Beef and sheep notes August 2008

Start preparing for next year’s lamb crop now.

Culling, based on real information is probably one of the most important activities in the sheep calendar.  To create a sustainable and profitable flock a hard culling policy must be implemented.

Records help to identify ewes which gave trouble at lambing time.  This could include prolapse problems, poor mothering ability and lack of milk.  Some flock owners prefer to insert a black tag into problem ewes at lambing to ensure their easier identification at culling.

Sort through the ewes and cull out any which may have taken mastitis, have persistent feet problems, failed to rear lambs or are in a poor condition compared with the other ewes in the flock.

Replacements can be purchased or bred on the farm.  Buying replacements reduces the risk of inbreeding but has the disadvantage that bio security could be compromised.  Unfortunately purchased replacements are not generally bred for easier care traits.  Purchased replacements should be vaccinated with clostridial vaccine and enzootic abortion vaccine.

The AFBI Hillsborough management recording system is a method of ewe recording which not only helps identify potential culls but also highlights the most productive ewes in the flock.  Ewes which breed to the first cycle, produce twins, have the heaviest lambs at weaning and gave the least bother at lambing are identified.  These ewes can then be mated to a maternal sire to breed replacements.  If using the AFBI system consider putting around 40% of the top ewes to a maternal sire.  

Feeding trials on autumn grass would indicate a good response to feeding 0.5 KG meal per 100 KG live weight (3 KG per day to a 600 KG steer) when grass is scarce or of moderate to low quality.  This is based on a conversion rate of 1 KG carcase per 12 KG meal fed.  

The economics have changed since last year with high meal costs, but improved beef prices.  With meal costs around £200 per ton, current beef prices cover the cost of feeding 3 KG meal along with good autumn grass.

As autumn progresses grass can become higher in protein with lower sugar content, especially in wet conditions. Consider supplementing with long fibre, for example, good hay or round bale silage, to enhance utilisation of the total feed.  

This year there may be an opportunity for cattle farmers to source grain more readily at harvest time off the combine.

The problem with purchasing grain off the combine is the need for drying and these facilities are not available on livestock farms.  The beef farmer has a number of options in this regard:

Propionic Treatment – has been used effectively for small quantities of grain stored on the farm.  The acid needs to be applied evenly at an adequate rate and grain has to be stored in a shallow heap.  It also requires rolling before feeding.  The amount of acid applied is critical and depends on moisture content of grain.  

Caustic Soda Treatment – Caustic Soda softens the seed coat of the grain so that it can be fed without rolling.  A diet feeder is used to mix the grain and caustic soda – 50 KG/t of barley or wheat.  When the grain and soda are well mixed, water is added normally around 30-40 gallons per ton of grain.  The caustic treated grain needs to be allowed to cool for 12-24 hours before heaping it up in a shed.  

Crimping – Involves the bruising of moist grain, rupture of the seed coat and treatment with acid.  The crop is harvested three to four weeks early.  The moisture content should be in the range of 30-40 percent at harvest.   After treatment the grain can be stored in a conventional silage clamp.  The grain should be well compressed with a loader and the plastic sheet well sealed.