Trevor Boland January/February Update 2025
Autumn calving & breeding update
- Review of autumn calving 2024
- 5 main breeding KPIs
- Comparison with national average figures
Calf performance
- Ration feeding to calves
- Latest weights
- Identifying reasons for calves with poorer weight gains
Profit monitor results
- 2024 profit monitor completed
- Increase in output/LU from 2023
- Profit increase from 2023
Breeding
The calving season went well for Trevor, as indicated by his ICBF calving performance report. He calved 50 females this autumn. The herd’s calving interval is 375 days, which is only slightly behind the target of 365 days. Having a strict breeding season and calving cows at grass when they have a chance to build body condition before housing helps Trevor to achieve this. He also culls any cows that are not in calf.
Mortality on the farm is low at 3.8% which is only two out of 53 calves born this autumn. Three set of twins were born so he is still achieving 0.97 calves per cow per year.
11 heifers were calved this autumn and they all calved between 22-26 months of age. The national average for the percentage of heifers calved at 22-26 months is only 22%. The 6 week calving rate is also very good on the farm at 66% which is the same as in 2023. The total calving spread was 24 weeks due to one later calving cow as it started on 15th July and ended with her on 31st December. 64% of the calves born were from AI sires, with the remainder from a Saler stock bull.
Figure 1: Trevor’s ICBF calving report
Performance
The cows are not getting any ration and the calves are eating 1.5kg of a 16% CP nut per head per day.
The calves were all weighed on 5th January. The bulls (26) averaged 179kg and had gained 0.96 kg/day since birth on average. They ranged from 70kg (youngest) to 229kg.
The heifers (20) averaged 141kg and had gained 0.75 kg/day since birth on average. They ranged from 55kg to 218kg.
On analysis of the group weights, the lightest third of the calves had reasons for their lower weight gain – some were twins, some were from cows that are to be culled and others just had poor thrive after birth. Some of them were younger calves too that may be bullied by the older calves when being fed ration.
Figure 2: Calves are eating 1.5kg ration/head/day
Financial
Trevor has completed his profit monitor for 2024. On analysis of the cattle detailed report, he is happy with the farm’s financial performance this year.
The first figure on the report is the output per livestock unit which was 308 kg/LU. This was an increase since 2023 where the figure was 282 kg/LU, which is behind the target >350 kg/LU for a suckler system. This figure is affected by everything that affects weight gain in the herd - the cow fertility, bull fertility, mortality, genetics, nutrition at grass, winter performance, ration fed, animal health and calving spread. With the challenging weather from spring to autumn 2024, Trevor was aware that the weights on his bought in heifers were behind target but still had to get them sold to allow for winter housing space. For 2025 he plans to buy a heavier heifer if possible, so that they’ll be more forward and more likely to finish off grass at a higher carcass weight than this year. The stocking rate on the farm is 2.09 LU/ha or 159 kg organic N/ha which means that Trevor is not in derogation.
The gross output figure is calculated from cattle sales minus cattle purchases and add/subtract any changes to the inventory. Trevor had a gross output figure of €1983/ha which is the main ‘money in the pot’ to cover variable and fixed costs. This increased by 9% from €1810/ha in 2023.
The 3 biggest expenses on drystock farms are purchased concentrate, fertiliser and contractor costs. Trevor’s farm is no different with his biggest costs for the year;
- Ration €200/ha (increase of €64/ha since 2023)
- Contractor: €285/ha (increase of €27/ha since 2023)
- Fertiliser: €287/ha (decrease of €95/ha since 2023)
In total, the total variable costs (€1075/ha) were 54% of the gross output figure, which is slightly higher than the target of <50%.
The fixed costs decreased in 2024 to €515/ha from €586/ha in 2023 due to slight decreases in repairs and maintenance and land rental costs. Trevor expects that the fixed costs will rise over the coming year as he is considering investing in a new cattle shed. Despite this, the cattle enterprise made €394/ha net margin which does not include any direct payments or subsidies. This is a 55% increase from €224/ha in 2023.
