Fellside House Blog – latest news from the farm

Hello I’m Elizabeth Moore, the farm facilitator for Fellside House Farm farmed by Ken, Mandy and Chris Pears.

I work for Cumbria Farmer Network organising the farm’s open days and business group meetings which have been well attended by local farmers who have given me good feedback on how they are looking to make changes to their own businesses.

Updates from the farm and future events will be posted below, encouraging other farmers to look at their own businesses and hopefully plan for a profitable future.

Please contact me for further information on how you can join in at future meetings…
Tel: 016973 71608 or
e-mail: elizabeth@thefarmernetwork.co.uk

Fellside House Farm’s heifer replacement policy was the topic for discussion at the Cumbria Beef and Sheep Monitor Farm business club held on 30th November 2011.

Fellside House has, up to the present, bought in heifers with calves at foot to replace cows which have been culled. This policy is being changed to one where homebred heifers are being served to calve at two years old.

Factors, taken into consideration include the increasing cost of buying replacements as numbers become restricted and improving farm biosecuity.

More details are given in a technical article by Rhidian Jones of SAC Consulting available here >>

All options are currently under discussion and the monitor farm business club event hosted at Greystoke Castle Farm focused on the problems of finding replacements for suckler herds.

The event was by kind invitation of David Lawton who manages the farm and is an active member of the Monitor Farm Discussion Group. The farm maintains a suckler herd of 250 spring calving cows and Charolais bulls are used throughout the herd. These produce faster growing, heavier calves that are weaned and sold through Longtown Auction Mart at the autumn suckler and store cattle sales.

David gave the group of 40 farmers, who attended the open day, a guided tour of the homestead where the suckler cows and bulls are housed for the winter.

At Greystoke Castle, replacement heifers are both home reared and bought in. The farm purchases heifers from farms of known health status. These are served to calve at three years old and kept on a low cost diet which maintains growth without them becoming over fat. One batch of heifers was visited on land that is 1000 feet above sea level on the edge of Greystoke Forest.

Following lunch in Greystoke Village Hall, Rhidian Jones of SAC Consulting gave a presentation on the various options of providing heifer replacements for suckler herds. This prompted animated discussion from those who had differing methods of managing their herds.

The preferred age for calving heifers was a key point of discussion with the room being equally divided between two years, two ½ years and three years. In all cases the key was to maintain the growth of the heifer without their becoming too fleshy.

The younger the heifer the more importance of careful management to ensure they calved easily and were in a fit condition to be served again. It is preferable to manage the heifers separately to the rest of the herd.

Farmers were asked for their preferred systems of acquiring replacements – the majority were equally divided between buying through local auction marts or having closed herds rearing their own replacements. One farm bought from an accredited breeder and two from a single source on farm. Those who bought in bulling heifers were equally divided between buying from dairy and beef herds.

A final discussion focused on the suggestion that replacement heifers could be reared on a single farm for a number of suckler herds. It was considered to be a good idea in principle but would be hard to put into practice.

On the plus side the farm rearing the heifers would have a traceable health and breed status – the problem would be putting a value on the heifers once reared without them being sold through an auction market. This could then result in the original farms needing the replacements being out bid by other farmers. Those interested said they would consider the option.

The conclusion of the meeting was that farmers should consider the circumstances on their own farm before deciding to change how they replace culled suckler cows.

The farm Open Day focused on three key factors in managing a profitable Sheep Enterprise:

- On-farm assessment and selection of prime lambs.
- The importance of blood testing for trace elements and vitamin deficiencies.
- Feed rations using homegrown silage for finishing hill lambs.

The event was attended by over 30 farmers and a number of representatives from local Agricultural Merchants.

Ken Pears, the monitor farmer, provided three different breeds –mule lambs out of swaledale ewes, texel lambs out of mule ewes and pure bred swaledale fell lambs.

Prime lamb selection

Steve Powdrill, National Selection Specialist with EBLEX, gave a presentation on how the different levels of fat cover and overall confirmation can vastly reduce or increase the value of the carcase.

When selling through the live market it is essential to sort lambs into lots which meet the same criteria fat cover and confirmation. Mixed lots of lambs suit no one buyer and could therefore bring a reduced price per kilo.

Always assess your lambs regularly and target your market. Steve then demonstrated how to assess the confirmation and fat levels of individual lambs pointing to five main areas: shoulder, loin, dock, rib and breast.

It is important to handle lambs carefully so as not to bruise the flesh. He also pointed out that under Meat Hygiene Service dirty sheep cannot be slaughtered. – always present stock in a clean condition.

The farmers were then presented with four marked lambs to classify into which fat class and confirmation class they fitted. After much deliberation one local farmer and sheep breeder agreed exactly with Steve’s assessment.

The farmers then moved to the village hall for supper followed by a presentation by the farm vet, Alistair Reid of Belle Vue Vets, Wigton.

Trace elements and deficiency

Blood samples from the ewes had been taken during August and tested for trace element deficiencies in copper, cobalt and selenium.
No deficiencies were shown from these samples.

Alistair described some of the symptoms which can be shown when deficiencies occur – particularly at tupping time when ewes may not come in season, or not be in as good a condition as expected or particularly with copper deficiency resulting in swayback in lambs at or soon after birth.

Cobalt deficiency can be corrected by either giving a bolus or Vitamin B12 injection which is then stored in the body. Copper deficiency should only be treated when diagnosed from blood samples and only use one form of supplement – over dosing of copper can be fatal.

Other possible deficiencies can be iodine, which can be supplemented before tupping, and selenium. Selenium deficiency can cause infertility and/or lambs which are weak at birth and have a poor growth rate.

Blood testing of ewes within 8 to 12 weeks before tupping and using the correct supplement, if necessary, can show a significant improvement in lambing percentage

Finishing lambs inside

Carrs Billington Agriculture had carried out the silage analysis and two of their representatives, Stephen and Ryan, used this information to suggest rations using silage and concentrate feed to finish fell lambs inside.

Lambs should be introduced to silage and concentrate before being housed to avoid setbacks in growth rate with the sudden change in diet.

Lambs should be given a worm drench at housing. At first, with a live weight of 25-30kg, feed with a ration of 1kg of silage a day plus up to 0.7kg of a 15-16% protein concentrate feed – the feed should be increased gradually as the lambs grow.

Access to straw bedded area is desirable. The higher protein will balance the rather lower protein content of this years silage. It is important that the silage is fed a little and often as lambs prefer fresh clean silage. Ensure that clean water is available at all times and that there is sufficient trough space for each lamb.

When a live weight of over 36kg is reached, either the well-fleshed lambs can be sold if the market wants this weight of lamb, or the balance of the ration can be changed to include more concentrate and less silage to finish the lambs.

The silage intake will reduce gradually as the concentrate feed is increased. A slightly lower protein concentrate can be used, as one with higher starch content will ensure the lambs put on weight more quickly.

Feeding a 14% protein mix with silage will finish lambs. Feed should be increased slowly until the lambs are eating 1kg per day or until they reach their target weight and condition.

The three speaker’ topics were complimentary to each other having covered all areas of sheep management from having the ewes in good condition before tupping to making sure the finished lambs are in the best condition for the targeted market.

Fellside House Farm – Monday 19th September 4.30pm

This event will focus on three aspects of sheep husbandry:

Firstly the importance of knowing how selecting finished lambs for specific markets can improve gross margins.

Steve Powdrill, National Selection Specialist with Eblex will lead this presentation/demonstration. Three pens of different lambs will be put forward.
Will you agree with the specialist?

Later the meeting will move to the Village Hall for a buffet supper and discussion with Alistair Reid the Farm Vet on the results of blood samples taken from the ewes regarding any trace element deficiencies.

The third topic, led by Carrs Billington Agriculture, is the proposed use of silage as a basis of the diet to finish the fell lambs.

The results of the analysis of this year’s silage will be available.

Booking is Essential: Telelphone Elizabeth Moore 016973 71608 or
e-mail: town.head@tiscali.co.uk

FINE-TUNING the diets of in-calf cows and in-lamb ewes to improve efficiency came under the spotlight at Fellside House Farm’s Open Day.

The RDPE Northwest Livestock Programme beef and sheep monitor farm, farmed by Ken and Mandy Pears and their son Chris, carries a herd of 50 continental suckler cows and 560 ewes on 265 acres.

The open day provided an opportunity for farmers to see what the monitor farm project is about, to look at what has been discussed so far and possibly attend future meetings on improving farm performance.

SAC beef and sheep specialist Rhidian Jones told the meeting, organised on behalf of the Livestock Programme by Cumbria Farmer Network and attended by more than 35 farmers, that condition scoring was important to maintain fertility and to use scarce feed supplies efficiently.

Lower costs, reduced losses…

“Acting on the condition score of your stock will increase the number of calves and lambs you wean, lower your costs and reduce your losses – at no cost to your business,” said Mr Jones.

Critical Events

He advised setting target condition scores for critical events – mating, weaning, calving/lambing, housing and turnout.

“For most suckler cows and sheep, target scores for all the herd or flock can be achieved using the same total feed but distributing it more accurately – by giving more feed to animals under target score and less to those over target,” he said.

Using the example of the suckler cows at Fellside House, Mr Jones said energy requirements six to eight weeks off calving were 75MJ a day, rising to 100MJ at calving.

Some of this could be met by utilising body condition to save on feed costs and ensure cows don’t calve too fat, which can lead to calving problems.

At Fellside House, calving is from early April in a 16-week period with the aim of reducing it by two to four weeks. The calves were weaned in mid-January.

Mr Jones recommended splitting the cows into three different groups if management, buildings and herd size allowed. If restricting silage intake was difficult because of the system, leaving the calf on the cow for another couple of months also helps manage body condition.

An easy skill to learn…

“Condition scoring is an easy to learn skill,” he said. “You don’t have to be 100 per cent accurate, but the more accurate you can be, the better. While it is a subjective assessment the descriptions of each body condition, devised by the Hill Farm Research Organisation in the 1970s, are quite specific.”

The Pears’ vet Alistair Reid, of Belle Vue Vets, in Wigton, demonstrated the skill of condition scoring. He completed the original Animal Health Plan for the farm.

At Fellside House because the grass is slower to grow, the spring calvers tend to be kept in better condition, which Mr Jones said was fine as long as easy calving bulls were used and the odd difficult calving was accepted by the Pear’s.

“If cows are turned out too lean after calving and there is not enough grass they have a much shorter period of time to recover condition when the grass does come. It’s about management of the cow throughout the year,” said Mr Jones.

Taking the guesswork out of weighing

The Pears, with the aid of a performance grant from the programme, have invested in a cattle weigh crush which has taken the guesswork out of the weight of heifers which are now being bulled to calve at two years old.

The crush can also be used to weigh bales of straw and silage for more accurate feeding.

Youngstock weighing between 385kg and 400kg are fed 10kg of silage a day with heifers, some of which will be retained as herd replacements, receiving 2kg concentrates a day and bullocks 3kg.

Knowing the weight of the cattle has enabled savings of 1/2kg a head/day of concentrate costing around £220 a tonne. Knowing the quality of the silage also helps in this respect

The Mule ewes at Fellside House average 75kg with maintenance requirements of eight to nine MJ a day rising to 18-20MJ at lambing. The body condition score target is 3-3.5 at tupping reducing to 2.5 at lambing to help reduce lambing problems.

Mr Jones said one of the difficulties with feeding compound feeds was that manufacturers were not obliged to declare the energy content but this was very important. The energy content should be at least 12MJ (barley has an ME of 12.5 to 13).

One way to help assess the energy content was to check that high quality ingredients such as cereals, soya and beet pulp were at the top of the inclusion list of the compound feed.

‘Perfect’ mix

A perfect home-mix would be 60 per cent cereal, probably barley, 20 per cent soya, 17.5 to 20per cent beet pulp and 2-3 per cent minerals.

“The biggest issue with ewes in the last two to three weeks of pregnancy is the requirement for undegradable protein (UDP) which by-passes the rumen,” said Mr Jones.

“Soya in terms of protein feed has the highest amount of UDP and while the ideal inclusion of soya is 20 per cent, in most compounds the level is more likely to be five or six per cent.

“If you think you have a problem with your concentrate, don’t stop feeding it at a late stage of pregnancy but top up the diet with 200g/hd/day of soya, even at £350 a tonne. It will give strong vigorous lambs and ensure the ewe produces high quality colostrum.”

More about Fellside House Farm…

The cows at Fellside House are mainly three quarter Limousins or Limousin cross British Blue, all being crossed with two Limousin bulls. Some herd replacements are reared, with others bought in as heifers with calves. Cattle are housed in cubicles, on slats.

The sheep are split into three flocks, 230 Swaledales on the fell, with draft ewes crossed with the Bluefaced Leicester and North of England Mule progeny crossed with the Texel.

The all grassland farm has common grazing rights and 60 acres of cropping land with one cut of silage taken at the end of June.

THE AGENDA: Review of Condition of Cattle and Feeding Regime / Importance of Budgeting and Monitoring of Farm Enterprises / Review Online Bench Marking / Options to Reduce Input Costs / Improvement in Grass Utilisation

The event will be led by Rhidian Jones, Sheep and Beef Specialist SAC Consulting and Alistair Reid, Belle Vue Vets

When: MONDAY February 21st 11am – 3pm
Where: Fellside House Farm, Caldbeck CA7 8HA

Please book your place by Saturday 19th February – HOT LUNCH provided
Telephone Elizabeth Moore – Tel: 016973 71608
or
e-mail: bookings@thefarmernetwork.co.uk

THIS Business Group Meeting was held at Caldbeck Cricket Club on Wednesday 6th October. 25 farmers attended.

The meeting focused on making the maximum use of fodder – home grown silage and bought in straw – in the winter feed rations for the suckler cows and calves.

Stephen Huck and John Naylor, feed analysts and sales representatives from Carrs Billington led the meeting.

A complete analysis of the silage, including the mineral content, has been carried out and Stephen talked through the results with the farmers joining in the discussion on suggested feeding regimes.

Straw in suckler cow ration

Many expressed a more cautious approach to the quantity of straw to be used in the suckler cow ration. Where available housing makes it possible, cows should be grouped according to their condition and fed accordingly.

The accurate costing of home grown silage and hay must be included in any final cost figure of feeding the suckler cow during winter. These costs include the land rental value, fertiliser costs, re-seeding and harvesting costs for the grass or straw.

Creep fed calves and weigh crate to monitor growth rates

Suggested feed rations for the weaned calves were discussed. Currently calves are creep fed from housing in October until January when they are weaned. The farm intends to purchase a weigh crate with help of a grant from the RDPE which, when approved, will enable monitoring of the growth rate of the calves.

Currently only one batch of calves are sold in March with most being put out to grass in May to be sold later in the summer.

Improved rations and weight gain monitoring could result in calves being sold before being tuned out to grass, which would free up more land for the proposed increase in suckler cow numbers.

Following the end of the discussion the farmers split in to four groups to discuss and suggest ways forward for the Farm. There were some interesting and well thought out suggestions which will be discussed at the next steering group meeting.

Discussion continued whilst enjoying sandwiches and cakes.

Elizabeth Moore

THE summer has been busy with an on-farm meeting where Charlie Morgan gave advice on grassland management, two steering group meetings, a business group meeting on sheep health with a second meeting planned for the first week of October where ‘Winter feed rations – making the optimum use of home grown fodder’ will be discussed.

Fellside’s (Beef and Sheep) Monitor Farm Open Day was planned for 8th November but has now been postponed until further notice.

The first cut silage was taken at the same time as in previous years – the last week in June – the main difference being it was drier than normal. The second cut in August was well got and there should be sufficient to see through the winter months.

After the first cut and following the assessment of the sward and condition of the soil by Charlie Morgan, one field was reseeded with rapeseed included in the mixture. This will be used to finish the lambs for the prime stock market. Most finished lambs are sold through the local auction mart at Wigton.

A second field was slot seeded using two perennial ryegrasses.

The sheep flock suffered an abortion problem in the spring. Toxoplasmosis was diagnosed for the first time on the farm. It has been decided to vaccinate all the younger ewes and hoggets this autumn. Causes and ways of prevention of abortion and the problem of wormer resistance were the two topics of the last Business Group meeting. This was led by the farm’s veterinary practice.

Faecal egg counts were taken from a sample of lambs at weaning in August. The lambs were dosed and a second faecal egg count taken three weeks later. The second count was very low which showed that the wormer was effective.

A batch of male lambs will be weighed before they graze the rape in the reseeded field and again after three weeks. Their weight gain will be compared to those on the grass aftermath.

The female mule lambs (swaledale ewe crossed with a blue face Leicester ram) have been sold at the annual sale in the local auction mart. The average price this year showed an increase of £16 per head compared to last year.

The remaining suckled calves, from last year, which have been summered on the farm, were sold through the auction at the store cattle sale in August. Prices were similar to those achieved last year.

All in all the last four months since I became facilitator have shown the typical highs and lows of a hill farm in Cumbria during late spring and summer.

Elizabeth Moore

Cumbria Beef and Sheep Monitor Farm – Fellside House Business Group Meeting Report
Held at: Millhouse Village Hall

DESPITE the weather having been dry for three days and silage trailers busy in the area, the meeting was well attended by 16 farmers – focusing on health issues affecting the sheep sector and in particular the ewe flock at Fellside House.

George Girvan and Alistair Reed from Belle Vue Vets at Wigton gave a presentation on two main issues: 1, Abortion – the causes, possible control and prevention measures and 2, How to use faecal egg counts to help reduce resistance of some parasites to certain anthelmintics.

Abortion

Abortion problems in the area varied this year from farm to farm with different causes being identified on neighbouring farms. Toxoplasmosis was identified as the cause of abortion at Fellside House and Ken has decided to vaccinate the younger ewes this autumn prior to tupping. Until this year the flock has not been affected by abortion.

Faecal Egg Counts / Worming

The results of the faecal egg count taken from a number of lambs, on Fellside House, before being dosed at weaning, was compared to one taken three weeks later. The second count, taken from the same lambs, was very low showing that the current worming product is effective. The vets stressed the importance of using the correct amount of dose – use the rate for the heaviest lamb in the group.

Fluke

Also discussed was the importance of using the correct chemical to control fluke and dosing at the most effective times of year –August/September and in January/February.

Liver fluke may be more of a problem this year following a wet summer and therefore an increase in the snail population.

Slaughterhouses are reporting that many more livers are showing infestations, which results in the livers having no value. The most effective doses to combat fluke contain Triclabendazole.

In some flocks wormer resistance is becoming an increasing problem. This is being picked up by farmers using faecal counts to assess the effectiveness of the product they are using.

The vets discussed the use of the new product Zolvix (Novartis). This should be used as a single dose treatment particularly effective for lambs in the autumn. It is recommended that the sheep be returned to the same pasture for at least two days after dosing. It is vital not to over use this new product to prevent resistance becoming a problem. Once again it was stressed the correct amount of dose must be used for the weight of the lamb.

Following the presentation the vets fielded a question and session and a wide-ranging discussion.

The next Business Group meeting on October 6th will focus on winter feed rations.

This farm’s open day is planned for the following month, November 8th 2010.

THIS meeting focused on improving the grassland at Fellside House, as this is the first step towards the farm being able to reduce concentrate usage by having better quality forage available.

To start the process grassland specialist Charlie Morgan had previously spent the afternoon on the farm assessing the cutting and grazing ground before the meeting. He opened by stating any profitable sheep system depends on grass first and a clear idea about the market.

This should be linked with using good genetics, monitoring the worm status and resistance, minerals, soil nutrient status plus the time you put in.

Top tips from the meeting

 Average cost of grassland production is about 5p/kg of dry matter
 Compared to about 16-22p/kg of dry matter for concentrates
 50% of the grass grown in the UK is not used (it heads and goes to seed, grazing animals trample and foul it).

Charlie felt the monitor farm is about having a long-term plan and monitoring it. With the most important figures for the sheep enterprises being:

• kg lamb sold/ ha
• kg lamb sold/ewe

He then went on to question the group as to who knew the cost of producing 1kg of grass on their farm, did anyone use lime anymore and what kind did they use, as this is all relevant in being able to produce grass efficiently.

How to decide when to re-seed?

The leys for the silage ground at Fellside House have lasted for 10-12 years, with some now having less then the desired amount of ryegrass in.
It is best to reseed if less than 30% of the plants are ryegrass, if there is less than 50%, ryegrass could be over-sown.

In the first silage field, Charlie recommended scratching in some ryegrass seed into this field after cutting, then putting dry ewes in for a week and leaving for a month to recover.

He then suggested putting lambs in for a week, without over grazing. It should cost £30-40/acre for seed from the fertiliser spreader. He would put P&K on, but no muck or Nitrogen.

He asked the group as to what D value they would aim for when ensiling grass for the sheep? Stating you should aim for 68-70 D value, (when 50% emergence in ryegrass) but usually this is not achieved it is much more like 60, which is OK for sucklers, but not for the sheep.

One option would be to bag some early to ensure better quality silage for the sheep and weaned calves and ensile the later maturing fields for bulk to give to the cows.

How much does it cost to ensile grass?

The average cost for bagged = 13p/kg, clamped = 10p/kg. This includes wastage at feeding. So if it is good quality in the bags it is cheap, but if rubbish, it’s very expensive. Therefore Charlie felt there was an opportunity to make bagged silage for the sheep and weaned calves and save some concentrate costs.

In the second field there was less timothy grass and clover, but more ryegrass. It was starting to head because it has run out of nutrients, due to the dry weather. Making this is a real candidate field for cutting early and ensiling in bags.

Aeration

Charlie said the biggest problem in this field was the soil structure as compaction was limiting the availability of nutrients. This was probably caused by grazing animals over the past two wet years, because the compaction was about an inch down.

If the main area of compaction was at about four inches, it would be machinery. This he demonstrated by digging a hole approximately a foot square to highlight the problem.

It needs aerating, with a slitterator or spike aerator, in spring or autum, as it is usually too dry to get into the soil in summer.
He also looked at the earthworms, with red ones living in the top few inches helping to create channels to take the air down, and green earthworms living deeper helping to decompose nutrients to make them more available.

For years we have got away with having compacted soils, with regular and even a bit of rain and cheap fertilizers, the effect on production has been not so noticeable. Recently, with more drastic changes in rainfall and the cost of inputs rising, it is more of an issue and farmers are addressing it with the new machines that are on the market.

Charlie said Ken could over-sow clover here after cutting and it may be useful to monitor the effects of an Acheson drill compared to using a slitterator and broadcasting the seed, as clover seeds need be near the surface to germinate.

Sward Sticks

In the third field, which was used for grazing, Charlie explained you don’t make money from making silage as it costs money. The main thing is to feed the animals right, for efficient grazing – sheep need 4-5cm and cattle need 6-8cm.

The group then measured the grass using EBLEX sward sticks, with the average in this field being 4-5cm, which was too short for the cattle that were in it.

The aim is to keep grass short early on as it leads to better grass later in the season, and don’t hold onto grass, as it eventually goes to seed if not grazed adequately.

To finish the discussion, Charlie gave a short presentation on the work he had undertaken with IGER before becoming independent, on an upland grassland farm in Mid Wales.

Outcomes from the Meeting

Ken will now consider whether to big bale one field to make better quality forage for the sheep and suckled calves.

The worst cutting fields will be re-seeded and others over sown to improve the percentage of ryegrass in the sward, after the silage cut has been taken.