has a window to AI his cows before they head to grass. This winter, he is expecting calves from Belgian Blue sires AJY, AZL and SEU and Limousins OKH and ZAG. He tends toward a heavy-framed, three-quarters Limousin cow with adequate milk and good fertility. His stock bull takes on breeding responsibilities when cows hit grass. He’s by Ampertaine Commander and bred on the farm from a pedigree Limousin cow. He’s no slouch either – having produced some of Niall’s standout calves last winter.
“We produce calves for the boat. I want a top-quality animal with width in the shoulders and neck, length, a developed back-end and strong bone. Am I bringing hardship on myself at calving time with the Blues? Possibly. But I only use BB sires on cows that can handle them and we have good calving facilities and cameras in place. I’d probably assist 40% of calvings in the average year. This year it was more like 75% as we had a mineral deficiency in the herd. It led to vigour problems with calves too. Look, it was frustrating, but you learn from these things.”
Creep feeding
Niall aims to have all calves weaned for at least two weeks pre-sale, minimum. In practice, some of his older animals can be weaned for six to eight weeks beforehand. He has no qualms about weaning calves as young as six months if the weather turns nasty. At that age, a strong calf will be consuming 70% to 80% of its intake as solid feed anyway and arguably more depending on the cow’s milk production capability. Niall will introduce 2kg of creep feed four to six weeks pre-weaning.
Using a pair of tall fence posts, he will restrict a small area of a paddock, letting calves creep in to eat both fresh grass and their concentrate. He aims to have all calves weaned by 7.5 months of age. The weaning process itself is relatively simple. In a group of 16 cows, eight come out initially followed by the remaining eight a few days later. Weaned cows are housed and calves continue to rotationally graze well-managed pasture, remaining on meals.
The future
In the coming years, Niall plans to finish some of his own bulls. It will allow him to feel the full benefits of the quality animals he is breeding, alleviate some of the pressure on his grazing ground and facilitate an increase in cow numbers. He also wants to pull forward his calving date into the summer, for a number of reasons.
Firstly, cows would be on a consistent plane of nutrition during breeding (all indoors). At present, cows could be turned out and re-housed multiple times during breeding, which isn’t best practice. In addition, having all cows inside during breeding will mean Niall can go 100% AI and sell his stock bull. Earlier calving will also mean less demand for spring grass as calves will be old enough to wean and turn out while cows can be left indoors. This will reduce the pressure on Niall’s ground and allow a greater area to be closed for silage, which should help to improve its quality. On the sheep side, summer calving means that Niall will be able to give his full attention to lambing in spring.
Pushing output and adding value
Investing in land drainage – less ground now needed for cows which has allowed for establishment of sheep flock in wetter parts of farm.Selecting terminal sires to produce export-quality calves.Potential switch from weanling to bull-beef system.Move toward summer calving to allow for more effective, 100% AI breeding; reduce grazing pressure in spring (when ground typically wet) and improve silage.Niall’s guide to successful weaning
Administer vaccinations and doses in advance of weaning.Introduce creep fence to fresh pasture (two tall fence-posts) and 2kg of feed, one month pre-weaning.Aim to wean a minimum of 14 days pre-sale.At weaning, remove half of the cows from grazing group initially. Follow up a few days later with remainder.House cows and feed straw.Continue to rotationally graze calves and offer meals.Adviser comment
Niall has made major developments on his farm in terms of land improvement. This has come at a cost and has hindered his progress on his profit monitor in terms of improving his gross margin. However, now that a large proportion of the work is done to improve grassland management and utilisation, I feel an improvement should be seen in his gross margin over the next two to three years. Wet years will always hit production levels on this type of a heavy farm but Niall is in a much better position to adapt his grazing plan so as to not increase costs too drastically in terms of meal and silage input. – Alan Dillon
Niall Patterson keeps a herd of 30 cows on 22ha near Carrigallen mart in Co Leitrim. He is an accountant by day and farms along with his mother Jane. Calving happens between December and March and the aim is to produce a 400kg, export-quality weanling bull by Christmas and heifer by February.
The Pattersons’ land is notoriously difficult to work with. In a good year, cattle are in for six months, stretching to seven or eight in a bad year. This year, suckler cows needed housing in late-June/early-July during the wet weather, only returning to grass last week.
While the farm’s potential to produce and perform might seem a long way shy of the heights being achieved by the Dillanes and Dineens of this world (top performing BETTER farmers in 2015), Niall Patterson’s determination and application certainly isn’t. He is one of the finest stockmen in the programme and, crucially, knows his farm inside-out.
“It’s difficult ground, but it is what it is. We’re in forestry-country here. But that said, I believe in getting the most from any asset. In beef farming your biggest output-driver is stocking rate. Ours is low as a function of the land here – big numbers and wet land don’t mix.
Drainage and reseeding
“While I’m passionate about stock, I’m passionate about making money too. I wanted to push the farm, but in order to do so the land had to be sorted. Since 2012, 16ha of the farm has been drained in some form and I’ll do another 4ha between this year and next year. It’s an expensive undertaking at approximately €2,000/ha (including reseeding), plus VAT. But you need to look at these things as a long-term investment. Draining that land has let me tighten-up the cows on less ground – increasing my stocking rate by over 30%. Land that would be saturated for a fortnight after bad rain is now drying in three or four days. I reseeded in conjunction with the drainage work too. During the hot spell in May, I was recording growth rates in excess of 200kg daily on some of the reseeded fields and 70kg on neighbouring old-pasture. On average, I find that my reseeds are growing three-to-four times what some of the worst old-pasture fields grow. I’ve gradually built a flock of 100 March-lambing ewes, who utilise grass on the wetter parts of the farm. I wouldn’t have been able to do that before – the farm is giving me back more now.
Breeding
Niall’s passion is stock. We spent hours discussing bloodlines, top-lines and walking through what is a top-quality herd. The silver lining of such a long indoor wintering period is that Niall has a window to AI his cows before they head to grass. This winter, he is expecting calves from Belgian Blue sires AJY, AZL and SEU and Limousins OKH and ZAG. He tends toward a heavy-framed, three-quarters Limousin cow with adequate milk and good fertility. His stock bull takes on breeding responsibilities when cows hit grass. He’s by Ampertaine Commander and bred on the farm from a pedigree Limousin cow. He’s no slouch either – having produced some of Niall’s standout calves last winter.
“We produce calves for the boat. I want a top-quality animal with width in the shoulders and neck, length, a developed back-end and strong bone. Am I bringing hardship on myself at calving time with the Blues? Possibly. But I only use BB sires on cows that can handle them and we have good calving facilities and cameras in place. I’d probably assist 40% of calvings in the average year. This year it was more like 75% as we had a mineral deficiency in the herd. It led to vigour problems with calves too. Look, it was frustrating, but you learn from these things.”
Creep feeding
Niall aims to have all calves weaned for at least two weeks pre-sale, minimum. In practice, some of his older animals can be weaned for six to eight weeks beforehand. He has no qualms about weaning calves as young as six months if the weather turns nasty. At that age, a strong calf will be consuming 70% to 80% of its intake as solid feed anyway and arguably more depending on the cow’s milk production capability. Niall will introduce 2kg of creep feed four to six weeks pre-weaning.
Using a pair of tall fence posts, he will restrict a small area of a paddock, letting calves creep in to eat both fresh grass and their concentrate. He aims to have all calves weaned by 7.5 months of age. The weaning process itself is relatively simple. In a group of 16 cows, eight come out initially followed by the remaining eight a few days later. Weaned cows are housed and calves continue to rotationally graze well-managed pasture, remaining on meals.
The future
In the coming years, Niall plans to finish some of his own bulls. It will allow him to feel the full benefits of the quality animals he is breeding, alleviate some of the pressure on his grazing ground and facilitate an increase in cow numbers. He also wants to pull forward his calving date into the summer, for a number of reasons.
Firstly, cows would be on a consistent plane of nutrition during breeding (all indoors). At present, cows could be turned out and re-housed multiple times during breeding, which isn’t best practice. In addition, having all cows inside during breeding will mean Niall can go 100% AI and sell his stock bull. Earlier calving will also mean less demand for spring grass as calves will be old enough to wean and turn out while cows can be left indoors. This will reduce the pressure on Niall’s ground and allow a greater area to be closed for silage, which should help to improve its quality. On the sheep side, summer calving means that Niall will be able to give his full attention to lambing in spring.
Pushing output and adding value
Investing in land drainage – less ground now needed for cows which has allowed for establishment of sheep flock in wetter parts of farm.Selecting terminal sires to produce export-quality calves.Potential switch from weanling to bull-beef system.Move toward summer calving to allow for more effective, 100% AI breeding; reduce grazing pressure in spring (when ground typically wet) and improve silage.Niall’s guide to successful weaning
Administer vaccinations and doses in advance of weaning.Introduce creep fence to fresh pasture (two tall fence-posts) and 2kg of feed, one month pre-weaning.Aim to wean a minimum of 14 days pre-sale.At weaning, remove half of the cows from grazing group initially. Follow up a few days later with remainder.House cows and feed straw.Continue to rotationally graze calves and offer meals.Adviser comment
Niall has made major developments on his farm in terms of land improvement. This has come at a cost and has hindered his progress on his profit monitor in terms of improving his gross margin. However, now that a large proportion of the work is done to improve grassland management and utilisation, I feel an improvement should be seen in his gross margin over the next two to three years. Wet years will always hit production levels on this type of a heavy farm but Niall is in a much better position to adapt his grazing plan so as to not increase costs too drastically in terms of meal and silage input. – Alan Dillon
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