Shetland suckler herd targets fertility in simple system

Suckler performance targets were among the topics discussed at the British Cattle Breeders Conference beef day. 

Superstars are not wanted in Jamie Leslie’s 90-cow Angus suckler herd at Scholland Farm on Shetland.

Breeding is kept simple with “nothing too fancy”, but a strong focus on fertility because the herd calves in a seven-week block from mid-March.

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“I’m quite pleased at our calving interval – 363 days over the past three years – and everything is calving at two years.

“It’s nice to know that calving will last only seven weeks, not two months. It’s good for the mindset,” he said.

“We want a cow who gets on with the job and we don’t notice her – we want a whole herd like that, no superstars,” he said.

“What do we breed for in a cow? Fertility, structure and correctness; a cow that is fit for our farm and our system.

“We want a moderate-sized cow with offspring growing quickly.”

Farming on the southern tip of Shetland mainland, with light sandy soils, long summer days, and bleak winters (windy, though not cold), Jamie said that they use estimated breeding values (EBVs) to choose their genetics.

“We are not selecting for extremes; we look at calving ease, some growth, some milk and fat, and we use mature cow weight EBV.

“Looking for structure and correctness, we focus on feet, legs, udders – and attitude in a cow.”

Jamie Leslie © Robert Smith Photography

Annual targets

Jamie’s annual targets include producing a calf every year and calving unassisted.

Cows without the desired traits are culled and their daughters are not retained in the herd.   

Cow and calf spend the summer following sheep and lambs in rotational grazing.

This has cut costs and given a 2kg boost to lamb weaning weight, said Jamie.

“After lambs are weaned, cattle get the grass to themselves. A calf thrives on mum all summer, then outwinters on bales and forage crop.

“Once we get to mid-April/early May, they need to motor and get big daily liveweight gain [DLWG] – over 1.5kg. It is enjoyable for us to see them thrive and grow at this time of year,” he said.

His growth targets include 1.2kg DLWG to weaning at six to seven months of age and 0.5kg/day over winter.

From 1 November to mid-February, cows graze deferred grass with the fence shifted weekly to allocate grass of 8.8 MJ of metabolisable energy and 9.7% crude protein.

Jamie likes to see cows weaned at condition score 4 to ensure they are robust enough for outwintering.

“Quantity [of feed] is good, quality is poor, and they do fine on it,” he added.

Between weaning and one month pre-calving, he said that cows losing 1.0 condition score save 400kg a cow in dry matter feed, making it a cheap winter.

“Last year, we weaned at score 4.3 – and calve cows at 2.5 to 3. If we get all these [targets] right, we can try and make some money,” he said. 

“Our costs of production for 2023/24 were £645 for a suckler cow, £279 for a weaned calf to turn out, £93 from a year old to October and £1,017 to produce a 600kg steer.”

Jamie Leslie was speaking at the recent British Cattle Breeders Conference beef day.