Building a sustainable business with Beef Shorthorn the backbone
Barrockend Farm, Armathwaite, Carlisle
840 acres inc 350 acres arable
100 pedigree Beef Shorthorn cows and followers
1,000 breeding ewes
Moving on to new grazing
Beef Shorthorn is the backbone of Barrockend’s suckler enterprise where Paul Coates and his father, Peter, farming in a joint venture agreement with Morrisons are focused on building a sustainable business producing quality stock.
“We are farming a modern functional suckler to meet with growing market demand for a low input, hardy cow, one that’s easy to calve, milky and has a quiet temperament; every individual within the 230-cow herd is working for its money and we are continually attempting to make improvements; it’s all about efficiency,” he explains.
“We are breeding a medium size cow around the 700kg mark and we’re finding it’s not always the biggest cows that produce the most efficient calves. Last year the entire herd calved within nine weeks and it recorded 96% PD in calf and 92% rearing rate. Whilst we’re pleased with the results so far, we are focused on continually improving performance.” See table 1.
“For example, we’ve successfully just moved from calving heifers at 30 to 24 months. Heifers are readily reaching 450kg with sufficient frame at 14 months; 90% are calving themselves. They go on to reach 700kg target mature weight.” See table 2. Next up and Paul says he is interested to introduce pelvic measurement as another tool to aid calving ease selection.
Next generation at Barwood
“Our Beef Shorthorns are also demonstrating they are great foragers. Once the grazing season is up in mid-October, we iodine bolus and introduce cow and calves to winter forage crops. We grow, in total, 90 acres of stubble turnips, fodder beet and forage rape on what is essentially light land, which enables us to outwinter the entire herd and subsequently make huge savings in feed, labour and other input requirements. Outwintering also helps the cattle to remain healthy.
“We are farming cattle with a very quiet temperament and they are really easy to manage - values that are important on this farm where we employ only one full time worker.
“We are also committed to improving the environment - the unit is currently in the Mid-Tier Scheme and each year we aim to plant up to 200 metres of hedgerow and up to 30 trees. Also, Beef Shorthorn’s low input requirements lends them to our system. Apart from a small amount of bought in protein for steer finishing diets we are self-sufficient in feedstuffs.”
Twenty month old in calf heifers
He continues: “Whilst managed on a pure commercial basis, the herd has Barwood pedigree status and we are breeding added value cattle - bulls and female replacements for fellow suckler producers. Eventually, we would like to supply the pedigree sector.”
Steers along with heifers failing to meet with stringent replacement requirements are finished to an average 330kg target deadweight at 17 months for Morrisons Shorthorn Beef scheme; 75% grade R3, 4L and achieve the current 30p/kg premium and the remainder O+ 3, 4L.
The Coates purchased Barrockend in 1984. “We initially invested in 420 acres however we have since doubled up the area farmed when a nearby unit came up for rent and we established sheep and arable enterprises. Our beef enterprise amounted to annually finishing over 1,200 head of bought in strong stores on a 100 day turn around until 2015 when we were approached by Morrisons to establish the joint venture to progress a pedigree Beef Shorthorn herd.
A portion of the Barwood herd
“Whilst we felt we were heading in to the unknown, it was without doubt an exciting opportunity helping to progress Beef Shorthorn and I’d already had experience with the breed. We had run 24 Continental cross sucklers with a Beef Shorthorn bull that was extremely placid, so we had an idea what the breed was about.
“Furthermore, interest in the breed as a modern functional suckler cow was fast gaining momentum and the trend was also fueled by Morrisons Beef Shorthorn scheme. I was aware the breed society included some very forward-thinking people who took a positive approach to growing the herdbook. All in all, I wanted to be part of the journey and since then I’ve never looked back.
“We are aiming to develop a uniform herd to a specific type - a Barwood cow, within the breed’s top 10% for maternal traits, using a blend of carefully selected genetics - ones that retain the Beef Shorthorn’s unique maternal characteristics whilst demonstrating improved eye muscle. For example, we have invested in an Australian bred poll bull to put over the heifers which is within the breed’s top 5% for both Self Replacing Index and muscle depth EBV.
“The herd has twice been linear classified by the breed society’s independent classifiers. They’ve been useful exercises which I intend to repeat biennially, they’ve enabled me to see our cattle as functional suckler cows, rather than pedigree cows; I’ve been encouraged to identify those with best feet and subsequent locomotion together with udder suspension which together add up towards improved longevity. We are targeting a minimum seven calf crops.”
Heifer replacements are the closed herd’s future and they are destined to have a major impact on its future profitability, he says.
“We have just completed a heavy cull programme during which heifer replacement rate has been running at 20%, a figure scheduled to fall to 15%; temperament, breed type, Breedplan data and soundness including locomotion are our top selection criteria together with weight for age.”
He adds: “Despite the current uncertainty of the beef sector, we have confidence in our farming operations at Barrockend. The unit’s environmental management ticks all the boxes, our low input herd is continuing to evolve and improve its efficiency to meet with demand for added value breeding stock whilst we feel very positive about the development of the Shorthorn Beef brand by Morrisons, the UK’s second largest fresh food manufacturer sourcing 100% of its total fresh meat supply from British farmers.”