Angus Bull for Suckler Herd

😂😂😂 Unfortunately the options on marginal land are limited. Dairy beef is even worse, especially when meal is so expensive.

As one fella said forestry is the way forward, but I don't want to be living in darkness

I presume that you know and understand that beef processors have also been recipients of coupled payments.

So are you for getting rid of your sucklers?

Cattle are a good trade at the moment but if they were to take a dip my concern would be that the poorer quality dairy cross wouldn’t hold their value.

The last animals here we sold were a group of heifers and they averaged £2.38 for 617kgs at £1477 so if I convert to Euro to measure like for like then thats about €1,715. They were around 18 months so that’s about 40p x 300 days so they’ve cost another £120-150 to feed means they’re still leaving about £650 or so behind them and I’ve also deducted the £20/head the mart take which would be equal for the dairy cross. I still think we’re getting out at that.

March 2020 birthday cattle from your neck of woods.

I sold a batch of 10 Suckler bred heifers between 9 and 11 months old last week. Highest price 910, lowest 845 Lim X and Charolais X off 4 nd 5 star cows. Not bad stock, averaging around 330kg no meal given to them. Hardly setting the world on fire and if I took your costing of €760 that leaves an average margin of about €115. I'd need 350 of them to make the average Industrial wage!!!!

So where do you go from here?

No that’s no use. If you’re going for the weanlin market then in my opinion you need a heavier early calf. 250kgs is no use even if they sell well. Without even looking at costs €640 or even £640 wouldn’t look at keeping a cow and giving you anything back. I can’t mind who but someone was on here last year arguing the merit of calving in December so that he would have that strong weanling, I thought it too early but I don’t sell weanlings it doesnt suit me. Unless a really flashy one straight off the cow would make as much as a weanling as he would nearly 6 months later. Weanlings in our local mart were making £1050 to £1150 for quality ones 350-400 kgs, that would be meeting you. That’s top end though tbf

Me and my da will need to really sit down and figure out numbers for autumn compared to spring calving and see what makes more sense. For our ground vs shed capacity we’re maxed though so that’s why it’s likely to remain spring autumn split and it means animals to sell for cash flow for larger portions of the year which is an advantage too.

In terms of grass management and the ability to group cattle there’s no comparison. A calf to beef system requires 3 groups. Only 2 if doing heifers.

If every suckler farmer stops there wont be much out of drystock either

Possibly you’re right about that. There might be an issue where the cows would eat out the ground for you where calves wouldn’t so that cuts out endless topping. Wed have 2 groups of cows/calves, bulling heifers, 2 weanling groups, 1-2 forward store type groups and dry cows. We’re spread over 3 main farms & outfarms so there’d be groups anyhow. I’m a teacher so I be off during the summer anyway and I love going round the stock. When I do go round the stock I don’t really wanna be looking at a load of fresians and I enjoy producing the type of cattle we have. FRom year to year calf to beef might work out better for a specialist for us it might not. I’ve friends who dabbled in it and are back out of it now after outbreaks of all sorts of diseases and games of cat and mouse with tb. Nothing is plain sailing as I say if youre finding calf to beef to be more beneficial to you then good on you, keep at it. I’m not making little of any of your points but I remain unconvinced that it would be better for us. I like to try new things out so I might buy a group of them and see how they go… then again, that would mean another group about the place!!

We're going to try that road. Whatever doesn't calve in January gets the road. I'm quite with work in early Spring and we've long winters so plan is to have all calved in January and back in calf in April leaving the shed.

Sell what isn't staying for breeding in September and October then.

Need to be really ruthless with culling and probably be very lucky with getting in calf! Will try AI.

Have a middling outfarm so buy whitehead runners for that in early Spring I think.

Sounds like a good plan. Is the best thing to be ruthless right away or could you pull back calving in stages over 2 years? In the Month of May I have exams so an odd tough day at school but mostly it’s fairly light and a great big long evening. The idea of trying to take cows in for ai or run them with the bull wouldn’t bother me. We even calve a few in May. People be horrified at that when I say it but those ones eat the butt of silage, calve outside and no issue with bedding. A problem is then that when you’re weaning they are smaller calves but if you have a few of them then theres a pen. I haven’t really giving it the right study but I’m not in a panic to cut them out either. The glut of calving in Feb/March is more anguish!

I prefer to let someone else do the rearing. I buy steers all breeds and sorts (as long as they are quiet) as year to two year olds depending on whatever whimsical notion takes my brain at the time! There’s not much money in it but no bulling, calving and all that goes with that ,dehorning or castrating. No family time or sleep lost..

Yea I’ve a neighbour who does the same. All usually seems to be going to plan but he got the sh1te polled out of him on weanlings this year. He be’s grumblin about cattle being dear but there needs to be something for the creatur who did all those aforementioned dastardly tasks!!

the right Angus in a suckler herd can do just as well as most breeds but you have to kill them yourself. You won’t get paid for them as weanlings