How finishing bulls at 13 months raised suckler efficiency
© Debbie James A Welsh suckler beef farm is achieving average daily liveweight gains (DLWG) of 2.4kg in bulls it finishes at 13 months on a ration formulated with a high level of its own rolled barley.
Huw and Meinir Jones at Bryn Farm, near Cardigan, previously sold progeny from the farm’s Salers suckler herd as stores, but decided to try keeping and finishing them because the farm is in a high TB area.
In the event of a disease breakdown they would be unable to sell stores.
See also: Calculating beef weaning efficiency and why it is important
They now select bulls with a weaning weight of 280kg or heavier to keep entire; these are the progeny of a Charolais bull.
Any bulls not kept for finishing are castrated and grazed at grass for a second summer, along with the heifers.
For the past three years, the performance of the bulls has been monitored as part of the farm’s role as a Farming Connect Demonstration Farm.
Bull beef ration
The bull beef ration was formulated by beef and dairy nutritionist Hefin Richards of Rumenation Nutrition Consultancy.
About 70% of the ration consists of home-grown rolled barley, and most of the remainder is made up of maize grain, rapeseed meal, protected rape, molasses, live yeast, limestone and a mineral specific to intensive bull beef.
Intakes have averaged 13kg a head a day, excluding straw, which is offered ad-lib.
This starch-based diet with a high energy density and a moderate protein level – typically 13-14% – was formulated to achieve high DLWGs.
But there is a “fine line” between performance and acidosis, and Mr Richards advises that careful consideration should be given to what goes into a bull beef ration to maintain rumen health (see “Learnings from the project for other beef farmers”).
Using controlled intake hoppers, the Joneses offer the bull feed mix from weaning, together with straw.
The hoppers are adjusted to gradually increase access until the cattle receive a fully ad-lib ration.
Farm facts: Bryn Farm, Cardigan
- Farming 101ha (250 acres)
- Light sandy loam soil
- 75 suckler cows, mostly Salers
- Paddock-grazing system
- Loose winter housing
- Farming Connect Demonstration Farm
Performance
Performance over the past three years has seen bulls spending 100 days on ad-lib feed before being slaughtered at more than 600kg liveweight.
By finishing the bulls at 13 months, their efficiency in converting this feed into growth is at its optimum.
February- and March-born calves are typically sold by the following April, so they only need to be at grass in the first season while suckling their dams.
Mr Richards says there is potential to keep the bulls for longer, to increase carcass weight, but that comes with a trade-off in the form of diminishing DLWG and feed conversion efficiency.
“Efficiency drops off at that point. Yes, the bulls could be kept for another six weeks, but the feed costs would be higher to put on additional kilograms,” he says.
Over the past three years, Mr and Mrs Jones’s bulls have grown at an average of 2.4kg a day while on ad-lib feeding (100-day period).
Cattle have achieved 345kg deadweight on average and killed out at 57%. The average sale price has been £3.87/kg.
Huw and Meinir Jones © Debbie James
Other improvements
Mr and Mrs Jones have also improved the efficiency of their herd by reducing calving spread – 27% more cows now calve in the first six weeks compared with three years ago.
This has been achieved in part by managing the body condition score (BCS) of cows.
Research shows that at a BCS of 2.5-3 at calving, the calving interval is 364 days.
This rises to 382 days at BCS 2 and as high as 418 days at BCS 1-1.5, says beef consultant Rhidian Jones of RJ Livestock Systems, who also had input into the project.
Additionally, a rising condition score of 2.5-3 at mating gives the best percentage of calves reared, he advises.
Selecting bulls for calving ease has also increased the number of calves reared, from 88% to 94% – worth £7,200 across the herd over the three years of the project.
Cows are outwintered for all but 10 weeks, grazing forage brassicas, before they are housed for calving.
Farming Connect technical officer Menna Williams, who oversaw the project, says it has demonstrated that rearing bulls intensively is an efficient way to produce beef.
“This is especially so when home-grown grain is available,” she says.
Learnings from the project for other beef farmers
- Farmers who breed their own replacements should select heifers from the earliest calvers and bull heifers for only nine weeks.
- Bull more than you need, but for a limited time, to improve herd fertility at the start of the cow’s life in the herd.
- Any that fail to get in-calf can simply re-join the store cattle and nothing is lost.
- Record fertility performance, carry out a herd health plan and measure cow efficiency – cow weight reared needs to be above 45%.
- Manage cow body condition to achieve this – one unit of condition is equivalent of 10-13% of liveweight.
- Do not penalise cows for efficiency if they have gained condition at grass – this is essential for outwintering systems to protect them from the elements.
- Set some simple targets as a starting point to improve herd performance. These can be the number of cows in calf, the expected number of calves, the number of cow and calf deaths, calf growth rates, and the percentage of cows that get back in calf.
- Keep a simple table with target and actual data, and update and review it at regular intervals.
- Bulls need a comfortable environment with clean water.
- Try to house them where there are as few distractions as possible to encourage them to lie down and ruminate. Avoid at all costs having female cattle nearby.
- When formulating rations, it is not so much about the type of ingredient as it is about the level and source or starch relative to fibre, and the level of starch processing. Barley is generally safer than wheat, and cracked grain is safer than finely milled. Maize grain has more rumen bypass starch, making it safer. Bread and biscuit meals are highly digestible but must be used with care because the cooking process makes the starch in them quickly available.
- Ensure the animals are truly ad-lib, eating little and often. A rumen buffer and a proven yeast product can help maintain rumen health in high-concentrate diets.
Source: Hefin Richards and Rhidian Jones