Raymond and Richard Carter are mixed tillage and beef farmers based just outside Stradbally in Co. Laois.
The father-and-son duo are farming approximately 300ac in partnership, and have 140ac of the farm in tillage and the other 160ac of the farm in continuous grass.
The farm finishes approximately 200 cattle every year, 70 of which are finished on grass and 130 of which are finished over the winter.
Last week the Carters hosted a Teagasc winter beef seminar on their farm where speakers from Teagasc, Bord Bia, XL Vets and Specialist Nutrition delivered presentations on best practice for winter finishing cattle.
Speaking to Agriland at the event, Raymond explained that he trained as an electronic engineer and, after working in the profession for 10 years, made the decision to come home and go farming full-time with his father.
Raymond said that in recent years, more focus is being placed on the farm’s paddock-grazing system and two-years-ago, a new drinker system was installed.
The tillage enterprise grows a mixture of wheat, barley, oats and beans, as well as break crops. All crops are sold and a ration is bought in to feed cattle.
The main crop grown in the tillage enterprise is malting barley.
Multi-purpose shed
“The shed which the cattle are wintered in is multi-purpose,” Raymond explained.
He noted that while the shed is used to house cattle during the winter months, it is used for storage as part of the tillage operation at other times of the year.
All 200 cattle, which are in straw-bedded sheds for the winter, are fed a mixture of meal, silage and straw, using a diet feeder.
The system
Raymond explained: “What we do is we buy in stores around 400kg, keep them for a year and finish them.”
All animals bought in are dosed on arrival. Cattle going into the shed get an infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) vaccination and cattle going out to grass get a blackleg vaccine.
The farm buys all continental bullocks from local marts and aims to produce a beef animal with a carcass weight of 400kg.
“We finish two batches every year. We finish 120 cattle out of the shed and we finish 70 cattle off the grass in August/September time.”
The cattle for finishing this winter were weighed three weeks ago and the heavier bunch averaged 658kg, while the lighter bunch averaged 600kg.
“We hope to finish the heavier ones in January and the other bunch will be finished around the February/March time frame,” said Raymond.
Once these cattle are finished, they are then replaced with store bullocks which are bought in the spring and are finished off grass in the late summer/autumn.
“All cattle are straw-bedded here because with the tillage enterprise on the farm we have plenty of straw available,” Raymond added.
“About two months before we factory the cattle off grass, we introduce concentrates,” he said.
Handling facilities
The farm has exceptional cattle-handling facilities, which were built quite recently.
Raymond explained that the cattle-handling unit was designed with safety being the paramount theme.
The second picture in the gallery above is a feeding area located beside the handling facility, which is filled with fresh feed every day before the cattle are let in to feed from it.
Also of note from the above pictures is the design of the crush, which was built in a manner so that one operator can work independently at the handling unit without requiring assistance.
Farmyard manure
Farmyard manure (FYM) is spread at two times of the year and is allocated primarily to tillage land.
“The manure is spread on the winter crops in September and on the spring crops in February,” Raymond explained.
Commenting on the FYM, Raymond’s father Richard said: “Land can get sick of slurry but it will never get sick of manure.”
Bedding cattle
Raymond told attendees at the winter beef seminar they they “bought a straw blower last year and find it a lot easier and safer for bedding cattle”.
Continuing, Raymond explained that straw bedding works well for cattle on the farm and the only slatted area is around some of the feed space “to help keep the area clean”.
Looking to the future, the Carter’s plan is to continue the beef and tillage system and “further improve the grassland management”.
“Making small improvements every year is the plan for the future,” Raymond said.