Scottish farmer Robert Fleming has learnt much from doing a Nuffield Scholarship this year, looking at efficient beef production. But he is also making major changes to his business after seeing the results of grass overseeding trials carried out back home too.
Over the years Robert, from South Milton, Glenluce, Newton Stewart in Dumfries and Galloway, has spent many long days and months honing the genetics of his 50-cow Stairhaven pedigree Aberdeen Angus herd, which runs alongside 190 commercial suckler cows, delivering high herd status bulls to beef and dairy customers across the UK. Youngstock from the commercial herd are grazed and sold as stores from 10 to 16 months of age.
But the overseeding of six, one hectare plots in a field not touched for 35 years, with six different seeds mixtures, followed by rotational grazing, has highlighted how much additional grass could be potentially be grown across the 240ha farm.
“To be honest, I never thought we would tinker with this ground and we have grazed youngstock there for years. But correcting the pH to 6.2 with granulated calcium lime, and introducing some of the latest varieties and species into the sward, has catapulted its performance,” says Robert.
“We have been measuring grass growth from February, aiming to grow 12.5 tonnes of dry matter per hectare this year. By the start of July we had produced 9.3 tonnes, which is twice as much as in the untreated areas. So we will beat the overall target easily by the end of the growing season.”
Forage iFarm trials
The trial is just one of several carried out at South Milton this year, run as part of an iFarm initiative, managed by local Agrii agronomist, Lorna Galloway. Her aim is to examine how to maximise home-produced forage, at a time when farmers need to find ways to make their businesses more efficient.
The plots were drilled in April 2015 with GrassMax™ Dual Purpose, which contains three ryegrasses and 10% white clover, Lofa festulolium – a resilient, high quality advanced hybrid ryegrass; and GrassMax™ Cut, which has Lofa, two ryegrasses and red clover in it. All the seeds mixtures came from the DLF range.
“To start with, last year we grazed for three days with cattle at 10 animals per hectare, and then left it to grow for 21 days. We weighed regularly and were recording 1.26kg of growth per day for store calves.
“But we couldn’t keep up with the grass growth and had to top it. It needed more animals or a more confined way of grazing. In previous years we had set stocked these fields with a large number of animals with no on-off policy. This has opened my eyes to the potential for controlled grazing using paddocks.”
This spring, separated slurry was applied before 50 young cattle, that were gaining 0.74kg/day, were put onto the trials site. Weighed again, two 21-day grazing rounds later, their weight gain has increased to 1.57kg per day. While animal performance has increased, the quality of the grass and clover growth had also improved.
“In July, we were moving 66 animals every three days on an 18-day rotation,” adds Robert. “After 60 days in one plot they had produced 1,094kg liveweight/ha – all for 30p/head/day.
Beyond expectations
“This has gone beyond all my expectations and has led to a complete revision of how we graze our cattle. We are now sub-dividing the farm into paddocks using 10km of polywire electric fencing.
“The suckler herd will go down to 180 cows and we aim to finish all the youngstock instead of selling them as stores. We may even buy in some cattle to finish on some of our separate land.
“We are not favouring one seeds mixture over any other – they are all successful, peaking at different times of the year. We will sow different mixtures in strips across each field.
“We are lucky that the Aberdeen Angus is a good breed for rearing and feeding on grass and I am now building the farming system to gain as much production from pasture.
“In effect I will be able to double my output without buying more land. And being part of the Forage iFarm means I can share my findings with others – who can also benefit from rejuvenating their swards and paddock grazing.”
This article is taken from one I wrote for the Scottish Farmer magazine this summer.
Read it in full here: Increased potential from grass.
Robert will be presenting his Nuffield Farming Scholarship Report in November at the annual Scholar’s conference in Newcastle. Read his report: Efficiency gains through improved beef genetics here.
Robert’s ideal suckler herd would have cows:
- Of 500-600kg liveweight at four to five years old
- With a Calving Index of 365 days
- That calve unassisted and have good feet and udders
- That give birth to calves that fall into the top 30% for Daily Liveweight Gain
He says that the beef industry should look and learn from the pig and poultry sectors, in terms of the efficiency gains they have made during the past few decades. The beef industry must focus on identifying efficient sires and dams and then use this data to reduce the costs of production. He sees no place for breeding for how a cow looks or how many shows she can win.
On returning from his travels to Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Paraguay and the USA, Robert bench-marked his cows and removed the least efficient. He is also setting up a Feed Efficiency Beef Centre on his farm – for his benefit and the benefit of the wider industry.