- Location
- East yorks
Really depends on the land we couldn’t out winter if we wanted as it would resemble passchendale by mid Dec. Also the U.K. is quite a bit higher latitude than all the USA and it’s wet, and humid for a large chunk of the year
Is there a living in suckler cows
- Thread starter Weasel
- Start date
DeeGee
Member
- Location
- North East Wales
No, it broke the halter and kicked the bucket over
Heretic!!!
Seize him guards; and let him be tried by the Ducking Stool!!
I don't keep many cows (27 calved last year 38 this year) but they've surprised me how much they have left behind the last couple of years. But...
Sheep are the main enterprise here so the cows aren't stocked that heavily on the place. They spend most of the year grazing behind the sheep eating what they leave behind. So native bred cattle that do well on poor forage are essential to that. Occasionally they will get a real treat and get to eat grass that's got too long for sheep (think standing hay) and they will be made to eat it to the ground. They are my toppers and fertilizer spreaders. I keep them more than anything to improve the place for the sheep. You can grow some great lamb finishing feed behind cows if you do that with them.
They calve outside in April and may and will be weaned next week. The calves will come in and the cows will go back out cleaning up behind the sheep on their tupping rotation and get some hay rolled out as and when they need it and then shut on one of my dryest fields behind electric wire giving them a strip of deferred grass and hay to keep them full. They probably won't make the whole winter like that but last year they made it till mid February and were back out onto a rested field to calve at the end of march. That saves a small fortune.
Cows are all Angus crosses from my old limousine cows and some Hereford crosses out of them. The limos I have left aren't really hardy enough for the job and are always late getting in calf and are lean. They won't be going to the bull again.
The calves will be wintered on hay this year, silage if I have some but wrapping soon adds up when you count everything ££££ but they will get a couple of kilos of rearer nut to keep them ticking over. I've sown some red clover this summer so this winter will be the last year they get cake they'll be getting red clover silage from next year. This year they were out grazing again at the end of February for a bit running back to the shed they more or less stopped eating the silage then. They were grazing fields rested since early/mid November.
They are then run with the sheep or grazing behind them depending on where they are on the farm (a lot of fields here I can't put cattle in) and will come in about now to hopefully be finished over their second winter or by the spring. I'm going to try and turn some out to finish at grass next spring though. If I have grass for them in march wish me luck
heifers that aren't with calves will finish at grass by mid summer usually 25-27 months.
Hopefully red clover will help me finish steers quicker and they will be bigger after their first winter as well.
Finishing them is much much easier, and cheaper, than it was finishing continental cattle. 350-380kg carcasses usually bit I have had 400kg and more sometimes. o+ to R+ they usually grade depending where they go. Habe had the off U though. I could probably be better at finishing them and maxing them out in the grids but I'm not clever enough. They aren't market toppers but they get there for very little money.
I don't think what I do would work if I sold them as stores. Especially off the cow because they are pretty crap as calves to be honest. My average weaning weight is about 240kg but they really look like small and hairy natives and it doesn't do them any favours in October November
TB is another reason I finish them as well.
Took this today. Can see some of the calves in their deferred grass and some hay rolled out. More to teach them what hay is before weaning than anything but is a help to slow their grazing rotation down as well.
Some of the cows
I think I'd like to keep more cows like this now they are profitable again. They're easy to keep and are great for improving the farm but I don't know how many more I could keep as cheap as this. And I'd probably need more buildings and that's not happening. Hopefully I can finish some stores much faster with red clover and could use their shed when they've gone. I need to be better at deferring more grass as well but this is only my second year doing it so needs some confidence to do it right. Still learning.
Sheep are the main enterprise here so the cows aren't stocked that heavily on the place. They spend most of the year grazing behind the sheep eating what they leave behind. So native bred cattle that do well on poor forage are essential to that. Occasionally they will get a real treat and get to eat grass that's got too long for sheep (think standing hay) and they will be made to eat it to the ground. They are my toppers and fertilizer spreaders. I keep them more than anything to improve the place for the sheep. You can grow some great lamb finishing feed behind cows if you do that with them.
They calve outside in April and may and will be weaned next week. The calves will come in and the cows will go back out cleaning up behind the sheep on their tupping rotation and get some hay rolled out as and when they need it and then shut on one of my dryest fields behind electric wire giving them a strip of deferred grass and hay to keep them full. They probably won't make the whole winter like that but last year they made it till mid February and were back out onto a rested field to calve at the end of march. That saves a small fortune.
Cows are all Angus crosses from my old limousine cows and some Hereford crosses out of them. The limos I have left aren't really hardy enough for the job and are always late getting in calf and are lean. They won't be going to the bull again.
The calves will be wintered on hay this year, silage if I have some but wrapping soon adds up when you count everything ££££ but they will get a couple of kilos of rearer nut to keep them ticking over. I've sown some red clover this summer so this winter will be the last year they get cake they'll be getting red clover silage from next year. This year they were out grazing again at the end of February for a bit running back to the shed they more or less stopped eating the silage then. They were grazing fields rested since early/mid November.
They are then run with the sheep or grazing behind them depending on where they are on the farm (a lot of fields here I can't put cattle in) and will come in about now to hopefully be finished over their second winter or by the spring. I'm going to try and turn some out to finish at grass next spring though. If I have grass for them in march wish me luck
heifers that aren't with calves will finish at grass by mid summer usually 25-27 months.Hopefully red clover will help me finish steers quicker and they will be bigger after their first winter as well.
Finishing them is much much easier, and cheaper, than it was finishing continental cattle. 350-380kg carcasses usually bit I have had 400kg and more sometimes. o+ to R+ they usually grade depending where they go. Habe had the off U though. I could probably be better at finishing them and maxing them out in the grids but I'm not clever enough. They aren't market toppers but they get there for very little money.
I don't think what I do would work if I sold them as stores. Especially off the cow because they are pretty crap as calves to be honest. My average weaning weight is about 240kg but they really look like small and hairy natives and it doesn't do them any favours in October November
TB is another reason I finish them as well.
Took this today. Can see some of the calves in their deferred grass and some hay rolled out. More to teach them what hay is before weaning than anything but is a help to slow their grazing rotation down as well.
Some of the cows
I think I'd like to keep more cows like this now they are profitable again. They're easy to keep and are great for improving the farm but I don't know how many more I could keep as cheap as this. And I'd probably need more buildings and that's not happening. Hopefully I can finish some stores much faster with red clover and could use their shed when they've gone. I need to be better at deferring more grass as well but this is only my second year doing it so needs some confidence to do it right. Still learning.
- Location
- Montgomeryshire
That will work for as long as your landlord is happy to have his field ‘trashed’ every winter.
The 10 acre field is my field...it has, as I said, 1/2 acre of hard standing for when they run out or grass and are on haylage in a a ring.
FIeld is well drained on a slope and never gets trashed....that's why I've got it. Cattle heavily fertillise field over winter ready for sheep in mid summer.
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
So . . .
this raises a further question
is there a living to be made from ANY form of agriculture in the UK, as a stand alone enterprise, without subsidies, BPS etc etc ?
this raises a further question
is there a living to be made from ANY form of agriculture in the UK, as a stand alone enterprise, without subsidies, BPS etc etc ?
Aye of course there is
Petting zoo
Farmhouse bed and breakfast
And there's a fella near here who shears wool that does ok
- Location
- West Somerset
According to some on this forum no,
Of course there is just a change of mindset required by some.
As post #85....it depends on what kind of living you're after.
I get no state subsidies, buy no fertilizer and keep 8-10 cows and their calves together with about 100 breeding ewes on a bare 80 acre tennant farm. No debts.
I'm single with grown up daughters and in my 60s. My small enterprise pays for itself and gives me a small profit...it wouldn't support a family.
I have to work off farm for 2-3 days a week to make money to pay for my living expenses. I could work more but don't need to.
I could take on more ground and more animals but not certain I'd be any better off; I would definitely be more stressed and wouldn't enjoy my last years before I fade away.
I get no state subsidies, buy no fertilizer and keep 8-10 cows and their calves together with about 100 breeding ewes on a bare 80 acre tennant farm. No debts.
I'm single with grown up daughters and in my 60s. My small enterprise pays for itself and gives me a small profit...it wouldn't support a family.
I have to work off farm for 2-3 days a week to make money to pay for my living expenses. I could work more but don't need to.
I could take on more ground and more animals but not certain I'd be any better off; I would definitely be more stressed and wouldn't enjoy my last years before I fade away.
- Location
- West Somerset
The saying "Less is more" springs to mind.
Bossfarmer
Member
- Location
- between Perth and Inverness
Not enough of a living, look at guys getting 30k for 40 hrs a week driving a lorry
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
I’d be wanting more than that for driving a truck, just quietly . . .