Scotland Insight 2022 PRINT 15.3.22 - Flipbook - Page 16
MAKING MONEY FROM GRASS – LESSONS
FROM MOB GRAZING STORE CATTLE
youngsRPS Rural Consultant Mike Halliday talks to us
about his experiences of working with large mobs of store
cattle this summer.
Mike works full time with youngsRPS, based at our Dumfries
office: He also farms at home on his 300acre farm. Mike
previously operated a system of purchasing young store cattle
and selling them as forward-stores or prime cattle. This system
was fairly extensive, with cattle numbers being based around
the farm’s winter carrying capacity (shed space). The summer
stocking rate of the farm being approx. 0.3 LU/acre with a small
amount of fertiliser only being used on silage ground.
Having worked on a dairy farm in New Zealand in the late
1990’s, Mike had learned the principles of rotational grazing
and making the most of grazed grass. The extensive system he
was operating at home meant that there wasn’t enough grazing
pressure on the fields and that grass often needed to be topped
to retain quality, or cattle were left to graze fields longer than
was optimal – ideally livestock should not be grazed on the
same ground for more than three consecutive days, as they will
start to eat the regrowth, which reduces the amount & quality
of grass that can be grown.
Following a discussion with a large cattle producer, Mike took
the decision to change his system and to introduce larger cattle
16
numbers onto the farm. An agreement was made on a liveweight gain contract: cattle were weighed-on in the spring &
-off in the Autumn and an agreed fee paid on a pence per kilo
basis for weight gain.
Mike also decided to retain some cattle of his own, as he felt
it might be a risk to his “Active Farmer” status (with a view
to future agricultural support) not to have any livestock of
his own. In the spring of 2021 nearly 300 store cattle arrived,
averaging 365-370kg weight. In conjunction with Mike’s own
stores, this added up to 350 head and provided a stocking rate
of 1.12 LU/acre. The cattle were run in two grazing mobs, of
approx. 150 & 200 head respectively.
Challenges
Speaking to Mike, he has admitted that last year was a “learning
experience”, with a number of challenges: “If you remember
back to Spring, it was cold and wet and grass growth was late,
this was followed by a huge spurt of grass growth as things
warmed up. Managing grass when it is growing so quickly can
be really difficult; you either need to take some fields out of the
rotation for silage or get the topper out”, said Mike.
The dry summer spell also provided its challenges, “livestock
enjoy the sun on their backs, but with very little rain, drinking
water proved challenging, with the natural water supply drying