Beef Focus: ‘There is no negativity towards beef farming accepted here’

Near the coastline of Co. Sligo, lays the suckler-to-beef farm belonging to Willie and James Kelly from the townland of Skreen.

Farming a 50-cow herd, the father and son partnership is dually aided by Willie’s wife Kathleen and James’s wife, Sinead.

On a recent trip by Agriland to the north-west, it was a refreshing sight to see two farmers with great positivity towards beef farming – while also having plans for further expansion.

System of production

The operation, as previously mentioned, is suckler-to-beef, farmed on 180ac. The weanlings are segregated into a 26-28 month steer finishing system, while heifers are finished at ages 19-24 months old.

Prior to being driven on for slaughter, the most suitable heifers to keep as replacements, are pulled out of the group.

The suckler herd is separated into both autumn and spring-calving groups. Approximately nine cows are calved down in August and the remainder are calved down from January to the month of March.

There are also an additional 120 head of Suffolk/Texel cross ewes that have been lambed down this spring – with some store lambs being bought in back in the autumn as well.

At the moment the farm has turned-out freshly-calved cows. Before turnout, the cows received a copper and magnesium bolus to prevent the threat of grass tetany.

The next stage is to get the remainder of the calved cows and store bullocks and heifers out to grass in the coming weeks.

As fodder supplies are currently still plentiful on the farm, there is no panic as of yet. The farm is fortunate to be based on dry and free-draining soil.

The autumn-born bull calves are also planned to be weaned and castrated in the coming weeks.

‘No room for negativity’

One of the first things you will notice from speaking with the father and son duo is that there is a strive for success when it comes to beef farming. The farm was even a finalist in the ‘Bord Bia Origin Green suckler-to-beef production’ awards back in 2018.

Having spent the majority of his years as a cattle haulier, Willie has seen a lot when it comes to the selling and buying of stock.

With regard to his views on the current negativity around the profitability of beef systems, Willie explained:

There is no room for negativity on this farm and it’s not accepted. We don’t go for that doom and gloom outlook; we try to change and adapt to be successful as best as we can.

“There needs to be more positivity brought in around farming. I mean a prime example was when Covid-19 struck, we were told that we were going to get nothing for our animals.

“Then 2020 turned out to be one of the best years we had when it came to killing cattle and sheep.

“Just sticking with the sheep for a second – where would you get a better investment for €80 when buying store lambs last autumn? I was able to double the money when it came to killing them in a lot of cases.”

He added:

“In no way am I stating that I know all of the answers when it comes to beef farming. I know that everyday I get up it is a school day, and once you can be open-minded like that, you are able to make progression.

In my opinion, if there are beef farmers constantly getting up everyday and having a negative attitude to what they are doing, why are they still doing it so?

“They should make a change in their farming system and in the long-term it will be better for their mental health. You need to have a passion for beef farming to try and stick with it.”

Breeding

In terms of breeding on the farm, the cows consist of a nice blend of Limousin, Charolais, Simmental and also a sprinkle of Parthenaise. There is both a Charolais and Limousin stock bull ran with the herd following the use of AI on a select few cows.

Limousin stock bull

Remembering back to the purchase of his bulls, Willie based his judgement off appearance on the day. He stated:

I buy what’s in front of me on the day. James and Sinead will look at the breeding or stars, but if he doesn’t look right for me I don’t care what he is sired by or how many stars he has.

In terms of AI sires used, these include Limousin bulls such as Elderberry Galahad (EBY), Charolais sires such as Fiston (FSZ) and Belgian Blue sires.

When it comes to age at mating on the farm, Willie is also adamant about giving his heifers time to mature before he puts them in-calf.

“We want to have heifers calving closer to three-year-old as possible because it gives them time to develop into a proper frame of a cow. Then if it comes to a scenario where you have to sell them, you have a presentable animal to show,” he explained.

Moving away from bull-beef

Up to two years ago, the farm had been carrying the males on for bull-beef – with the target being to slaughter them under 24-months-of-age. This was before changing to a steer finishing system.

“We didn’t mind the under 24-month system of killing bulls, but it was just getting more and more difficult to get them killed because they were over the weight limits. We would have been killing the best of bulls at 17,18 or 20 months-of-age.

“Two years ago we started castrating the bull weanlings and it’s working well for us. Between both the bullocks and the heifers, about 90% are reaching into a U-grade.”

Grazing approach

There is a set-stocking approach to grazing on the farm, with very few fields set up into paddocks. Speaking about this Willie said:

“We have more open fields than tight paddocks on the farm. I am not a great believer in tightening up cows into tight grazing areas.

I think when you go out to the field you want about four or five inches of grass underneath them and have them munching away, rather than see them licking the ground – but that’s just my opinion.

“Another thing with paddocks is that cows get the habit of moving; if you let them out in a fresh strip of grass in the morning, they will be standing at the gateway lowing in the evening and waiting for you to move them – they are not fully content.”

The farm has been aiming to enhance the levels of biodiversity by planting boundary hedgerow, while also building some roadways through fields.

He added: “What I will say when it comes to developing grassland is that we have reseeded about 50% of the farm over the past four years and the cows prefer the new grass. They have more of an edge to get into those fields because there is better quality in the swards.

“Then there are some fields that are currently around 20ac that we intend to tighten up a bit.”

Winter diets for cattle

The farm feeds the animals through the use of a diet feeder in the winter, with the mixes varying depending on the pens of animals. Willie said:

“The silage we made this year was great; it was 76% DMD [dry matter digestibility].

“For some bullocks that I finished out of the shed before Christmas, they were fed the silage along with a kilo [1kg] of straw and we didn’t feed them much more than 5-6kg of a beef-finishing ration, even though we had advisors telling us to be feeding 7-8kg of meal.

“We do listen to the advisors when they say that you should have the animal finished within 100 days, but this year we gave them that little bit longer and it worked out well – and the bonus being a lot less meal was fed.

“The weanlings got a similar ratio of straw and silage, along with a kilo of meal up to Christmas. From the start of this year they have gotten no meal.

“Finally, the cows are fed on silage and straw and dry cow mineral, then around this time of the year they get a suckler-nut only in the shed that has a good bit of soya mixed through.”

Building a new shed and plans for herd expansion

With the partnership aiming to move the herd up to 70 cows in the future, they have made the decision to add a new suckler shed to the farm yard and build on the current infrastructure.

Through the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS II) they are eligible for a 60% grant for the building – due to James being a young trained farmer.

“We are currently a bit tight for space when it comes to young cows and calves and we don’t like to have them on top of one another,” James explained.

New built-in slatted tank

“What we are building now is a five-bay double house, with three pens of slats and seven pens of dry-bedding areas. Then there will a dry bedded lie back area for the calves.”

‘We are stepping down and they are stepping up’

Near the end of our conversation, Willie spoke about the future for the farm and how he is trying to make the farm viable for future generations to follow.

Myself and James are in a partnership on the farm at the minute, but in the past few years I have always been trying to leave the farm in a way for him that it will be both productive and viable.

“It is coming to a stage where myself and Kathleen’s time of running the farm is winding down. So we are stepping down and they [James and Sinead] will be stepping up.

“Then it will come to a stage where they will be passing the farm on to their young boys Liam and Jason,” Willie concluded.