Fellside House Blog – latest news from the farm

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.

THE next business group meeting at Fellside House Farm will look at improving grassland and better utilisation with independent grassland specialist Charlie Morgan.
Venue: Fellside House Farm, 5pm to 7pm
For further information: Phone: 01768 868 615
Email: info@cumbriafarmernetwork.co.uk

A GROUP of 22 farmers and Clive Brown (Eblex) attended Threlkeld Sports Pavilion to listen to independent specialist Lesley Stubbings.

Lesley said there was a high level of output for both the cattle and sheep enterprises but a need to focus on the costs and efficiency of input use whilst spreading overheads.

Three important factors to be considered:
1. Output as a measure in weight of carcase produced / ewe
2. Unit cost to produce a kg of carcase
3. Price per kg carcase

ALSO:

- Aim to reduce variable costs by reducing replacement costs and keeping a young flock by releasing cull ewes after 5 crops to take advantage of the good cull price whilst they are still alive!

- Culling problem ewes (barren, aborted, chronic foot rot, prolapsed or mastitis) will significantly improve flock performance.

- Monitor losses because only 87% of ewes rear lambs it is important to record where losses occur.

- Aim to achieve a ram life of 4 years to spread the purchase costs over 4 lamb crops.

- But reducing feed costs through maximising the utilisation of grass/grass silage and reducing concentrate costs would gain the greatest improvement to performance.

Lesley suggests monitoring worm burdens with faecal egg counts, assessing liver fluke and trace element status of forage especially when less concentrate is fed and looking at overheads (labour/machinery).

She recommends we set objectives and monitor performance in the first year by keeping records, prioritising and performance benchmarking.

Second Year Plan

In the second year, the plan is to adopt three main objectives:
1. Reduce feed costs
2. Complete a health and management plan
3. Spread overheads

by Sally Dixon
Farm Facilitator

THIS meeting will be an evening presentation by independent sheep consultant Lesley Stubbings discussing her report and recommendations on the performance of the beef and sheep enterprises at Fellside House Farm.

Where: Threlkeld Cricket Club, Keswick

When: Monday 22nd February 2010 at 7-30pm

It is hoped the meeting will be of interest and should lead into open discussion with a specialist who has a great knowledge of the sheep industry.

For further information on this meeting and to book a place, contact Cumbria Farmer Network on 01768 868 615 or email bookings@cumbriafarmernetwork.co.uk

UPDATE: 25 farmers attended the first business group meeting to discuss the health & welfare of the suckler cow, with Victor Oudhuis from Paragon vets attending.
The next meeting will focus on reviewing the results of various technical and financial reviews of Ken Pears’ monitor farm and discussing future plans that will then be put in place and monitored.

THE first Cumbrian Beef and Sheep Monitor Farm Business Group Meeting will be held on Monday 9th November at Threlkeld Cricket Club, Keswick CA12 4ST at 7.30pm.

Fellside House Farm’s performance figures will be discussed in nmore detail at an evening presentation on “The health and welfare of the housed suckler cow” held by Paragon Vets.

For further information on this meeting, and to book a place, contact Cumbria Farmer Network on 01768 868 615, email bookings@cumbriafarmernetwork.co.uk or use the on-line booking facility on the events page.

For further information on this meeting, contact Cumbria Farmer Network on 01768 868 615

In August Ken and Mandy Pears hosted an event to highlight areas of interest for monitoring on their typical upland stock rearing farm.

The event included a demonstration by EBLEX on tup MOT’s, things to consider when selecting tups and bulls, and selecting lambs for slaughter.