High Moor Farm Feature

FAST GROWING SIMMENTAL CALVES KEY TO PROFITABILITY

AT HIGH MOOR FARM, TADCASTER

Simmentals have long been at the heart of Richard Elliott’s commercial suckler herd near Tadcaster, North Yorkshire but a change in policy has resulted in the herd now being almost pure-bred.

Richard Elliott has never been afraid of making changes to his farming business, believing that it needs to constantly evolve and adapt to changing circumstances. Mr Elliot farms with his son, Tom, and wife, Virginia, running a 200 head suckler herd at High Moor Farm near Tadcaster, North Yorkshire. Until five years ago he was using Charolais bulls on his Simmental cross cows, finishing all the progeny and mainly buying in replacement heifers. He says: “This had always worked well, but increasingly we were finding that bought in heifers were bringing disease into the herd. This coincided with a change to the amount of land we had access to, so space to finish everything was at a premium.”

He took the decision to switch to using Simmental bulls on all the cows to breed his own replacements and sell most of the remaining progeny as stores. He says:

I’ve always liked to have Simmental or Simmental cross cows because they are docile, easy calving and have plenty of milk, but most importantly, they produce fast growing calves which is the real key to profitability.”

About 120 cows calve in spring and 80 from the end of July to September with the aim of calving heifers at 28 months old. Mr Elliott says: “I need them to milk and I do not like to calve them any younger as I have found it takes more out of them and they don’t last as well. Also, by calving them at this age they easily fit into the calving pattern.”

While keen to build up home-bred heifer numbers, Mr Elliott is still selective, with temperament an important consideration. He says: “I will bull as many heifers as I can - we have kept 54 this year, and if we get too many, I have the option of selling some with calves.” Any heifers not being retained for breeding are kept in outside yards after weaning, finished and sold at about 360-380kg deadweight to ABP, at 16-17 months old, usually grading at -U, with a few Rs and U+.

Tom and Richard Elliott • 200 suckler cows – mainly pure Simmentals calving spring and autumn

• 97ha (240 acres) – a mix of owned and rented around the home farm

• 141ha (350 acres) – rented land, mainly permanent grass further afield

• Rotation on land at the home farm – grass/ maize/wheat/maize/ wheat/grass • Cows are vaccinated for

BVD, leptospirosis and clostridial diseases.

• Calves are vaccinated for pneumonia and IBR.

Mr Elliott believes getting the balance of the diet correct is vital to ensure cows milk well and also get back in-calf quickly and has the help of independent nutritionist, David Hendy, to tweak diets. Dry cows are fed a TMR of silage, straw and molasses with some protein added as they get close to calving and maize silage included in the ration after calving. He says: “You have to look after them and feed correctly. Fertility is one of the most important factors in a successful suckler herd. Every cow has to have a calf a year, we don’t give any a second chance without very good reason and we do get quite a few sets of twins which, although take more managing helps to keep the pregnancy rate at 96-100 per cent.

“It is also important to look after the bulls to ensure they remain fertile and last.”

Autumn calvers are brought inside to calve for ease of management before being turned out again until later in the year. From day one, calves are offered creep comprising of distiller’s grains, barley, oats and wheat plus minerals and molasses with biscuit meal added nearer finishing. Mr Elliott says: “The calves don’t take very much creep to start with but it ensures they keep growing and don’t have any growth checks, particularly through the summer when the grass is starting to go, so creep feeding is cost effective for me.”

Cows are generally kept until they are about 10 years old. Mr Elliott says: “The Simmentals still have a good value as a cull cow at that age. Herd health is really important and we have now got rid of disease issues we had as a result of buying in heifers, but biosecurity continues to be important and a strict vaccination policy is in place.” as stores, with those born in spring being sold from the following November to January and the autumn born ones sold in June and July. Mr Elliot says:

The Simmental calves grow quickly, usually weighing 450-500kg at nine to 10 months old. “I now sell the young bulls through Skipton market and have built up a good following. The last 23 sold averaged £1,250 and topped £1,460.”

Mr Elliott usually runs five bulls and the fact the herd is both spring and autumn calving he can make the most use of them and he expects a bull to sire about 60 calves a year. The change in policy means he now has to source more Simmental bulls, but he is very clear about what he is looking for. He says: “I use figures as a guide, but I do not rely on them entirely. I am looking for milk, growth and a short gestation period and while I want easy calving, the fact I am breeding heifers to keep I do not want a plus calving figure. I go for about –4 or -5 as I don’t want a small calf which will just slip out and then not grow. I need to breed heifers with big pelvises and although I don’t like cows too big, I do need width and length.”

Mr Elliott buys bulls both privately and from Stirling bull sales and has paid up to 7,000gns in the past, although he says around 4,000gns is a more usual figure. He has developed good contacts over the years and knows where he likes to source bulls from. “I go to the bull sales and really study the bulls in the show and walk around the pens

afterwards, but I do also like to see bulls in their own environment and the rest of the herd. Often I have seen someone with a good run of bulls at the sales and then visited them at home and bought direct from the farm.”

Current bulls include Ranfurly Jameson, whose calves are proving to be exceptional, which was bought at Stirling from Northern Irish breeder, David Hazelton, after having been a big winner in the show ring. Bulls have also regularly been bought from Michael Durno’s Auchorachan herd and Clive Houdley’s Manor Park herd.

Mr Elliott has not ruled out the possibility of finishing more of his cattle again in the future. He says: “We would need more shed space than we have at the moment to finish the bulls ourselves and considering the prices we are getting for the young stores I am not sure it would be any more profitable, but we have to keep an open mind. The system we have now is working but when we have enough home-bred females, we will possibly switch back to using Charolais bulls on some of the cows.”

“Cattle numbers are decreasing and demand for beef is increasing and it can’t all come from the dairy herd, so I am reasonably optimistic for the future of suckler herds. We will continue to do what we do, but at the same time keep looking at where we can make tweaks and improvements.”