Few farmers are able to finish cattle solely off forages, but with feed and fertiliser prices still significantly well above those of 2021, it's a practice that a lot more are likely to pursue in the coming years.
With improved soil and grassland management, many could achieve that too going by the on-farm results from former Beef Farmer of the Year, Aled Evans, are anything to go by.
Aled and his brother Iwan, who works for Microsoft, established a partnership on 525acres at Rest Farm, Whitland, Carmarthenshire, some seven years ago, with the three goals – to make a profit, have a decent lifestyle and leave a legacy to be proud of.
Their system is simple and based on buying in one-week-old beef calves from hi-health dairy herds, grow as much quality grass as possible with minimum wastage that will turn kilos into liveweight gain and finish the calves within 20-24months.
To achieve this, Aled focussed on grassland management, targeting high entry covers of 3000kg DM/ha. This is because the more leaf area available, the greater the energy available to the grass plant which promotes root depth and improves water infiltration rates.
Hence, grass grown can be fully utilised, stocking rates can be planned for and Aled knows when feed needs to be bought in, and if he needs to in a cost effective way. By having more grass available, he has also shortened the winter by two months, with the farm's silage requirement taken from just 130acres.
He has calculated that grazing grass costs the farm about 5p/kg DM, compared with silage at 12p/kg DM and concentrates at 20p/kg DM.
The more grass he can grow, the more profitable and sustainable his business. The concentration on improving grass utilisation has also led to better soil structure and soil health, both of which have positive biodiversity and environmental benefits.
Such has been his success with this new grazing system coupled with the used of native-bred cattle from the dairy herd, that the brothers have not only reduced input costs over the years, but have also established a partnership with a local meat business, selling beef direct to the public while also taking on another farm.
Interestingly, work loads are limited to 50hours per week, with the assistance of stockman Llifon Davies and weekends off are split between them.
"There is absolutely no physical or mental gain in working 90-100 hours a week," said Aled, who was speaking at the Beef Cattle Breeders' Conference in Telford.
"Fifty hours and every other weekend off allows people to come back to work fresh and have a decent lifestyle with family and friends. We've been able to earn enough to go on holiday to Canada too," he said.
Initially the aim was to rely on rotational grazing to maximise grass growth with limited artificial fertilisers which in the first year was halved and reduced again the following year. Now, no artificial fertiliser is applied.
However, the farm is still able to grow 13t of dry matter/ha without the use of fertiliser and just as impressively carry 1500kg liveweight per ha. As a result, the business is able to rear 650 dairy cross cattle per year and finish 325 to produce 305kg carcases.
The business revolves around buying in hi-health spring-born beef calves from local dairy farms a week old which are reared in a specifically designed calf shed with ventilation curtains primarily in batches of 15 on milk replacer until they reach 80kg. At this stage they are moved into groups of 50 when they have access to concentrates – the only time they are fed concentrates – until they reach 120kg when they are moved on in groups of 150 to longer, stemmy grass which is easier on the rumen and ensures proper transition for a couple of months after which they are introduced to better quality grassland containing a mixture of ryegrasses, chickory, plantain, red and white clover and timothy.
By maximising grass growth, 85% is utilised by switching from three-day moves to daily shifts, with the cattle now out at grass 275 days of the year.
"Every day the cattle are in the shed we're losing money. We're making money when they're outside, so depending on the weather, we'll put them outside during the winter months for up to 3hours a day, but you need the right type of cattle for that. We find spring-born and native-bred cattle are hardier and easier fleshing so we now have a contract with our dairy farmers providing Aberdeen-Angus and Hereford cross calves," said Aled, who pointed out that introducing kale and restart into the rotation has extended the grazing period by a couple of months.
However, he was the first to admit, measuring grass was a steep learning curve, although he does now spend two hours ever Monday morning measuring the green stuff to ensure sufficient supplies for the coming 10 days.
Investing in tracks and semi-permanent fencing has enabled on-off grazing too. This has helped cut the farm’s contracting bill, with only 160 acres needing to be cut, compared to 300 acres a few years ago.
Being rotationally grazed for most of the year, cattle have access to the sweetest, highest quality grasses, which are not necessarily the shortest. Aled has found that a diverse grazing platform with deeper tap roots and rhizomes produces grasses that are not only better for the soil and the environment but also enable growth rates of up to 1.3kg per day.
"We never leave any bare soil so that our grassland and soils are more resilient to droughts and as a result we are seeing a far more diverse ley. We've also tweaked our hedgerow management so they are cut back every three years instead of one, and we're seeing more rare and interesting species take habitat," concluded Aled.
The system is relatively simple - to grow as much grass as possible and turn that grass into kilos of liveweight gain.
But it is not only about growing high volumes of grass, growing good quality grass and ensuring maximum utilisation and minimise wastage is key.
To achieve this, Aled has focussed on grassland management, targeting high entry covers of 3,000kg DM/ha because the more leaf there is the greater the energy available to the grass plant.
This promotes root depth too, and Aled has even seen water infiltration rates increase by 75% since he adopted this approach to grazing.
For GrassCheckGB weekly measurements with a rising plate meter are taken during the grazing season. From this Aled can fully utilise the grass he is growing because he can plan stocking rates and buy in feed when, and if he needs to in a cost effective way.
Rotational grazing has shortened the winter by two months which has halved the farm’s requirement for silage, to 64ha.
“Our approach to grassland management has paid off as we are now growing 14 tonnes of dry matter (DM)/ha a year.
“We are not only growing more grass but our utilisation rate has increased to 85%
from 70%. We have achieved this in part by changing the frequency of moving cattle to fresh grass, to a daily shift instead of every three days.’’
Sustainability
Aled has calculated that grazing grass costs the farm about 5p/kg DM, compared with silage at 12p/kg DM and concentrates at 20p/kg DM.
The more grass he can grow, the more profitable and sustainable his business. The concentration on improving grass utilisation has also led to better soil structure and
soil health, both of which have positive biodiversity and environmental benefits.
Aled’s approach to maximising output from grass means that the farm’s basic payment accounts for less than 10% of farm income.
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