Harry Lalor, alongside his father Joseph, is farming a mixed beef, sheep and tillage enterprise in Ballacolla, Co Laois. The farm represents the county in the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Farm beef challenge.

The Lalors’ holding is one of the largest in the programme, comprising a total of 121ha in one block. Land is primarily free-draining but there are also some low-lying, wetter parts on the farm. While some mixed grazing is carried out and land is constantly rotated between enterprises, for the purpose of measuring performance, 82.5ha is afforded to the cattle enterprise each year, with a further 28.5ha to the sheep and the final 10ha to tillage.

The primary component of the beef system is a large suckler herd. In spring 2019,110 cows calved, with 106 live calves. The system on the farm has always been suckler-to-beef. Males are slaughtered as bulls. Traditionally it would have been under-20-month bull beef but an increasing number are now being pushed out the gate under 16 months of age. Given the major uncertainties in the beef markets all year, the Lalors made the decision to sell over half of their 2018-born males live at one year old this spring. Females not retained as replacements are slaughtered between 22 and 24 months of age.

Since joining the BETTER Farm programme, the beef enterprise has also witnessed the introduction of a dairy calf-to-beef system. This spring, 100 calves were purchased. The calves are reared by the Lalors and brought through to beef alongside the farm’s suckler-bred stock.

The mid-season lambing flock is made up of 225 ewes and 90 ewe-lambs. The farm doesn’t necessarily implement mixed grazing but all ground is suitable for both cattle and sheep so fields allocated to each enterprise rotate constantly.

On Thursday 11 July, Harry and Joseph will host a BETTER Farm national open day. Farm walks will take place at 2pm and 5pm on the farm in Ballacolla, Co Laois, Eircode R32CX29. The event is a DAFM Knowledge Transfer-approved beef event. Figure 1 shows the agenda for the day.

Expansion

Given the size of the farm, the biggest challenge was always going to be increasing the beef output per hectare to a level that could generate a gross margin in excess of €1,200/ha. When drawing up the farm plan in early 2017, the BETTER Farm management team set a target stocking rate of 3.05LU/ha and a target beef output of just over 1,350kg/ha to achieve this. With this output, the farm has the potential to generate a gross margin in excess of €1,300/ha, driven by a monetary output of over €2,700/ha and variable costs no higher than 50% of output. Obviously, beef prices will have a huge role to play in this.

Under the watchful eyes of Teagasc BETTER Farm adviser John Greaney and local Teagasc B&T adviser Peter Doolan, the farm has been making steady progress towards these ambitious output targets. Using 2016 (the year before the programme started) as the baseline, stocking rate has increased from 2.31LU/ha to 2.64LU/ha meaning they are 45% of the way towards their target after two years. Furthermore, output has climbed by 270kg/ha in two years, meaning they are 50% of their way to the 1,350kg/ha target. Figure 2 gives a full breakdown of the farm’s output over the last three years.

Grass and stock

The obvious question is how has this been achieved? The answer is through better management of stock and grass.

On livestock, factors such as the introduction of a dairy calf-to-beef system, the push to slaughter more bulls under 16 months old and calving heifers at 24 months of age have all been hugely beneficial.

In terms of grass, a much-improved grazing infrastructure combined with weekly grass measuring has been a major breakthrough for the farm. Looking at the PastureBase annual report, the farm grew 2.54t DM/ha more than in 2017 despite it being one of the toughest grass-growing years ever on the farm.

Next week’s farm walk will give an in-depth look at all the contributing factors.