Grazing quality improves in dairy beef woodland project

On a “pathway to climate positive farming”, Yeo Valley’s 800ha (1,977-acre) organic farming business has cut dairy cow numbers from 420 to be able to finish its dairy beef cattle at 24 months.

Targeting 610kg, R conformation and maximising the number of days grazing, farm development manager William Mayor said the aim is to finish all animals born on-farm.

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With grazing “massively important”, experimenting with rotational grazing for the dairy cows has resulted in Next Level Grazing – a form of multi-paddock regenerative grazing of diverse swards, founded by Siobahn Griffin.

“Resilience is our main driver, and we want our cows out as much as possible.

“Before, we were on a 21-day rotation, topping and growing 12t dry matter [DM]/ha on the dairy platform.

“The spring flush was amazing, but we were very vulnerable as soon as we hit a drought,” said William.

Grazing management involves going in at 3.5 leaves and not using a plate meter. Instead, milk in the tank is maintained on a taller sward with deeper roots.

Utilisation is just 30%, however, the remaining 70% is not classed as waste on an organic farm, but as fertiliser.

“We are recycling nutrients,” he stressed.

To maintain a trampling effect, cows are moved four times a day and there are 27 days of sward recovery.

William Mayor © Robert Smith Photography

Perseverance pays

“We put the topper away, but being organic, we have docks. We stuck with it and the result was that ecology and biology looked after it for us; it allowed the dock beetle to complete its life cycle.

“Now we have tall dock stems and underneath, a thick, grass sward.”

When the business took on 243ha (600-acre) Hazel Manor next door, complete with 40ha (100 acres) of ancient semi-natural woodland, William said their grazing management evolved into a woodland pasture project.

He started by broadcasting seed mixes and turning in 60 Angus cross Friesian cattle wearing virtual fence collars. Supplementing the lack of grass was needed at the start.

After three years, he had grass of good quality and diversity.

“We struggled with liveweight gain in the first few years – at 0.6kg a day – and there were pockets of good and bad feed areas,” he said.

As grazing consistency improves, William’s aim is to improve liveweight gain and finish all beef on this woodland pasture system.

“The biggest problem is the fly burden,” he added.

With a goal for 500 head of cattle to be managed by one person in 32 paddocks, each of 6.5ha (16 acres), William said that grazing infrastructure has taken time to develop.

They have now invested in steel fencing to replace the collars.

Furthermore, a leader follower system with sheep has further improved pasture quality.

R1 and R2 beef cattle have been mixed to make the rotation more effective.

He said that they did not notice any drawbacks in weight gain in the younger animals because there is no competition for feed.

Instead, they have formed three social groups of mixed ages.

“Our big ambition is to feed 100% home-grown feeds with good-quality silage and home-grown protein such as blue lupins.”

William Mayor was speaking at the recent British Cattle Breeders Conference beef day.