10 minute read
Pedigree herd compliments arable system
Based near Luton, Hertfordshire, Pepperstock Herefords is run with commerciality at its core, and has to fit into the farm’s wider business.
Although only becoming society members 15 years ago, the Pepperstock herd is now one of the largest in the country. However these cattle are just one string to Speirs Farms’ bow which also incorporates a 1,214 hectare (3,000 acre) arable operation. Jim Speirs is the face of the cattle business and can often be seen at Hereford events around the country, having also judged the 2018 society autumn show and sale.
Purchased by the family 10 years ago after decades as tenants, Pepsal End Farm near Luton has always been home to cattle, with the Speirs family in dairying until 2011. However with an expanding arable enterprise, the routine work of dairy farming was found to be limiting the growth of the crops side of the business and so the decision was made to cease milking cows. As the dairy cows began to be phased out in 2010 and 2011, and not wanting to be without cattle, Herefords were purchased in their place. Having always used a Hereford bull in their dairy system, and in recognising the breed’s docile nature, the natural choice for Jim and father Gary was to keep these cattle.
“We wanted something easily managed and a breed which does well off grass, with low maintenance and docility. The society’s membership also seemed particularly friendly,” explains Jim. “We did use an Angus on our Herefordcross cows at one stage and they definitely got more flighty, which reassured us we had made the right decision in the Hereford. I don’t worry at all when I am around the Herefords, no matter what I am doing - tagging
calves or anything. We have 100 acres of grazing in one field so we need to have the cattle calm to be able to get them in.”
Jim explains how he built the foundations of the herd.
He says: “In 2011 I went through the Hereford journal and looked for breeders within an hour’s drive from home whose adverts pictured animals wearing rosettes.
“Dad and Mum went to Wrights’ at Ely in 2006 and purchased a Badlingham bull and a Hermitage Marina and Hermitage Pearl heifer. We returned to the farm for their dispersal sale in 2012 and purchased four more heifers." Jim set about building a pedigree foundation herd, making considered purchases, including from Fiona Woollatt’s Hedges herd, Reydon
Herefords, Harold Hatt’s Weybrook herd and eight heifers from Boundless Herefords of Barry Myers and eight heifers from Kinglee Herefords. Jim says: “At this stage it was difficult to get a stamp on the herd as you start with a bit of a pick and mix. When building the herd though, I was particularly drawn to big cows.” At the same time, there were Herefordcross females, which had been produced in their dairy herd, coming to a bulling age and Jim was looking for a sire to use
on them. This resulted in the purchase of Kinglee 1 Gangster, which he adds when fully grown was ‘huge’.
A number of Hereford-cross females are still bred out of his commercial suckler cows and the heifer calves this year sold out. These commercials though are now being phased out in favour of the pedigrees. On top of its success in pedigree circles, the Pepperstock herd also plays a key function at Speirs Farms in the form of muck provision for use in the farm’s arable production. In return, the farm’s cattle sheds provide useful temporary grain storage for the arable business, with grain sold by the time of housing, and the stores bedded down for the winter.
L-R Jim, Ernie, Albert and Sophie Speirs
He says: “Muck is definitely the main advantage of the cattle to the arable business, especially after the ban on neonicotinoids. Where we use the muck to establish the oilseed rape, we never have a failed crop. The cabbage stem flea beetle are not an issue on the mucky ground, and the crop gets away well.”
Muck is only made use of on owned ground or land in long term rental agreements. Adding three year grass leys for grazing or silage production into the rotation also aids the control of black-grass and brome. Jim explains that at Pepsal End they are relatively on top of weeds,
Cow families at Pepperstock
• Mink – go back to the Weybrook
Mink line
• Jade – originally purchased from
Barry Myers, Boundless Herefords • Venus – two different families but both go back to Costhorpe
helped by the fact the farm still utilises the plough. Jim’s bull purchases continued in 2013 in the form of Bosa 1 Howzat from Gerald Blandford, Bosbury, Herefordshire. Jim says: “We kept Howzat until he was eight years old. He was really shapey and easy calving on heifers. Kinglee 1 Gangster and Bosa 1 Howzat bred the first Pepperstock calves.” A Kinglee 1 Gangster son, Pepperstock 1 Kingsley, was another particularly influential bull for Jim and was out of Boundless 1 Venus 1064, a cow which is still at Pepperstock after 11 years. The first time Kingsley left home was to the Midlands and East Anglia Hereford Breeders’ Association calf show where it won its class.
Jim says: “A breeder tried to buy Kingsley as I came out the ring but I refused. Instead, I showed him through 2014 and 2015 and was breed champion at Hertfordshire Show. In 2015, Kingsley was senior male champion at the Three Counties Show, reserve senior male at the National Poll Show and reserve male at Bucks County. “He also won the stock bull category in the Midlands and East Anglia herd competition. Then I kept him and used him.”
Jim won the large herd category of the Midlands and East Anglia Hereford Breeders’ Association herd competition in 2016, 2017 and 2021 which he describes as encouraging and an indication the herd is moving in the right direction. In 2016, Pepperstock also placed third in the National Herd of the Year Competition, as judged by George and Ionwy Thorne, Milford Haven,
Pembrokeshire.
The cattle operation works well alongside the arable business
At the same sale, Jim purchased the top price bull Barwise 1 Mach One, an easy calving bull from Carolyn Fletcher, Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria for 6,600gns which bred a good top into his next crop of calves.
“That spring sale was a very memorable day for me,” says Jim. “I am glad I hung on to Kingsley to produce daughters like the Butterfly heifer. “Generally, half of the bulls we produce go for pedigree use, while half go to commercial herds. I sold a lot of bulls off Howzat and Kingsley. In 2021, we have sold 12 bulls and it was also a great year for selling heifers.”
The first animal he sold, 15 month old Pepperstock 1 Butterfly N293, sired by Kingsley, took the grand female championship at the 2017 society spring show and sale at Hereford and was purchased by Derbyshire-based W Shaw for 4,100gns to join the Welburn herd.
Pepperstock beef
Jim also has a passion for the beef produced by his Hereford cattle. Having developed a butchery room, 12 animals per year are killed and packed in this way, only leaving the farm to be killed.
An animal is split into 22 boxes, and each box is currently priced at £110, meaning each beast generates £2,420, though it will cost £400 to butcher. Jim also makes biltong, a form of dried, cured meat that originated in southern African countries.
Another advantage of running the cattle and arable businesses alongside each other is the availability of straw. Jim says: “All spring and winter barley straw is baled for bedding. We always bale more straw than needed and then make any arrangements to sell the surplus. Generally in this area of the country, the grass dries up so we then feed out through July and August. “We are making use of grass, and using only a small amount of purchased feed.”
A home mixed blend is fed of molasses, barley and minerals. Creep feed is introduced to calves as the grass dries up. Weaned calves are fed approximately 2.5kg a day and the fat cattle are finished just on silage from the short-term leys. “We do all our own mill and mixing and have our feeder wagon still from the dairying days which we mix blends in,” he says. Jim explains there are few cattle in the area, but in recent years there has been more of a move towards keeping suckler cows. But, he concludes there is no great competition for grass. “There is lots of grazing available in our area of the country, and we also graze the Luton Hoo estate,” he says. “We have got more grass than we need and we make baled silage and sell surplus as hay. There are a lot of horse liveries in the area and so we sell a lot of hay in this way.”
Jim adds: “In terms of both grass and cropping ground, we haven’t really gone looking for it, people have come to us." The family runs 182ha (450ac) of grassland, but only 40ha (100ac) of that is more intensively farmed.
“We have tried renewing some of this grassland but the old grasses just take over again.”
“The Herefords do very well on some of these poorer areas of grassland. Even in 2018 when everything was burnt off, they were doing well on not a lot.”
Pepsal End is now home to between 250 and 300 head of cattle and 100 females were calved in 2020.
Jim explains he is looking for females with a lot of milk, adding he will cull females if they aren’t milky enough and also if they haven’t got a good temperament.
“Fertility is another thing I will cull for. I only give them the one chance. I need to calve in the winter when the arable side is at its quietest,” he says.
Calving starts in mid-December, beginning with those put to AI, which both Jim and Gary are able to carry out. The rest calve in the months of January to March, and then they are turned out as attention needs to move on to spring drilling.
“Because of our previous experience in dairy farming, we are able to AI ourselves and are good at spotting heats”, Jim says.
Farm facts
• Gary, Jim and Jim’s mother Angela are partners • Two full time staff
• Two extra employees at harvest time
• 1,214ha (3,000ac) combinable crops • Five farms rented and three on contract farming arrangements • 182ha (450ac) grassland • The herd is a member of the
Biobest health scheme, and is accredited free of BVD, vaccinated and tested for IBR and lepto The Speirs were looking for a breed which does well on grass
Jim and Gary have been using semen from Romany 1 Distiller, Panmure 1 Nugget, Kinglee 1 Hero, Solpoll 1 Dynamite and Panmure 1 Henry. Heifers are calved at two years of age but they have to be big enough, says Jim. Those not suitable for breeding enter the fat shed, which holds about 40 growing animals. The herd’s replacement rate is kept at about 10 per cent and this year’s heifers are running with bull Rockafella 1 Trevor.
He also says that grades are continuously improving, with more and more R4Ls coming back on the kill sheet. Cattle kill out at 360 to 400kg and he tries to get them to 800kg live weight. This means when being paid to 410kg, he is keeping to this cut-off, if a killing out of 55 per cent is assumed. Cattle are finished on silage with access to mineral licks, which has greatly reduced costs. The cost of silage is calculated at £1 per head per day and Jim explains that in trying to finish his stock on grass, he saved £6,000 in feed in 2020.
“I find the finishing process very interesting and I am always working costs out. I am also now working towards creating a spreadsheet so I can identify which are my most profitable cows,” explains Jim. “I do use EBVs to an extent but when I am buying and planning replacement heifers the final decision always comes down to what I would like to see in the field. I want to keep cows we enjoy looking at and we aren’t far away from that now.”
