The improvements in herd genetics and grazing management, are now starting to come to fruition on farm.

We killed the first draft of our 2018 spring-born bullocks on 5 November, which is one month earlier than the previous year.

BETTER Farm NI: Alastair McNeilly, Antrim, Co Antrim.

Last year was the first time we ever managed to get homebred bullocks killed before Christmas on this farm, so it is encouraging to see how the system is progressing.

The first draft of cattle to be finished consisted of 10 Angus-bred animals. The group averaged 350.8kg at approximately 18 to 19 months of age, with the heaviest animal weighing 384kg and the lightest weighed 317kg.

Early grazing

These animals were finished on ad-lib first cut silage and just 3kg/day of a finishing ration. A big factor in getting animals killed earlier this year was the early turnout to spring grass.

The first of the bullocks went to grass in late February and this really drove weight gain during the first half of the year. While turnout is weather dependent, hopefully I will get some cattle out at a similar stage again next year.

Feeding

There is another group of 11 Limousin cattle which will be ready to kill before Christmas. They are eating 5.5kg/day of concentrate and first cut silage, which has a feed value of 73% D-Value at 44.5% dry matter.

Crude protein is 14.2%, with energy at 11.7 Mj ME, making it an excellent feed for high priority animals.

Once these animals are killed, we will have 21 bullocks sold before Christmas, which is twice the number of last year and great progress from having zero cattle killed by this time just two years ago.

Feed saving

One of the reasons we are striving to get cattle killed at an earlier age is the savings to be had from using less concentrate feed.

Margins are tight in finishing cattle, so feed savings are crucial. For example, assuming the 11 bullocks are drafted on 10 December, they will have consumed an extra 192kg of concentrate compared to the first batch of animals.

At £210/t, this amounts to an additional £40/head in concentrates. The cost of silage also has to be factored into the longer feed period, along with time and machinery running costs.

There are 28 bullocks which will not be ready for slaughter until early 2020 and these are the animals that cost the most to finish. These cattle are eating 3kg/day of a growing ration and first cut silage.

Within this group of 28 animals, 18 are Angus, bred mostly from first-calved heifers and our newest stock bull. The other 10 bullocks are Limousin bred. The group averaged 540kg on 7 November.

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