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The herd is composed mainly of Angus and
Hereford crosses sourced from dairy farms,
and Tom was planning to expand by simply
buying more in. Endell vet Will Sheppard
explains: ‘But increasing cow numbers is not
necessarily a direct route to more profit. There
are a number of other factors which impact on
profitability – the key health issues which were
going to limit this for Tom were fertility and
nutrition.’
Plain challenges
Tom has some extra challenges running his
cattle on MOD land on the Salisbury Plain, he
explains: ‘On the firing ranges, no person is
allowed to be there during the day from 8
o’clock in the morning until 4 o’clock in the
afternoon. So we have to plan around that. Plus
two nights each week there is night-firing and
we can’t go on then either!
‘We have to give two months’ notice on where
we plan to graze our cattle, and there’s no
opportunity to improve the grassland. There’s
also no mains water, it’s all bowsered.’
Abiding by these restrictions, cows and heifers
used to be grazed on the Plain, rotating around
three 8ha pens. They are brought back to the
farm in the last 2-4 weeks of pregnancy, and
are calved indoors. After a couple of days, with
calves suckling well, they are returned to the
grazing area.
One tight calving block
Will explains: ‘At the start of the expansion
programme, the autumn and spring calving
blocks had become so extended that calves
were being born all year round. I’d also find
a lot of empty cows when PD-ing because
they hadn’t had time to start cycling again.
To get the later calving cows back in-calf,
bulls were being left in for longer periods,
further spreading the calving period.’
In 2013, the pregnancy rate in the spring
calving block was 84%, and in the autumn
calvers, 85%. But the 21-day calving rate
was only 9%, falling well short of the target
65%. And at 9 weeks, there was still 50%
of the herd left to calve.
‘For maximum efficiency, the ideal is to have
one tight calving block, achieved by running
the bull with cows for no more than 12
weeks,’ says Will. ‘It is easier to nutritionally
manage a group of cows that all have similar
energy requirements, so that body condition
scores can be maintained in the optimum
range of 2.5-3 out of 5.’
The following year, Tom shortened the bulling
periods to 16 weeks, improving the 21-day
calving rate to 19%, and with 50% of the
herd calved in 5 weeks, which gave a more
uniform and easily managed crop of calves.
BEEF NUTR I T ION
Veterinary surgeon
Will Sheppard
XLVets practice
Endell Veterinary Group
Improvements in nutrition and
management made as suckler
herd expands
Wiltshire farmer Tom Parsons has been expanding his beef suckler herd,
increasing from 180 cows in 2012, to 270 cows, today. Along the way, vets
from Endell Veterinary Group have helped him to make changes to
improve herd fertility, performance and ease of management.
WILL SHEPPARD, ENDELL VETERINARY GROUP
Tom Parsons
WORKING
TOGETHER
FOR A HEALTHIER FUTURE...
11
LIVESTOCK MATTERS
Finishing beef cattle