Tillage is not a farming practice that would be closely associated with Co. Monaghan however this did not deter Mark and Grainne Duffy from developing a tillage enterprise on their organic farm outside Ballybay, Co. Monaghan.
The duo hosted a Teagasc organic farm walk on their farm on Wednesday, June 28, which was well attended despite the heavy rain which later cleared off as the event got underway.
The focus of the farm walk was on red clover silage and organic oats and how both can form part of an effective crop rotation helping to keep weeds under control in an organic enterprise.
Mark explained that the farm switched to organics in 2008. “We were previously finishing bulls into 500kg carcass weights and feeding a lot of meal and going nowhere with it so we decided to go the organic route.
“After a few years, I noticed a more steady income from organics. I was initially all finishing cattle and then put in some tillage.
“We have a poultry enterprise so the dung from it helps the tillage enterprise.
The cropping rotation Mark operates generally looks like:
- Three years tillage;
- Four years red clover;
- Three years tillage;
- White clover.
Mark explained that with this system and using nutrients produced on-farm “we are keeping our Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) levels consistant.
Finishing cattle
Mark explained he finishes very few cattle in summer because “cattle are expensive in February and March. That’s the time we try to sell cattle.
“I buy cattle from October to December when there is pressure on at housing.
“Generally you will buy organic store cattle at conventional price and then I finish them with no meal with red clover silage so I save on the meal bill and really that’s the difference between organic and conventional.
“Your conventional beef system will maybe return €50-100/head profit but with organic beef, if you can cut out the meal, there’s probably up to €350-400/head [of a profit margin].
Organic beef price was at €6/kg base price up until the week commencing Monday, June 19, when it fell to €5.95/kg. Organic beef finishers know the price they will be receiving for beef from now until Christmas.
“I finish most of my cattle from December to March and I had a few stragglers into May this year.”
Mark explained he currently has a minimal number of cattle at grass but said they are performing well doing 0.9kg/day.
“I keep a few less cattle and try to make a better margin on less animals.”
Mark outlined that generally, the cattle get from three to five bales of red clover silage/head to put a good finish on them.
He said: “The best value out of that silage is to feed it to your own cattle. You could sell it at €40/bale but you’re really selling a product off cheap.
“It takes five bales to finish an animal and you can turn €400/animal on it.”
Growing oats in Ballybay
The oats grown on the Ballybay farm are sold to Flahavan’s in Co. Waterford. Mark outlined that usually, the oats are grown for three consecutive years in a field but this year he “chanced a fourth year”.
While the crop is doing well, there is a stronger weed presence clearly visible.
Mark explained his logic for continuing with oats in the field for a fourth year.
“I’m insulated against bad crop because the Tillage Incentive Scheme (TIS) payment is €400/Ha for any extra tillage this year on last year.
Teagasc organic tillage advisor Martin Burke giving an overview of the oat crops on the farm:
“So if I took that field out [of oats], I wouldn’t of got that payment so there’s €1,200 to be got on that 9ac field for the TIS and then you have a €900/ha Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) payment so before you do a tap, you have €2,100 on that field and then your organic payments on top of that.”
Organic payments
Teagasc organics advisor Enda O’Hart gave a brief overview of the payment rates available through the Organic Farming Scheme (OFS).
He said: “A typical 75-80ac beef farm will generate approximately a €10,000 OFS payment/year.
“The first two years have a conversion payment of €300/ha and the payment is €250/ha thereafter.
“There is also a €2,00 participation payment in year one and that drops to €1,400/ha thereafter.”
Red clover silage
Enda told attendees at the farm walk: “With good quality grass silage, you might get 0.6kg/day average daily gain (ADG) on cattle.
“With good grass and whiteclover silage, you might get 0.8kg/day ADG but with quality red clover silage, you can get 1kg/day ADG.
The gallery below shows a crop of clover that has has two cuts (total of 11 bales/ac) taken off it to date this year. The crop was last cut three weeks ago:
Mark added: “Last winter, our cattle’s’ ADG was 0.8-0.9kg which was not as good as other years. The best was 1.15kg/day ADG on a batch of heifers but for that you need the Dry Matter Digestibility (DMD) really high. I’ve had DMD as high as 82% but with that, you need to mix a bit of straw or strong silage with it.
Mark also grows forage rape on the Ballybay farm which is strip grazed in the late autumn.
He explained last year was “an exceptional year for the crop”.
“We nearly got 1kg/day [ADG from cattle on forage rape] on it so that finished a lot of the cattle last year before they even got to shed.
“I bought cattle in September/October and most of them were gone by start of December. The cattle turned inside out on the forage rape last year.”
There was a brief discussion at the end of the farm walk in Ballybay and there was a great sense of positivity from both the organic farmers and organic beef and tillage advisors in attendance.
All stakeholders in the organic sector appeared very confident on the future of the sector from both a financial and environmental sustainability perspective.