Future Beef Newsletter June 2023
Wesley Browne
Farmer Profile | Farmer Update
James Skehan - Farm Update | Teagasc Grange - Farm Update | Top Tips for June
Top Tips for June
Farmer Profile - Wesley Browne
Wesley Browne
Wesley Browne farms full-time in Leagh, Dunraymond, 3 miles outside Monaghan town. He is farming 58 Ha of grassland which is fragmented into 3 main grazing blocks. Soil type is described as heavy drumlin, which is typical of the area.
Over the years, Wesley has adopted a straight-forward system that best suits his farm. 90 suckler cows calve compactly from February to the end of April. All male progeny are slaughtered at under 16 months. Replacements are bred from within the herd and any surplus 4 and 5 star females are sold to repeat customers for breeding. All other heifers are slaughtered at 23-24 months. The farm is heavily stocked at 167kgs/N/Ha. Wesley is passionate about breeding, and has been looking at replacement and terminal indexes when selecting stock bulls for several years.
The cows are divided into 3 groups, one group per each grazing block. Wesley then matches each group of 30 cows with either the Limousin, Simmental or Saler stock bulls.
There is a big focus on grassland management with the farm split into approx. 45 grazing divisions using a combination of permanent and temporary electric fencing and a good water access, which facilitates grazing residency of 3-4 days per paddock. Wesley is measuring grass on a weekly basis.
Focus areas;
1) Maximising lifetime performance to reduce the age of slaughter by 1 month
2) Application of lime to increase pH to 6.7
3) Improve grass swards through using a grass harrow to stitch in grass/clover mixtures in the old pastures
4) Improve calving facilities
Read more here.
Wesley's Update: “U16 month old bulls - A profitable system that suits the farm”
Wesley has been operating a bull system for the last 12 years, starting with finishing bulls at 24 months of age to now having an average slaughter age of 15 months. The system has delivered on profit. In 2022, the gross margin of the farm was €1399 per ha –the highest amongst the Future Beef group. This figure is largely driven by a high output figure of €2736 per ha for the farm. This output figure is directly influenced by a number of key factors such as excellent, lifetime animal performance and an efficient suckler herd coupled with a high stocking rate of 2.1L.U/ha.
Wesley’s farm is fragmented and heavy in nature. Finishing males as u16 month old bulls suits the farm as once the calf is reared by its mother, it will be housed in October and will then be finished out of the slatted shed the following May and June.
However, finishing male calves as bulls is not for everyone. Feeding high amounts of meal, the overall management of the bulls and meeting the processor‘s specifications requires a lot of expertise and cashflow. It has taken the 12 years and a lot of hard work by Wesley to build a suckler herd that is fit for purpose to meet the requirements of a successful bull beef enterprise.
Read more here.
Farm Update: James Skehan
Joanne and James Skehan, with their son Macartan and daughter Nellie
Poor weather in April and early May created challenging conditions for James Skehan in Ballynevin, Co. Clare. “The farm is heavy in nature and the volume of rain that fell led to tough grazing conditions – graze outs were poor and there was always a risk of poaching.
To minimise the risk of damage;
- I kept 2 main grazing groups (25 cows and calves in one group, 26 yearlings and 4 stores in another) so that they could move through paddocks quicker (within 2-3 days) than if they were in smaller bunches.
- I didn’t hold up the cattle, if they were marking I moved them on as I knew I could graze it out the next time.
- I grazed paddocks with lower covers first, less than 1600 kg DM/ha to achieve better graze outs.
- I spread a chemical fertiliser instead of slurry on the silage field as there was too much grass to spread slurry, even with a dribble bar.
- When the conditions improved I made the cattle skin out the paddocks to 4cm.
Despite the weather, grass growth matched the stock demand, I had 1.5 bags of 18-6-12/acre spread for this rotation. I could close silage ground on time and the first cut is now finished, the red clover/PRG has been sown and breeding appears to be going well. In years like this you have to take windows of opportunity between the wet weather when they arise, and to also remember that all the work gets done eventually!
Read more about James’s busy month here.
Farm Update - Colin Byrne, Teagasc Grange
Colin Byrne with Teagasc Grange suckler herd
The Teagasc Grange ‘Maternal Herd’ consist of 90 cows made of Limousin x Simmental or Simmental x Limousin cows. The herd calves from the first week of February to the end of April. Usually heifers and cows that have calved are turned out as soon as weather conditions allow to settle them. This spring (2023) was very challenging; three weeks after the first groups were turned out we got heavy rainfall, some had to be rehoused and we thought this would affect the breeding season, thankfully May has been a great month.
Breeding 2023 commenced on the 2nd of May and will run until the 11th of July.
We carried out a pre-breeding scan the week before and it did pick up some issues; 4 ‘dirty’ cows and 30% of the heifers were not cycling.
Sexed semen will be used to produce heifers for upcoming experiments – see protocol below. With AI, heat detection is crucial, we use tail paint on cows, a vasectomized bull wearing a chin ball, and digital methods in addition to visual observation.
88% of breeding animals have been submitted for AI in the first 21 days of breeding.
Herd profile
The Maternal Herd operates on a land area of 42 ha (104 acres). The herd comprises of 90 Spring calving suckler cows. The spring-calving herd is a grass-based system whereby the objective is to maximise the proportion of lifetime performance from grazed pasture.
The Maternal Herd at Grange was originally established in 2012 to validate the “Eurostar Replacement Index”. The Replacement Index value of a sire/dam is a monetary value (€) which indicates the additional profit per replacement female bred from that sire/dam, due to improvements in fertility traits, milk yield and beef merit, when compared to a sire/dam with a value of zero. For example, a breeding bull with a Replacement Index of €160 is expected to produce daughters that will generate on average, €160 more profit when compared to daughters of a breeding bull with a Replacement Index value of €0. The current study will be completed in 2023 and focus will move to developing strategies to reduce age at first calving and age at slaughter in a late-maturing suckler cow herd.
Breeding 2023
The breeding season started on the 2nd of May and will run for 10 weeks until the 11th of July, in this time 114 animals will bred. The herd uses 100% artificial insemination. In 2023, the herd will use two rounds of sexed semen on all animals to generate heifers for upcoming experiments; the bulls selected are outlined below.
A pre-breeding scan was carried out on the 28th of April, this scan detected four cows that required a uterine ‘was-out’ and that 30% of heifers had not yet cycled. The non-cyclic heifers had all met the target minimum weight of 380 kg and normal follicular activity was reported so it is unknown why these heifers had not yet cycled.
This scan is very useful as the cows that required a ‘wash out’ would likely have not cycled or the infection could have progressed into endometritis.
Heat checking is very important for good conception rates when using AI. Heat detection is facilitated by the following aids:
- Visual observation
- Vasectomized teaser bull wearing a chin ball
- All animals have tailpaint applied
- Digital technology
Figure: Teaser bull mounting a standing heifer
The availability of sexed female beef semen has increased in Ireland in 2023. This technology allows farmers to increase the chances of getting a heifer and potential replacement from their heifers or best performing cows. Two rounds of sexed female semen is being used on all animals followed by one round of conventional semen to generate heifers for upcoming experiments.
For conventional semen, the AM/PM rule is normally applied for AI i.e. animals observed in standing heat in the morning are submitted for AI that same evening and animals observed in standing heat in the evening are submitted for AI the following morning.
For sexed semen,you are still using the AM/PM rule but the recommend AI time is 16 – 22 hours after first observed in standing heat with the later the better in this timeframe applied. For sexed semen at Grange, we are inseminating animals 22-24 hours after the start of standing heat.
- Animals will get two opportunities for sexed semen as follows:
- 1st AI – sexed female
- 2nd AI – sexed female
- 3rd AI – conventional
Bull selection
While the choice of bulls available as sexed female has increased in 2023, farmers are still not spoiled for choice. When selecting bulls, we aim to select bulls that are
- At least 4/5 star on the Eurostar replacement index,
- Have a maximum of 8% beef heifer calving difficulty
- Are balanced for calving interval, daughter milk and carcass weight.
In 2023, the maternal herd requires a mix of early and late maturing sires and we have chosen Aberdeen Angus, Hereford, Limousin and Simmental breeds. The requirement also means that, where possible, bulls would be used across both heifers and bulls. The bulls used are AA4303, AA4743, HE6936, LM2014, LM7416, SI4147 and SI7491.
Breeding to date (23/5/2023 - 21 days of breeding)
- 88% (100) of animals have been submitted for breeding in the first 21 days of breeding.
- There have been 11 repeats.
- All cows that received a ‘wash out’ have been submitted for AI.
- A 30-day scan will be carried out at the beginning of June on
- Animals not submitted for AI
- Animals AI’d greater than 21 days.
Observation for repeats will now become paramount. We don’t use a stock bull, but if you do visual observation is key, firstly to see if he is serving the cows, make sure to note the dates of serves in a notebook. In three weeks, these dates will be vital to spotting any issues, if you see repeating cows act immediately.