Combining tillage and dairy calf-to-beef system in Cork

Combining a tillage operation and dairy calf-to-beef system has been extremely successful for Pat Collins from Castlemartyr, Co. Cork.

Pat hosted a farm walk on his farm on Tuesday (September 13), which drew a large crowd of farmers looking to get insights into the system operated on the farm.

The farm consists of 50ha of grassland and over 400ac of tillage.

210 calves were purchased in 2022, with this number increased to 330 this year as the grassland block increased from 36ha to 50ha.

The system is Friesian bull, with Pat aiming to finish these cattle using produce that’s grown on the farm.

Pat is one of the farmers in the Teagasc DairyBeef500 programme, with the aim of this programme to return a net margin of €500/ha for farmers.

The combination of tillage and beef means that this figure is achieved and exceeded on the farm with a net margin of €768 achieved in 2022.

Dairy calf-to-beef

The system on the farm is 20-month-old Friesian bulls, and this is operated very successfully for Pat. Some heifers are also purchased and finished off grass.

Calves are purchased at three-weeks-of-age from dairy farmers, many of which Pat has been dealing with for a number of years.

The aim during the calf-rearing period is to wean calves weighing 95kg, with an average daily weight gain (ADG) of 0.7kg/day.

During the first season at grass that aim is an ADG of 0.75kg/day and to house these cattle weighhing 230kg in mid-November.

A dry farm means that grazing usually gets underway in early February, although January grazing does occur.

The target is to turn out bulls for their second grazing season weighing 290kg.

During the second grazing season, which lasts around five and a half months, the aim is an ADG of 1kg/day and to house the bulls in August weighing 460kg.

The finishing period lasts three months from housing until the beginning of November, by which stage all the bulls should be gone and the sheds can be used for housing the calves coming in from their first grazing season.

The aim during the finishing period is to achieve an ADG of 1.3kg/day and to kill the bulls weighing 580kg.

The first of the bulls will be drafted around 60 days with all the bulls gone by 90 days with a carcass of around 300kg.

Grass

Although concentrates have a major role to play in this system, grass and forage grown on the farm do too.

Red clover silage has been grown on the farm for the last four years, with Pat now having enough that he is hoping to remove soya from the diet this year.

Red clover silage is a high-protein forage, containing between 16-20% protein.

Calves are turned out to grass eating around 2kg of concentrates, and this is reduced down to nothing – they are then on a grass-only diet until housing.

The use of a paddock system has been a vital part of the success on this farm – with fields having good perimeter fencing and then pigtails and temporary wire used to divide them into paddocks.

Pat places a major focus on grass and ensuring the stock are eating the highest quality grass to ensure that weight gain is maintained.

Some of the crops from the tillage operation are used to feed the cattle, with all the finishing cattle currently housed on the farm being fed using all homegrown crops.

The aim is that the weanling diet will also consist of all homegrown feed, but this diet has yet to be formulated.

Margin

The calf-to-beef system started on the farm around eight years ago, with the leasing of land around the road from the home farm.

The number of calves purchased each year has increased along with the areas of grassland farm, with it now totalling 50ha in 2023.

Stocking rate is high, but a lot of the feed is coming from the tillage operation – which means that Pat is not in derogation.

The gross output from the farm is strong, but variable costs are also high, with this cost driven by the high stocking rate.

Fixed costs on the farm are high, but much of these fixed costs are driven by labour and land rental, with almost all the grassland leased. There has also been investment in facilities.

Net margin on the farm is €768 in 2022, with this being much higher in previous years.