Farming outside Castledermot in Co. Kildare, Peter Byrne and his family run a mixed enterprise farm consisting of both tillage and a dairy calf to beef enterprise.
The farm encompasses just over 70ha, all of which is in one block. The grassland area covers almost 43ha and the remaining ground is dedicated to the tillage enterprise.
Peter’s farm hosted a Teagasc DairyBeef500 farm walk on Tuesday, May 7, where the management practices and financial performance of his calf to beef operation were discussed.
Tillage
The tillage enterprise on the farm consists of producing winter and spring barley, fodder beet and a small area of beans.
Approximately 50% of the crops produced from the tillage operation are sold over to the beef operation at market value.
These are used as winter feed for the beef-finishing enterprise, while excess cereals and beet are sold off farm.
In 2023, a combi crop of beans and barley was grown and this feed now forms part of this year’s calf diet.
Grass
Last year, the farm grew over 13.5t/DM of grass/ha using a total of 169kg of chemical nitrogen (N)/ha. The low level of chemical N used on the grassland block is attributed to the introduction of both red and white clover on the farm.
Peter believes that the application of chemical N on the farm will reduce even further as more clover becomes established.
During spring last year, a red-clover silage sward was established. This block received only three bags of 10-10-20 that was applied at sowing.
The red clover was cut three times and yielded 15 bales/ac in its first year and tested 73% Dry Matter Digestibility (DMD), with a crude protein of 14.4%.
Peter measures grass growth on his farm and uploads the figures on to PastureBase. Last year, Peter uploaded 33 walks onto Pasturebase.
He believes that measuring grass is one of the keys to achieving higher weight gains from cattle at grass, saying: “If you are not measuring what you have, you are likely to go into heavy covers, as you will be afraid of running out, which will have a knock-on effect on weight gains.”
The Kildare farmer operates a simple paddock system with a lot of temporary wires used to allocate the correct grass allowance.
Water troughs are positioned in the centre of fields to allow additional paddocks to be formed and temporary fences are run off permanent fences.
Residency time in the paddock is usually no more than two days and this allows more grass to be grown as cattle are not getting a chance to graze off regrowth’s.
Calf rearing
A total of 162 calves were reared on the farm this spring, 39 heifer calves and 123 bull calves. 55% of the calves are Holstein/Friesian with the remaining breeds on the farm being made up of Angus, Aubrac, Limousin and Longhorn.
Calves are now all sourced from four local dairy farmers with 60% of calves having a Commercial Beef Value (CBV) of three stars or greater and Peter aims to place more emphasis on buying calves from local dairy farmers that have better beef genetics.
All male cattle are finished as steers at approximately 24-months-of-age, with the aim being to have the majority of the heifer calves slaughtered prior to housing for the second winter at 19 -20-months-of-age.
Weight gain
- Steers
For male dairy-beef calves, the aim is for an average daily live weight gain (ADG) of 0.75kg/day during calf rearing (from purchase in mid March at 45kg) bringing them to a live weight of 95kg in mid-May.
From mid-may to mid-November (first season at grass), the aim is for an ADG of 0.7kg/day bringing the male calves to 240kg at housing.
During the first winter, the aim is for an ADG of 0.6/day, bringing the target weight to 300kg by early March.
For the second season at grass, the aim is for male cattle to gain 0.9kg/day, bringing the target weight to 500kg by mid-October.
For the finishing period, the target is for an ADG of 1.1kg/day, bringing the target weight at finish to 620kg in mid-February.
- Heifers
For female dairy-beef calves, the aim is for an average daily live weight gain (ADG) of 0.7kg/day during calf rearing (from purchase in mid March at 45kg) bringing them to a live weight of 90kg in mid May.
From mid May to mid November (first season at grass), the aim is for an ADG of 0.7kg/day bringing the male calves to 220kg at housing.
During the first winter, the aim is for an ADG of 0.6/day, bringing the target weight to 290kg by early March.
For the second season at grass, the aim is for female cattle to gain 0.9kg/day, bringing the target weight to 465kg by mid-September.
For the finishing period, the target is for an ADG of 1kg/day, bringing the target weight at finish to 510kg in late October.
Profitability
The profitability on Peter’s farm has held relatively steady over the last three years since a significant increase in net margin in 2021.
Peter has managed to increase his output from forage in the form of both grazed grass and grass silage.
Variable costs have increased over the years mainly due to price inflation and are running at 65% of gross output.
The table below gives a glimpse of the farm profitability over the past four years. It is important to note direct payments, land costs or own labour charges are not included in the figures:
Peter runs a high stocking rate on his grassland area but remains outside derogation when the tillage land is brought back in.
As mentioned above, any cereal that is used on the farm as livestock feed is bought in from the tillage enterprise at current market prices.
Live weight output per hectare dropped off significantly per hectare in 2023. This was due to a combination of a higher amount of cattle killed earlier and at lighter carcasses than 2022.
The live weight output per hectare is expected to recover in 2024. Peter plans to put more land into grassland and to increase the number of calves he is rearing by 30.
Peter has received planning permission to construct a four-bay doubled slatted unit recently and the plan is to construct this shed in early 2025.
This will have an impact on increasing fixed costs in the future years but if output is increased, as a result, net margin should also rise.