Simplicity is the name of the game for suckler-to-weanling farmer Michael Reynolds. He’s keen on a streamlined system, he likes to keep his costs to a minimum and he wants every animal on the farm to be making money for him. “I’m limited with my land base here so I have to maximise productivity from every acre of ground that I have,” he says.
Michael is running a herd of 50 suckler cows on 65ac in Gortatlea, Co Kerry. He is more or less full-time suckler farming.
I help my brother out but, at the same time, he is always there to give me a hand
However, his brother John runs an agricultural contracting business so Michael will often find himself helping out there during the summer.
But Michael adds, it’s a two-way street: “I help my brother out but, at the same time, he is always there to give me a hand out on the farm if I need it.”
We have one young child here at the moment and we have another on the way in the next few weeks
To be fair to Michael, the labour input is almost as low as it could be and the farm runs like a well-oiled machine – largely down to the simplicity of the operation. And this is important now, more than ever. “We have one young child here at the moment and we have another on the way in the next few weeks. It’s going to keep our hands full for sure,” he laughs.
Breeding
Breeding good-quality cattle is Michael’s passion. His typical cow is a three-quarter bred, red Limousin, ideally between 650kg and 750kg bodyweight. He says: “They are a good, functional cow. You need not be going for a small cow if you want to produce a good, high-quality weanling,” he says. “And they have fairly good milk too. You’d think it might be scarce but it’s not.”
All of these cows are bred to AI. On his mature, good-calving cows – which is about 50% of the herd – he uses Belgian Blue sires. On the rest of the herd, including first and second calvers and some narrower cows, he uses good terminal Limousin sires. “There’s absolutely no point using Belgian Blue if you don’t have the right cow to put it on,” he says.
“It’s all fine and well having a Blue calf but if he isn’t the right quality, you’d be just as well off with a good Limousin or Charolais weanling.”
He adds that: “There are less and less quality cattle in the country. It doesn’t matter about the breed. Once you have quality, there are people still there to buy them.”
With any breeding plan, you need to establish an end goal for the progeny. Michael has his end goal firmly in sight.
“All of my bull weanlings should be fit for the export market,” he says.
My friend buys the Limousins and sells them in-calf at two and a half years of age
“My target is to get the Blue bulls into 450kg at 11 months of age and get over €3/kg for them. That’s what I’ve got for the last few years.”
His Limousin bull calves are also suitable for export and Michael aims to get these to over 400kg at 11 months and secure upwards of €2.50/kg for these.
His Blue heifers are sold for export too and all of his Limousin heifers are sold to a friend.
I have no room on this farm to be playing around with five or six maiden heifers every year
“My friend buys the Limousins and sells them in-calf at two and a half years of age,” he explains. So Michael doesn’t keep any of his own heifers as replacements.
“The way I see it, I have no room on this farm to be playing around with five or six maiden heifers every year, looking at them costing me money. I want to keep as many cows as possible that will give me a weanling to sell at the end of the year.”
As a result, Michael buys his replacements – usually five to eight – either as springing heifers or as cows with calves at foot.
System
Michael calves his cows in April and May for two reasons. Number one, his cows are only producing milk from grazed grass – the cheapest source of feed – so he can significantly reduce his costs by not using any ration. Secondly, once the calf hits the ground and gets its first suck, it is let straight out to grass, reducing the risk of disease.
He says he is getting out of the autumn-calving system because “there’s no point growing grass outside for dry cows and then trying to feed a suckler cow inside when she is milking. She will be putting most of the extra feed you give her up on her back.”
Housing in the backend is purely determined by grass supplies and ground conditions
From May onwards, it’s a relatively simple run the whole way through the summer to the backend. The biggest job is getting the cows back in-calf but Michael is well setup to manage AI with the help of small 1.5ac to 2ac paddocks, a farm roadway, temporary reels and pigtails and a handful of ration in the yard to act as a tempter.
Housing in the backend is purely determined by grass supplies and ground conditions. But when they are housed, the calves will stay suckling the cows.
“They have full-time access from the creep area into the cows on the slats for the month of October,” he says.
“By November, I restrict them to twice-a-day suckling and then down to once-a-day for December. I’ll wean them after Christmas then,” he adds.
Michael uses this approach as a means of keeping the flesh off the cows for the winter.
When they are producing that bit of milk, it keeps them in their working clothes that bit longer
“Nobody want big fat cows over the winter or you’re going to have serious bother calving,” he explains.
“When they are producing that bit of milk, it keeps them in their working clothes that bit longer. Ten to 12 weeks is more than enough time for cows to be dry.”
It’s a combination of milk and meal and good-quality silage that keeps the calves thriving over the winter then.
“I’ll start them on 1kg of ration as soon as they come in and I’ll slowly build that up to about 2.5kg before sale at 10 to 11 months of age in Gortatlea Mart,” he says.
“It probably works out at about €80 to €100 on meal per calf but when you can get that bit of extra weight on and more importantly, get a nice shine on them, it’s well worth it when selling live.”
Simplicity is the name of the game for suckler-to-weanling farmer Michael Reynolds. He’s keen on a streamlined system, he likes to keep his costs to a minimum and he wants every animal on the farm to be making money for him. “I’m limited with my land base here so I have to maximise productivity from every acre of ground that I have,” he says.
Michael is running a herd of 50 suckler cows on 65ac in Gortatlea, Co Kerry. He is more or less full-time suckler farming.
I help my brother out but, at the same time, he is always there to give me a hand
However, his brother John runs an agricultural contracting business so Michael will often find himself helping out there during the summer.
But Michael adds, it’s a two-way street: “I help my brother out but, at the same time, he is always there to give me a hand out on the farm if I need it.”
We have one young child here at the moment and we have another on the way in the next few weeks
To be fair to Michael, the labour input is almost as low as it could be and the farm runs like a well-oiled machine – largely down to the simplicity of the operation. And this is important now, more than ever. “We have one young child here at the moment and we have another on the way in the next few weeks. It’s going to keep our hands full for sure,” he laughs.
Breeding
Breeding good-quality cattle is Michael’s passion. His typical cow is a three-quarter bred, red Limousin, ideally between 650kg and 750kg bodyweight. He says: “They are a good, functional cow. You need not be going for a small cow if you want to produce a good, high-quality weanling,” he says. “And they have fairly good milk too. You’d think it might be scarce but it’s not.”
All of these cows are bred to AI. On his mature, good-calving cows – which is about 50% of the herd – he uses Belgian Blue sires. On the rest of the herd, including first and second calvers and some narrower cows, he uses good terminal Limousin sires. “There’s absolutely no point using Belgian Blue if you don’t have the right cow to put it on,” he says.
“It’s all fine and well having a Blue calf but if he isn’t the right quality, you’d be just as well off with a good Limousin or Charolais weanling.”
He adds that: “There are less and less quality cattle in the country. It doesn’t matter about the breed. Once you have quality, there are people still there to buy them.”
With any breeding plan, you need to establish an end goal for the progeny. Michael has his end goal firmly in sight.
“All of my bull weanlings should be fit for the export market,” he says.
My friend buys the Limousins and sells them in-calf at two and a half years of age
“My target is to get the Blue bulls into 450kg at 11 months of age and get over €3/kg for them. That’s what I’ve got for the last few years.”
His Limousin bull calves are also suitable for export and Michael aims to get these to over 400kg at 11 months and secure upwards of €2.50/kg for these.
His Blue heifers are sold for export too and all of his Limousin heifers are sold to a friend.
I have no room on this farm to be playing around with five or six maiden heifers every year
“My friend buys the Limousins and sells them in-calf at two and a half years of age,” he explains. So Michael doesn’t keep any of his own heifers as replacements.
“The way I see it, I have no room on this farm to be playing around with five or six maiden heifers every year, looking at them costing me money. I want to keep as many cows as possible that will give me a weanling to sell at the end of the year.”
As a result, Michael buys his replacements – usually five to eight – either as springing heifers or as cows with calves at foot.
System
Michael calves his cows in April and May for two reasons. Number one, his cows are only producing milk from grazed grass – the cheapest source of feed – so he can significantly reduce his costs by not using any ration. Secondly, once the calf hits the ground and gets its first suck, it is let straight out to grass, reducing the risk of disease.
He says he is getting out of the autumn-calving system because “there’s no point growing grass outside for dry cows and then trying to feed a suckler cow inside when she is milking. She will be putting most of the extra feed you give her up on her back.”
Housing in the backend is purely determined by grass supplies and ground conditions
From May onwards, it’s a relatively simple run the whole way through the summer to the backend. The biggest job is getting the cows back in-calf but Michael is well setup to manage AI with the help of small 1.5ac to 2ac paddocks, a farm roadway, temporary reels and pigtails and a handful of ration in the yard to act as a tempter.
Housing in the backend is purely determined by grass supplies and ground conditions. But when they are housed, the calves will stay suckling the cows.
“They have full-time access from the creep area into the cows on the slats for the month of October,” he says.
“By November, I restrict them to twice-a-day suckling and then down to once-a-day for December. I’ll wean them after Christmas then,” he adds.
Michael uses this approach as a means of keeping the flesh off the cows for the winter.
When they are producing that bit of milk, it keeps them in their working clothes that bit longer
“Nobody want big fat cows over the winter or you’re going to have serious bother calving,” he explains.
“When they are producing that bit of milk, it keeps them in their working clothes that bit longer. Ten to 12 weeks is more than enough time for cows to be dry.”
It’s a combination of milk and meal and good-quality silage that keeps the calves thriving over the winter then.
“I’ll start them on 1kg of ration as soon as they come in and I’ll slowly build that up to about 2.5kg before sale at 10 to 11 months of age in Gortatlea Mart,” he says.
“It probably works out at about €80 to €100 on meal per calf but when you can get that bit of extra weight on and more importantly, get a nice shine on them, it’s well worth it when selling live.”
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