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Charlie Morgan Ulster Grassland Society Farm Walk

Charlie Morgan (right) shows how compacted some of the soils are – ably assisted by UGS President Drew McConnell.

Northern Ireland beef producer Sam Chesney is riding high as last year’s Farmers Weekly Beef Farmer of the Year, and making it to the final of the British Grassland Society’s National Grassland Management Competition this year.

But, as 160 farmers heard at a recent Ulster Grassland Society farm walk, he is always looking for ways to improve still further.

150 Limousin sucklers are bred to Limousin and Belgian Blue bulls on 77ha (190 acres) on the Ards Peninsula on the East coast. His main goal is to maximise production efficiency.

Heifers successfully calve down at 24 months of age and calving takes place in a tight 12-week block in spring. The calving index for second calvers is 338 days, and for the older cows 353.

Non–performers are rigorously culled, and heifers are served by AI with bulls chosen based on their Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) for important commercial traits such as calving ease, calf growth rates and carcase quality.

High clover swards and rotational paddock grazing behind mains electric fences produce high quality swards for grazing from mid-February to mid-October. This has allowed Mr Chesney to slash his fertiliser and feed bills, while producing an output of 860kg liveweight/ha (350kg/acre), nearly double the national average.

Striving for better
Despite this Sam said he is always looking for ways to do things better.

He takes part in on-farm research and taps into the top scientific minds in the UK and Eire. Two of the beef producers he judged in this year’s Farmers Weekly Awards were using Stabilisers – so he has also introduced some Stabiliser semen for the first time this year.

“As beef producers we can’t predict the beef price – but we can improve fertility, output/ha, efficiency and the amount of money we earn,” he said. “Don’t stick with what you’ve always done because that’s the way you’ve always done it – try new ways of working.”

Better grassland
With such impressive performance can Sam improve further? Independent grassland consultant Charlie Morgan, supported by Dow AgroSciences to attend the event, believes so after digging a few holes.

“High animal production off grass starts with the soil,” he said. “You can buy the best seeds mixture in the world, but if the soil isn’t right it won’t produce.

“Not growing the dry matter in the field means more has to be bought in at much greater cost. Grass silage costs £100/t DM, grazed grass just £60/t DM, against £267/t DM for feed.”

Charlie Morgan and Sam Chesney, Ulster Grassland Society Farm Walk

Charlie Morgan (left) challenged Sam Chesney to do even better with his grass than he already is.

Compaction
In one field Charlie found signs of significant compaction between 10-15cm (4-6 inches). The soil was tight and hard with no vertical cracks and very few worms.

Charlie suggested the fields would benefit greatly from sub-soiling when ground conditions are right.

“You are not a bad farmer if you have compacted soils. But it needs sorting,” he said. “The cost of not sorting it, is the cost of buying more feed.”

Charlie agreed that Sam is already doing a lot of things right, such as paddock grazing, regular reseeding, strategic use of fertiliser and good weed control using translocated products.

But if he grew and fed more grazed grass, could he do 1,000kg/ha he wondered – although care would be needed not to ‘overcook’ the system.

Sam clearly took on board some of Charlie’s comments, as he immediately booked the contractor and his sub-soiler for the following week!

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