High quality cattle for high priced markets

Top quality breeding stock allied to excellent husbandry and management skills are needed to produce the quality of cattle that are acceptable in any market place. Suckler herds  often produce calves with no market outlet in mind. Keeping a focus on producing quality calves will open up a range of different markets to suckler farmers as well as the conventional store or finishing market.

A young  suckler producer who is aiming to target his cattle at the top return markets is Owen Crawford, from Kircubbin. Owen runs his 80 cow herd alongside his father Tommy and has been focussed on increasing cow quality and numbers. Using a selection of top Limousin sires through A.I., Owen has made excellent progress in improving both the maternal and carcass traits of the herd.  

Since completing an HND course at Greenmount, Owen has gradually built cow numbers up from 30 to 80 cows over the past five years. Therefore sales up to now have been limited to steers and heifers that did not suit his breeding policy. These were normally sold through the mart. However, the herd has now progressed and Owen has cattle that are suitable for sale through a number of outlets.

The herd consists of Limousin and Simmental cows and is predominantly spring calving with Owen carrying out A.I. himself. Heifers are calving at 24 months and are served with a proven easy calving bull. In the past few years cows and heifers have been synchronised to keep a compact calving pattern.The main bulls that have been used are LIMO Tanat, Tanat Mostyn, Shire Milton and Kype Spartacus.

Cows are selected on size, milk, temperament and fertility. It is a young and productive herd due to the scaling up in recent years and genetic progress is clearly visible. This year 20 heifers have been inseminated with sexed semen to breed heifers as part of a technology project in conjunction with the Greenmount Campus, CAFRE.

Breeding replacements from within the herd increases the workload on farm but there advantages to be gained. Suckler producers can select heifers from their most productive cows, heifers that are suited to the farm environment as well as the considerably  lower disease risks involved. Using EBVs when selecting bulls allows producers to ensure that calving, milk and growth traits are continually improving.

Owen has also been considering the best selling markets available to him. He is considering selling his bull calves for export, provided the price offered is better than that of the mart where they are normally sold. Alternatively, the high growth rate and muscle conformation of these cattle would make them ideally suited to finishing as bull beef.

The heifers with a mixture of Simmental and Limousin genetics would make ideal suckler replacements either within the herd or sold as breeding females. As they have high growth potential and conformation, the heifers would also suit the high value export market or  could be sold for finishing either on a grass based or intensive system.  

With rising production costs, Owen is  not keen on carrying  all his cattle through to slaughter in a traditional suckler to beef system. High fertiliser costs and stock grazing pressure in a very unpredictable season has led him to conclude that selling live cattle at an earlier age into high value markets is more beneficial economically than a longer keep system.