Better Grazing project yields impressive results

Improved grassland and grazing management can cut input costs while maintaining, or even improving, cattle growth rates, according to a study.

The three-year Better Grazing project – run by FAI Farms and McDonald’s UK & Ireland – looked at the benefits of improving grassland and grazing management on four beef farms in the McDonald’s supply chain.

Karl Williams, operations director at FAI Farms, says the success of implementing better grazing management was recognised by each farmer involved in the study.

“The benefits have been clearly evidenced by a reduction in purchased feed and synthetic fertiliser, while being able to increase production and output,” adds Mr Williams.

“Better grazing management has also led to farmers feeling more in control and able to take proactive management decisions, which has helped to reduce labour requirements.”

He says grazing management was improved by simplifying systems so that fewer groups of cattle were grazed, meaning more paddocks and fields were available for grazing.

“This reduced the time that paddocks were grazed and improved rest periods, leading to increased pasture growth,” adds Mr Wiliams.

“This meant a reduced need for artificial Nitrogen fertiliser, an extended grazing period, a reduction in purchased feed, and a reduction in the farm’s carbon footprint.”

Project results show a decrease in purchased feed use on the four farms of between 28% and 100%, alongside a decrease in the use of synthetic fertilisers of between 47% and 69%.

The four farms also increased their annual pasture production by as much as 72%, while their cattle showed an increase of up to 43% in daily liveweight gains.

The project results also show that the infrastructure investment required for the project – in electric fencing and water troughs – offered an average return on investment of between 136% and 315%.

One of the farmers involved in the project was Carmarthenshire farm manager Aled Evans from Rest Farm in Whitland, south-west Wales.

The farm finishes 240 cattle a year and Mr Evans has changed from a five-day grazing period with four groups of cattle at the start of the project, to two groups of cattle moving to a new block of grazing every 24 hours.

The grazing period has increased by 71 days, resulting in the winter housing period reducing from 165 days to 100 days, and daily liveweight gains have increased from 0.84kg to 0.9kg.

Artificial nitrogen fertiliser applications have been reduced by 90% and the farm’s purchased feed bill has been cut in half.

Mr Evans says: “We’ve managed to reduce our need for expensive purchased inputs, while providing ourselves with a better quality of life – our working week has reduced from 77 hours to 50 hours even with having more stock during the course of the project. The mindset shift and upskilling required has been a worthy challenge.”