There's gold in them there fields

This week, I visited Andrew Palmer, who has been building his herd of sucklers since 2013 outside Castlefinn, Co Donegal. He learned the tricks of the trade from his father Raymond on the family farm. The Palmers are synonymous with breeding top-quality suckler stock from their herd of 60 cows.

However, in 2013 Andrew decided it was time to put his own stamp on things and start farming in his own right.

“I wanted to do things a bit different and in my own way, I suppose. The home farm was probably stocked as heavily as it could be, so any expansion had to come elsewhere. I took on some land at the time and established my own herd,” he said.

“I was fortunate to get a batch of Limousin heifers off really good British Friesian cows. I don’t know if there are many of these types left at this stage. I bought them in spring of 2013 and they calved down for the first time in autumn 2015”.

While autumn calving might not be as popular as it once was, it is definitely working a treat for Andrew. Calving starts in mid-August. All cows are housed about a week prior to the start of calving. Once calved, cows and calves are turned out again within 24 hours.

“We used to calve outside and it worked away just fine, but there is always the chance of losing one to a difficult calving during the night, or when you do have to give a cow assistance, it is much easier to have them in the shed – it’s safer for everyone.”

Calving is completed in six to seven weeks, thanks to a synchronisation programme that Andrew has been using for the last three years.

The way we work it is that we synchronise the cows and breed them for the first time when they are outside

“I find it a great help. I’m working full-time off-farm, so the less time I have to spend calving the better. It leaves us with a nice even batch of calves right the way through.

“It also allows me to use 100% AI, which means I am using the best genetics in the country on my herd and I can mix and match bulls with cows until I get the combination that clicks.”

“Typically, you will get about 60% of cows mated on the first heat after synchronisation, with another 30% when they come bulling again three weeks later. We had just one cow served on the third round last year.”

“The way we work it is that we synchronise the cows and breed them for the first time when they are outside.

“A week after the first service, we will house them to give them two weeks to settle indoors before the next heat. Obviously, it depends on the weather, but that is what we work to if we can at all. It gives us a housing date of around 1 November.”

Terminal traits

“I use mostly Charolais, with some Limousin used on heifers. You will not beat the Charolais for weight for age. I focus solely on the terminal index. I’m not interested in breeding replacements, so there is no point in going down that route. Carcase weight and calving ease are the two figures I concentrate on.”

“Over the last couple of years, we have used a lot of Fiston (FSZ – €157 terminal index, 5.7% calving difficulty and 40.4kg for carcase weight), Cavelands Levi (CH4252 – €146 terminal index, 9.2% calving difficulty and 39.1kg for carcase weight) and Goldstar Ludwig (CH4251 – €134 terminal index, 7% calving difficulty and 39.5kg for carcase weight).

“On the Limousin side, I have used Dimoiwii (LM2388 – €110 terminal index, 4.6% calving difficulty and 21.3kg for carcase weight) the last couple of years and he’s bringing shapely calves from heifers.”

Performance

“The autumn-calving herd are great for getting heavy calves at weaning. I see it at home as well, the autumn herd is always far ahead of the spring calvers.”

During the winter period, calves are growing around 0.9kg – 1.0kg/hd/day on the cow. The cows get about 1.5kg/hd concentrate throughout the winter period and the best-quality silage on the farm.

Calves have access to a creep area and have a creep feeder with them for the winter months. Once they go outside around the 17 March, they are on grass only.

“At that stage, you have a calf that is able to eat a lot of grass and they really perform at this time. For the first 120 days or so, the bulls will be doing around 2kg/day and the heifers not far behind.

Weighing cattle is nothing new here. I don’t remember a time that we didn’t weigh cattle

“People might not believe that figure but it’s true – we weigh on-farm a few times a year and we are consistently seeing these types of numbers.

“The bulls will be tipping 500kg at 10 months old, no problem. Weighing cattle is nothing new here. I don’t remember a time that we didn’t weigh cattle – it simply is a must for any serious beef farmer.”

Managing conditon

Andrew says that the cows will be lean come turnout, but they are putting it into the calves and he knows they will gain condition once they get to grass once again.

“Keeping condition off the cows in the run up to calving is the biggest issue. They are naturally fleshy types, so we leave the calves on the cow up until late June.

“The calves will be creep-grazing ahead of cows for most of the summer to give them access to the best grass and the cows do the cleaning up after them.”

Selling stock

“My father and I have been selling all the bulls to a local finisher for the last number of years. He knows what we are breeding and is happy with them.

“That is another benefit of the synchronisation programme – a finisher wouldn’t buy everything if there was a huge spread of ages and weights in the batch.

“He comes to see them in the field, we agree a price/kg, they are loaded up and the lorry is weighed. We are paid on every kilo that leaves the farm.”

“The heifers usually go to the mart in October, but we are thinking of going in the next few weeks with them this year. Prices are good at the minute in the ring, so we might try and take advantage of it.”

The future

“We are farming in an area dominated by dairying and, more recently, anaerobic digesters. It leaves it nearly impossible for beef farmers to compete for ground.

“You need to be paying €260 - €300/ac around here and it just isn’t in it with the sucklers. I hope to maintain numbers in the coming years, but you never know when you are relying on rented ground.”