Lower Highfield Blog – latest news from the farm

Hi, I’m Michelle Fare the new facilitator for Lower Highfield Farm.

I was brought up on my family’s dairy farm on the Fylde, and studied agriculture at Newcastle University. I’ve worked for the Farmers Guardian, Genus ABS and Lancashire County Council as part of the Trading Standards Animal Health team. I started at Myerscough at the end of March.

Malcolm and Judith Sanderson’s enthusiasm for what they do is so refreshing. They are committed to getting the best out of being a monitor farm by encouraging others to benefit from the experience too.

I’ll be posting updates below as the meetings progress – please contact me at Myerscough College on 01995 642206 for further information on how you can join in…

THE third monitor farm meeting to be held at Lower Highfield Farm took a look at the grassland improvement measures that have been taken so far, the various forage crops being grown and a discussion of what the group feels should be the plan for the future.

Despite the fact that everyone is praying for rain at the moment, we could have done without the drizzle at our evening meeting on July 8th when we had a walk around the fields at Lower Highfield Farm. However the rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of the group and many members, along with some new faces, contributed to a number of discussions about the best ways to improve the grassland at Lower Highfield.

Update on activity

The meeting started with a quick run-down of what Malcolm and Judith have been up to since the last meeting in February. This includes:

• A trial using 80 lambs to test for possible resistance to various wormers, which involves regular faecal egg counting and also recording the weights of the lambs to see if the treatments have any effect on Daily Live Weight Gain (DLWG).

• Purchase of a new young Simmental bull – Amos. Both bulls have had a full vet check and are both fit and well ready to start work later this month.

• Blood tests on the lambs this year showed them to be deficient in Cobalt so a trial to test the effect of using a cobalt bullet vs liquithrive as a means of treating the deficiency is currently in progress. Again regular weight measurements are being recorded to determine if treatment has any affect on DLWG.

Speakers

Helen Mathieu of British Seed Houses, who has worked with Malcolm for a few years advising him on his seed mixes and grassland improvement programme, and Liz Genever – beef and sheep scientist from EBLEX – were the speakers for the evening.

Farm walk

The farm walk commenced with a look at Big Meadow which was reseeded last year with a mixture of intermediate and late-heading varieties of perennial ryegrass and white clover from British Seed Houses. The sward is well established and has been cut once for silage this year. The importance of using the correct seed mixture to match the requirements of your farm was discussed, as well as the use of varieties/species with varying heading dates to provide an even sward throughout the growing season.

Helen explained that it costs 5-6p/kg DM produced in a typical sward, and that profitability may be increased by improving the sward and ensuring that it is utilised efficiently.

 To select the most appropriate variety of grass/clover mix (use Recommended Grass and Clover Lists for most up-to-date information)

We then moved into Moon Field to look at the kale crop. Kale is capable of producing 4t DM/acre over its growing season at a cost of 3p/kg DM, which Helen calculated would support approximately 8 cows/acre for 100 days.

The group discussed the possibility of Malcolm outwintering a group of cattle on the kale in order to help reduce his winter feed costs. As yet Malcolm is unsure as he has concerns over the mess that the cattle would create, and is considering the kale as an option for fattening his lambs on this summer. However the group thought that trying the cattle overwintering strategy would be an interesting experiment.

We moved into Water Board Meadow which was reseeded earlier this week. Malcolm sprayed off the field prior to cutting it last week. The field then had paper waste spread onto it.

Unfortunately with the current weather conditions ploughing of the land proved impossible and so Malcolm ended up rotavating the ground sufficiently to create a fine, firm seedbed, whilst also incorporating as much paper waste as possible, and then broadcast a seed mixture comprising of high sugar grasses, clover and chicory.

Chicory is a good source of essential minerals and due to its deep taproot will grow well even in dry conditions. Chicory is a highly productive crop and can yield 8-10t DM/ha. Helen recommended that once the sward becomes established the field should be lightly grazed by sheep in order to nip the top off the plants to encourage further growth.

One issue that concerned the group about the field was that the use of a rotavator as opposed to a plough may have led to the creation of a shallow pan in the soil. Malcolm will assess the field later in the season and if this is the case will use his aerator to break down the pan.

Use of paper waste

At this point the group entered into a discussion about the use of paper waste on soil. There is some concern that it may cause nutrients to be locked up in the soil and may reduce the nitrogen available for the crop as it is being utilised to break down the waste. However Malcolm has been applying it as recommended by the supplier and adding nitrogen fertiliser at the time of application to help break down the paper.

Paper waste is often utilised for the liming effect that it has on the soil with 20t of paper waste being the equivalent to 1t of lime (5t lime/ha should raise pH by 0.4 units). The general consensus of opinion seemed to be that paper waste is a useful product as long as it is used sparingly.

Group exercise

The group then navigated their way down the field and through the wood to emerge in Fiddle Case Field which Malcolm grazes on a summer let from April 1st until November.

Malcolm had set up some grass cages in the field to monitor growth over the last 3 weeks and it was apparent that the grass had barely grown in this time (lack of rain would not help though!).

The group were split into four smaller groups and tasked with making a decision about what they would do to improve the productivity of this land. Liz demonstrated a field assessment form that is currently being trialled by EBLEX as an aid in making a decision. The groups had a great deal of discussion about this and came up with a variety of solutions, but concluded that Malcolm needs to speak to his landlord about this land.

The exercise did help the group to focus on the fact that permanent pasture can be quite unproductive, but that there are many factors influencing the decision to improve the land.

Reseeding is the best option if:

 Soil is heavily compacted as ploughing will break up pan

 Sward composed of more than 50% weed grasses/unsown species

 Weed cover is greater than 10%

Turnips

After a very steep climb back up to the farm which left everyone ready for their hot pot, we had a quick look at Malcolm’s crop of turnips in Little Meadow.

The turnips have established well and are almost ready for grazing by lambs. By Helen’s calculations there would be 3t DM on the 1.8 acre field which would be sufficient to feed 100 lambs for 30 days. The turnips need to be grazed quite hard to ensure that the whole plant is being consumed, not just the leafy green foliage.

Malcolm is going to weigh lambs as he puts them onto the turnips and again when he takes them out for sale so that the DLWG on the brassica can be determined and comparisons made with finishing lambs on grass.

Summary

After this we returned to the farm for a quick summing up of the main points of the meeting and the plan for the future.

• Big Meadow – fertilise then shut up for second cut silage

• Kale – overwinter a group of approximately 15 fit sucklers with a body condition score of 3-4. Dry the cows off indoors and then introduce them gradually to the kale. Once the crop is finished rotavate the field and sow a long-term ley mixture of perennial ryegrass and white clover.

• Water Board Meadow – once sward established (hopefully we will have some rain by then) dig a hole to assess compaction, then either aerate or sub-soil if needed in autumn or next spring. May be interesting to only aerate half the field and see if this produces any visible differences.

• Fiddle Case Field – speak to landlord and discuss possible options.

• Turnips – turn in lambs to gain a quicker finish. Group undecided about whether Malcolm would be better to put in lambs that are near finishing or target those smaller lambs that will need to be kept longer for finishing.

• Some concern over problems with iodine deficiency leading to scours so suggestion of a small-scale trial involving the treatment of half of the lambs with an iodine bolus.

Next meeting

The next meeting at Lower Highfield will be the Open Day which is planned for September/October. This meeting will be opened up to the wider farming community to showcase the monitor farm project and how it is developing one year on.

The next group meeting is organised for November 3rd when Gavin Hill from SAC will be discussing the profitability of the beef enterprise at Lower Highfield. Further details will follow about both of these meetings.

ONE of the first tasks I had when I first started the job was to organise a meeting with the farm steering group.

The meeting went very well (if not a bit long!) and it was great to meet all the members and hear their opinions about how the programme should run in the future for everyone to gain the most benefit.

One of the comments that really stood out for me was the fact that the business group meetings should be practical and participative as well as informative, but that the meetings so far have been a great chance for everyone to meet up socially and share their knowledge in a relaxed environment.

For this reason I wanted to make sure that my first meeting was both topical and practical, and so we are going to have a farm walk to look at Malcolm and Judith’s grassland and discuss the ways in which it may be improved to help the farm realise its full potential.

Next Meeting: Grassland Improvement

On Thursday July 8th we have Helen Mathieu of British Seed Houses and Liz Genever of Eblex coming to the business group meeting (4pm to 8pm) to share with the group their thoughts and experiences on grassland improvement, but the focus of the day will be getting the group to make a decision about what Malcolm should do with a particular field.

I am hoping that this will generate plenty of lively discussion and debate. The meeting will be closed with an excellent hot pot supper which we will all have earned after the walk. Let’s just hope that the weather stays this nice!!

The overall concept of the monitor farm programme is that it is run by farmers for farmers and so any ideas, thoughts or observations (both positive and negative) that people have are always welcome in order to help me make the meetings as relevant and interesting as possible.

I am looking forward to meeting you all at the meeting and if there is anything at all that I can help with before then (or if you just want to ring for a chat 01995 642206) please get in touch.

Michelle

THE second meeting to be held at Lower Highfield Farm, held in February, continued the theme of nutrition by looking at ewe condition and also the current state of the sheep’s feet following the introduction of a foot rot vaccination programme.

The topics covered on the day were:
• Ewe nutrition and Condition scoring
• Implementing EID
• Replacement
• Lameness and Foot Rot
• Recommendations for future activity

TOP TIP
Take out some of the guess work by having things analysed and confirmed. To find your starting point you need to first know what your flock is short of (to improve nutrition and treatment efficiency):
• Have sheep blood tested to check trace element levels
• Have Faecal Egg Count done
• Have fodder analysed

Morning session – In the lambing shed

Lesley Stubbings, an independent livestock specialist, took the group through the practicalities of condition scoring sheep as a monitoring tool. A key message Lesley gave the group was to get your hands on your sheep on a regular basis. “You cannot tell how fit your sheep are by looking at them” said Lesley.

Regular condition scoring throughout pregnancy will help manage the condition of ewes. As sheep enter the last SIX weeks of pregnancy the ewe is feeding its lambs and it is very difficult to put weight back on a sheep if she is not in the condition you would like her to be in.

Reducing Concentrate usage
Malcolm’s concentrate use at £9.58 per ewe was identified as an area where cost could be reduced given the quality of silage made. To reduce cost the best quality silage has been fed to the ewes and sugar beet has been introduced into the diet alongside an 18% protein nut. Mixing the two feeds together has been time consuming but floor feeding with a bag, which has proved to work well as they are eating more civilly than putting in a trough.

Given the price difference between sugar beet and concentrates and the extra time required to mix the two feeds together we need to carry out a cost benefit analysis looking at the cost of sugar beet pence per unit ME/DM with concentrates and then cost the extra time required to identify if there is a saving to be had.

To review the impact of changing the diet on ewe condition Lesley took the group through condition scoring.

Condition Scoring

Malcolm had pulled out a batch of ewes to feed separately to the rest according to condition – making sure that those that needed the extra feed got it. Ewes are condition scored on a regular basis and any ewes that are less than a score 3 are housed in January and fed concentrates ahead of the main flock. These ewes are usually a mix of the old and the young shy feeders that need encouragement to feed. These ewes are receiving 0.5kg ewe rolls twice per day.

“With scanning coming in we’ve moved away from condition scoring but it’s more important to go off condition than the number of lambs a ewe is carrying. Use condition scoring first as a guide and then superimpose your scanning results over the top, rather than the other way around,” said Lesley

The Condition Scoring process
Lesley then took the group through the condition scoring process and highlighted a number of practical tips along the way.
For more information on ewe nutrition and condition scoring follow this link to
EBLEX’s guide on Ewe Nutrition >>

Colostrum
Watery Mouth is a problem at lambing time on the farm and all lambs are given an oral solution to minimise the incidence. Improving not just the quantity but the quality of colostrum will go a long way to reducing watery mouth by increasing protein levels.

Colostrum does three jobs:

- Provides antibodies
- Provides Energy
- Is a good laxative (stops “rattle belly” and gets the gut going)

The group discussed the merit of colostrums substitutes. It was felt the powdered colostrum is alright but the real stuff is the best. Cows colostrum frozen in the freezer ready for lambing is a good alternative.

EID – Electronic Identification

As part of the North West Livestock Programme the Sandersons have invested in a hand held tag reader to help with the management of the ewes.

As ewes are lambing they are receiving their new tags and information recorded about her lambs and any problems that might arise.

Lesley saw the advantages of using EID but said not to let it rule your routine: “You’ve got to make sure that you drive it and it doesn’t drive you, as you can be recording for recording sake and not doing anything with the information. Only put in the info you think you need rather than everything.”

It is hoped that the EID system will provide information to help with selection of stock going forward and also identify problem ewes.

Replacements
When discussing problem sheep and replacements it was agreed EID could have its benefits, but a simple ear notch or distinctive mark at the time you notice the problem will help remind you at culling time the ewe needs to go.

You’ve got to mark, or record, her when it happens because if she does it once then there is a good chance she’ll do it again. And you know if you don’t mark her she’ll slip through the net. One suggestion from the group was specific coloured batch tags.

Six crops from shearling was advised by Lesley as often one crop too many. Knowing what the age profile is of your flock is one of the benefits of EID. Malcolm will establish the age profile of the flock and further investigations into replacement cost will be carried out as costs on the farm are higher than they should be.

Lameness / New Building layout

To prepare the new building for lambing, Malcolm has utilised a design prepared by IAE but has used gates and posts that were already on the farm. The bottom bar has been cut off the gates to allow the sheep to feed through them and silage is then fed in a central passage. Concentres are floor fed to groups of about 50 sheep per pen.

The incidence of ewe lameness appeared to have reduced following the introduction of the foot rot vaccination programme.

A number of ewes were turned over to look at the condition of the sheep’s feet. One ewe was diagnosed as having contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD). This ewe was isolated and then treated following recommendation by Malcolm’s vet.

Afternoon session at Carrs Billington – Lesley’s Report and Recommendations

The monitor farm project is looking at the profitability of the whole business to help the Sanderson’s achieve their goals. Lesley’s opening gambit was that “Turnover is vanity, while Profit is sanity” and that looking at the less sexy options will help your bottom line.

Below are a number of actions which have been identified to help achieve profitability.

Sheep – concentrate feed costs and forage utilisation
Lesley Stubbings suggested that there was scope to reduce the concentrate costs for Malcolm’s sheep given the quality of silage available. That for ewes carrying twins for 6 weeks pre-lambing, the total concentrate requirement should be no more than 15kgs (£2.70/ewe at £180/tonne) given the quality of this year’s silage.

Sheep – Trace Elements / anthelmintic resistance
Lesley identified that a priority should be to establish baseline levels in calves and lambs through blood tests, backed up with silage analysis, as regular drenching is quite expensive and results are hard to measure. Suggested putting together a trial in the New Year e.g. bolus v drench, growth rates measured and cost effectiveness calculated to see which worked the best.

Lambing Ewe lambs
This proved a balance between cash flow, difficulty of lambing and whether selling lambs fat and buying in replacements is more cost effective. It was argued by the group that hoggs make better mothers than shearlings and tend to go on and do better, but that time, effort and managing them properly can be difficult.

The performance of the hoggs will be monitored alongside the costs associated with keeping them to assess if lambing them is a worthwhile investment.

Cattle – winter feeding
The suckler cow enterprise shows a negative net margin and work needs to be carried out to investigate ways of reducing the losses. One area is the cost of overwintering the cows. Lesley suggested using big bales and some straw instead of using so much clamp silage. There would also be merits in control over dry cow transition and in the run up to calving.

This will be a topic for a future meeting at the farm.

Conclusion

Lesley summed up by saying that “It’s evolution not revolution” and that you should look at the areas that you know you could make a difference now that market prices are relatively strong.

She said:“Now is the time to make a difference, take a look at where you can make improvements while the money is better and the prices are better. When the pressure is on that isn’t the time to make changes to your business.

At forthcoming meetings the group will work with the farm facilitator to establish how these recommendations can be implemented.

The next meeting will be on grassland (date and further details will be announced soon). Contact the Rural Team at Myerscough College on 01995 642 206.

Held at Lancaster Auction Mart

Hi, the first meeting for the business group that will be working with Malcolm and Judith Sanderson of Lower Highfield Farm looked at utilising the forage produced on the farm to maintain performance and reduce input costs.

Before the meeting, silage samples were taken from members of the group and all the attendees were invited to bring an analysis of their own.

The aim of the meeting was for the group to agree a winter forage feeding plan for all of Malcolm’s stock and to communicate to the group what had been done so far.

John Naylor, a beef and sheep specialist from Carrs Billington, went through a silage analysis looking at the key points that should be looked at when looking at the feed requirements of stock. John then focused on the forage analysis from Lower Highfield farm and discussed, with the group, the good and bad points of the analysis.

The group then put the feed plan together based on what had been discussed and having seen malcolms key performance indicators for the stock.

EWES

Housing (Jan 2010 on wards)

1st cut big bale

4 weeks prior to lambing

2nd cut big bale silage

This plan was put together based on the fact that the 1st cut was lower in protein than the 2nd cut and so would be better for the ewes closer to lambing when protein is needed for growth of the lambs.

It was decided that the main requirement for the ewes was energy as the 1st cut silage protein content was so good at 12.9%. John Naylor suggested feeding sugar beet, to twin and triplet bearing ewes, to cut down the costs bringing in concentrates closer to lambing in the last 3 weeks. He also stressed the importance of regular condition scoring of ewes and grouping sheep accordingly.

The group also discussed the pro and cons of floor feeding with the benefits far outweighing the cons. Malcolm is keen to try this on his ewes and assess the performance. We will also look into the cost implications of each.

The group also looked at the use of concentrates post lambing with John saying that the common trend is to feed too much at this time. One member of the group suggested creep feeding the lambs rather than feeding the ewes.

SUCKLER CATTLE

Housing (Nov 09) before weaning

1st cut clamp silage

Post weaning

Hay – 1st cut silage and straw

The importance of cow condition was discussed and the group decided that, based on the analysis, the above plan should be used. Malcolm had planned to feed the hay to the sheep but it was decided that this lower quality feed should be kept for cows that are in good condition.

John Naylor told the group of the cost of feeding straw and demonstrated that it is a myth that people think feeding straw is cheaper than silage when in this area straw can be bought for £65 p/tonne and clamp silage has a value of £30 p/tonne. He said farms that are growing their own grain in the northeast produce it for £20 p/tonne and this makes sense.

Malcolm has planted some winter wheat and, depending on how he decides to crop this, he may be able to produce his own feed straw for 2010 feeding.

CALVES

Housing (Nov 09)

1st cut clamp silage creep area

Post weaning (late Jan2010)

1st cut clamp silage and concentrates

Monitoring, and improving growth rates, was the main theme when talking about calves. Malcolm currently sells his calves at 12 months of age to a local dealer and so needs to achieve maximum growth in this time. The group took this into consideration when choosing the forage. It was noted that the forage with the highest protein should be used to improve growth but this would mean using the 2nd cut big bale silage. It was decided that this would have more benefit to the lambing ewes.

Malcolm was keen to try some different feeding regimes when looking at concentrate use. John Naylor suggested creep feeding calves whilst still out side, this would mean when the calves come indoors they are less stressed at the change in diet and used to the feed so intakes don’t drop.

Sheep building plan

Malcolm also required input from the group for his building layout for his lambing ewes. The building is 60 x 60 feet. The group again discussed floor feeding of concentrates and it was decided that this would also make the layout of the building much cheaper without having to purchase walkthrough troughs. Floor feeding increases the exercise the ewes undertake when feeding and also prevents bullying as sheep all push into the trough, which can also cause abortion and prolapse. The feed height is also more natural, compared to trough feeding, improving digestion. Bedding does have to be clean and dry at all feeding times to prevent waste.

Outcomes

The plan of action

Feed plans as above

Weigh calves at weaning and asses live weight gain

Possible use of sugar beet to improve energy in diet for twins and triplets

Reduce post lambing concentrates and creep feed lambs.

Weigh ewe lambs to assess body weight in relation to scanning performance

Building plans

Next Meeting

The next meeting will look at each enterprises costings with sheep consultant Lesley Stubbings OBE. Looking at focused analysis of the feed plan put together at the previous meeting. The group will be invited to bring their own figures to the meeting. The EBLEX ‘What if’ online system will be used to show the effects these changes will have on gross margins.

The farms forage mineral and trace element analysis will also be looked at in depth, showing the trace element issues on the farm and looking at how Malcolm currently deals with this and the best way to tackle it.

The meeting will be on the farm in the morning, moving to Carrs Billington’s mill on Lansil industrial estate in the afternoon.

I’ll be letting the group know by post when the next meeting is – I hope you’ll be able to make it.

James Hadwin

You can leave your thoughts or comments at the foot of the page to generate discussion between meetings by clicking ‘No Comments’ below.

The first meeting on this monitor farm came in the form of a launch day on Thursday 15th October 2009

Read the Report

The next meeting is planned for Thursday 26th November at Lancaster Auction (11am to 2pm). For further information, please contact James Hadwin at Myerscough College (01995 642 206)

Welcome to the blog for Lancashire’s beef and sheep monitor farm. My name is James Hadwin, I am the facilitator for the monitor farm and will be assisting the Sanderson family in achieving their goals in what is an increasingly difficult industry.

As well as working as part of the team in the Rural Business Centre, I myself am an organic beef, sheep and outdoor pig farmer, farming 250 acres near Kirkby Lonsdale south Cumbria, along with the farm my family and I run an organic meat wholesale and retail business. I have wanted to be involved in agriculture from a very young age and am extremely passionate about British agriculture, and am excited about the opportunities that being part of this programme can bring. Schemes such as this are a great way to learn new things and share ideas with others hopefully improving farming for generations to come.

Malcolm and Judith are also very passionate about their farm, and see being part of this programme as an excellent way of improving their business. They have actively grasped the concept of the monitor farming idea and are open to new ideas. Together we will draw up a business improvement plan for the next three years covering short, medium and long term goals. We will then work with the monitor group to achieve these goals and encourage people to take home the ideas we have come up with as a group.

Become part of the monitor farm business group

The first meeting is planned for Thursday the 15th of October starting at 10-30 am. This is an opportunity to learn more about the farm and to find out about the different aspects of the farm that we will be looking at.There will be four meetings during the year looking at improving farm competitiveness. The group will have access to specialists in beef, sheep and nutrient management and draw on the experiences of other like minded farmers. So come along and see how you can be part of something that will benefit both your business and others.

What has happened so far?

Below is an indication of the process that has taken place so far on the farm.

Animal health planning

We are currently working with Lanes vets of Garstang, to develop an animal health plan to improve performance and reduce loses in both beef and sheep. Any problems that are found through testing can then be addressed.

.Nutrient management; Resource efficiency

Promar have done both a nutrient management plan and a resource efficiency audit for the farm indicating areas where perhaps money can be saved in artificial fertiliser, electric and water use.

Performance grants

Malcolm is currently looking into where he would like to apply for grant help in improving these three areas as part of the scheme.

Costings

Farm costings have been done through the EBLEX scheme, flagging up areas that need attention for both beef and sheep enterprises.

Summary

I hope you have found this interesting. Look out for future blogs explaining what is happening on the farm in the coming months.

James