Strategies are proving their value in the field

Mar 15 2008 by Tom Patterson, The Journal

INFLUENCING market price is out of the majority of beef producers’ reach but they do have tools to reduce costs and improve their unit’s efficiency.

Iain Campbell is among those who knows that introducing homebred high genetic merit bulls to his 100 cow suckler herd is improving its calves’ performance, and ultimately their profitability.

He said: “We use Charolais bulls bred from genetics that we very carefully select from within the breed’s top 10% using Estimated Breeding Values.

“While there may be some cynics around who dispute the data, I believe it really does work in providing a back up to a bull’s looks.

“We’re currently finishing virtually all our steers and heifers to 600kgs target liveweight within 18 months and trade them through the ring at C&D Dumfries to repeat buyers, apart from a handful we pick out for the spring continental cross calf show at Borderway Mart,” Iain said.

“However, we’re aware that our Charolais crosses have the genetic potential to grow even faster earlier and we plan to finish our next crop of calves to the same weight from 14 months.”

Performance efficiency reduces as a beast gets older, heavier, and fatter, and its feed conversion ratio falls.

Iain plans to start creep feeding his spring born calves three to four months before weaning them while that performance efficiency is at its best.

He said: “The figures stack up. Also the faster we get these calves away, the more grassland we’ll have for silage, and overall there’ll be less work.”

Iain manages Allerbeck Farm, near Eaglesfield, Lockerbie, and employs one man to help run the 250 acre mainly grassland unit which he believes is now stocked to capacity.

In the last four years since Iain was appointed, the commercial suckler herd has doubled to 100 cows.

Furthermore, the unit carries the Swalesmoor pedigree Charolais herd which has expanded threefold to 40 breeding cows and followers, while it also supports a complementary 70 ewe commercial flock and buys in up to 450 hoggs to over winter.

Apart from using Estimated Breeding Values for growth rate when selecting a bull, Calving Ease is also taken to account. He said: “If we use a bull with a Calving Ease value of average or above, it really does ensure his calves don’t grow too big inside the cow.

“We make sure the cows are fit but not fat, and we don’t have any calving issues. They calve at 280 days, they’re lively and soon up and away,” Iain said.

He added: “These calves also have good temperament – they’re quiet and easy to handle which is really important when I’ve only got one man to help out.”

Allerbeck’s commercial beef enterprise provides a shop window for the up and coming pedigree Swalesmoor Charolais herd whose primary objective is to provide bulls for the suckler sector that consistently leave high performance profitable calves suited to low management systems.

Iain said: “We’re confident that Charolais is the ultimate terminal sire to breed because its finished progeny can achieve an additional 100kgs liveweight over other same age Continental crosses fed on exactly the same diet.

“Secondly, by breeding the best of the breed using genetics from within the top 10%, then we are able to offer bulls that have the potential to have a real impact with other suckler men’s herds.” Swalesmoor’s targets are for bulls to achieve an average 1.6kg per day within their first 400 days.

Iain said: “We have built the herd with the addition of Blelack and Givendale lines in an attempt to achieve consistency.

“We’ve used a lot of Dingle Hoffmeister across those pedigree cows simply because he has had the ability to breed consistently.

“He also has the figures to match, he’s within the breed’s top 1%.”

Three years ago, Swalesmoor invested in Goldies Uppermost, the supreme Perth champion and day’s leader at 34,000gns.

“He is a bull within the breed’s top 10% and he’s throwing those consistent calves with flesh in all the right places,” he said.

Selecting within the breed’s top bloodlines has accelerated the herd’s progress, and Iain says that Breedplan, the society’s new registration and genetic evaluation system service provider, is helping him to select more easily for specific traits.

Last month, Swalesmoor offered four bulls in Perth, each selling to average around the 4,000gns mark, a figure that reflects the herd’s commercial target.

Iain said: “Driving down costs and improving efficiency to maintain a sustainable beef farming business will remain key well into the foreseeable future.”