Efficient low input, low cost systems - for the now and the future

Braes of Grandtully, Grandtully, Aberfeldy

• 640 acres LFA inc 420 acres permanent and rough grazing, 100 acres silage and hay, 10 acres brassicas, 25 acres barley

• 40 pedigree Beef Shorthorn breeding females, 27 followers

• 31 Beef Shorthorn cross suckler breeding females, 26 followers

• 250 breeding ewes producing store and finished lambs

Donny, Shona and John Calder

Beef Shorthorn playing an increasing role as an added value functional suckler cow

Efficient low input, low cost systems are for the now and the future, says Shona Calder who is finding that Beef Shorthorn is playing an increasing role as an added value functional suckler cow on her family’s LFA unit at Braes of Grandtully, Aberfeldy.

“To run a profitable enterprise, we need healthy livestock that are able to convert forage and thrive on low intervention management, and we’ve found that modern Beef Shorthorn cattle are best suited to this hill farm; they have good growth and easy fleshing without the use of large amounts of expensive input and equally important, they meet with a ready market demand.”

The Calders - Donny, Shona and their son, John run together two closed, split calving herds - one commercial producing their own suckler replacements with surplus heifers traded and the second, the Grandtullybrae pedigree herd producing heifers for fellow breeders and bulls for pedigree and commercial producers. Steers and heifers failing to make stringent requirements for breeding purposes from both herds are eagerly sought after by finishers for Morrisons Shorthorn Beef scheme.

Four month old pedigree Beef Shorthorn calves at Braes of Grandtulley

“Take both the commercials and pedigrees, they are great foragers out on rough grazing rising to 1,100’ until mid-October, after which the weather dictates the winter regime. Adult cattle thrive throughout the winter on ad lib pure forage diets - straw, silage and hay; and we don’t feed any supplements other than minerals. If the ground is hard the cows remain outdoors. Unfortunately, the milder winters restrict where we can supplementary feed forage, consequently some cattle are fed in an outside court but they still have access to grazing.

“Both herds are proving to be fertile, for example currently 83% of spring herd and 86% of the autumn herd calve within the first six weeks; they’re both on target to reach at least 95%.

“Overall, both commercial and pedigree cows and heifers calve themselves. New born calves are soon up and their mothers encourage them to quickly suckle quality milk which is reflected in 40 week weaning weight. Typically, they record between 43% and 59% of the dams’ weight, and our mature cows are averaging 650kg. We find smaller cows are more efficient workers, they wean calves at a higher percentage of their weight. Less input, more output.”

Pedigree and commercial beef Shorthorn cows with four month old calves

Furthermore, the Calders are calving their heifers at two years – to save time, save money and improve efficiency. “We’re finding heifers are reaching 460kg target weight at 14 months, they calve down at an average 540kg and get back in calf to calve the following year providing a quicker return on the investment. In fact, progeny from one of our sires is outperforming this target with calves reaching 410kg at 10 months and 480kg to 510kg at 14 months.”

It was not only the breed’s low input requirements, but also its temperament and easy-care nature that encouraged Shona to develop the pedigree herd which was established over 20 years ago, after the Calders acquired an additional seasonal let and decided to invest in cattle. “We initially purchased a mix of native and Continental cross suckler cows and tried various sires to produce weaned calves for selling through the store ring before being introduced to Beef Shorthorn by John Redpath, Alyth. At the time, I knew very little about the breed, however I immediately took a shine to these cows which were quite happily feeding round a straw ring feeder seemingly oblivious to atrocious November weather - horizontal rain and a biting wind.

Pedigree Beef Shorthorn heifer with four month old calf at foot

“After a bit of haggling we managed to persuade John to sell us Knowehead Lorraine, our first pedigree Beef Shorthorn cow, or heifer to be exact. Four weeks later she calved outside by herself, she had plenty of milk and was totally at ease with us around her calf. We kept the calf as a bull and 18 months later put him over some of our cross cows and heifers. We went on to purchase more pedigree Beef Shorthorns in the following years, and retained our own replacements to build to current herd size, and the rest is history.

“Our objective continues to breed sound working animals that are fit for all terrain. We use Breedplan which helps us select replacements and monitor herd performance. When looking for a bull I use EBVs to select on the traits I require for herd improvement along with percentage accuracy. However, this information has to be tempered with visual assessment.

“Cows and calved heifers are also linear classified which helps me look at the animal more acutely taking into account each part of the cow rather than seeing her as a whole. If there is a repeating fault in the animals I know to look for a bull that might improve this weakness. I was generally pleased with the outcome from the first classification assessment and most had a respectable score for their age.

“We also take herd health very seriously; both herds are members of a CHeCS scheme and we annually test for Johne’s, IBR, Lepto and BVD.”

Shona says demand for Beef Shorthorn continues to escalate from both the pedigree and commercial sector. Grandtullybrae bulls have been sold in to both pedigree and commercial herds as far and wide as Pappa Westry to Norfolk.

Meanwhile, the suckler herd has focused on Beef Shorthorn genetics. “We tried various Continental bulls however they didn’t fit for various reasons including impact on cow size and calf growth rate. Furthermore, Beef Shorthorn sired stores were commanding market prices similar to Continental crosses whilst Beef Shorthorn cross heifers were starting to make inroads as suckler replacements, consequently we decided to replace the Continental bull with a Beef Shorthorn which has enabled us to produce a medium size cow, improve temperament and increase milk and motherability.

“It’s these qualities and the ability to economically produce beef which are giving us and other suckler producers confidence in the sector at time when we really don’t know exactly what lies ahead in terms of support and trade opportunities,” she says.

“Whilst Scotland and the UK as a whole is not self-sufficient in beef production, I also believe that demand worldwide for quality Scotch beef will continue to grow leaving us in the strongest possible position in these uncertain times.”