Farmers do not take in to account Natives live cheaper than Continentals.

Wolds Beef

Member
Melton Mowbray prices were poor for natives. Why? Natives do live cheaper and will even outwinter rather than spending on shed room and feed. They eat grass and grass products rather than expensive (now very expensive) grain rations. How do we get this across to the commercial suckler man?
WB
 

Top Tip.

Member
Location
highland
Melton Mowbray prices were poor for natives. Why? Natives do live cheaper and will even outwinter rather than spending on shed room and feed. They eat grass and grass products rather than expensive (now very expensive) grain rations. How do we get this across to the commercial suckler man?
WB
I read the Thainstone report every week where they separate the Angus cattle out and report them separately. They might cost less to produce but in the store ring you get a lot less for them as well which always strikes me as strange considering there is supposed to be a premium for them finished.
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
I read the Thainstone report every week where they separate the Angus cattle out and report them separately. They might cost less to produce but in the store ring you get a lot less for them as well which always strikes me as strange considering there is supposed to be a premium for them finished.
Big difference between Angus and Angus sired of course but they're on a "scheme" I expect
 

Optimus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North of Perth
Melton Mowbray prices were poor for natives. Why? Natives do live cheaper and will even outwinter rather than spending on shed room and feed. They eat grass and grass products rather than expensive (now very expensive) grain rations. How do we get this across to the commercial suckler man?
WB
How do they live cheaper? I out winter all my heifers on a hill.they have a concrete pad with feeders on so easy to clean.used to do the same with cows too.mixture of breeds continentals an natives.
 

milkloss

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
Have a few Sussex crosses in our predominately continental herd and at selling the 10-11month old red calves are consistently 100-150 pounds below the the contis, maybe more.

depends on the system, if you want to run cheap and feed them on old hay and not much else then natives are the one to aim for. Having said that I've seen some pretty shocking looking natives that have been treated way too hard lately. Our system treats cattle better with goodish silage and fresh leys so it's obvious to go for the continental type. Turn a Sussex out into a fresh grass field will usually see them wander over to the hedge and chew on some bind weed or some such.

Outwintering cattle of any sort here is a pipe dream but well done if you can get away with it.
 

beardface

Member
Location
East Yorkshire
Melton Mowbray prices were poor for natives. Why? Natives do live cheaper and will even outwinter rather than spending on shed room and feed. They eat grass and grass products rather than expensive (now very expensive) grain rations. How do we get this across to the commercial suckler man?
WB

Get rid of the EUROP grid. Same for maternal bred lambs.
 

roscoe erf

Member
Livestock Farmer
Melton Mowbray prices were poor for natives. Why? Natives do live cheaper and will even outwinter rather than spending on shed room and feed. They eat grass and grass products rather than expensive (now very expensive) grain rations. How do we get this across to the commercial suckler man?
WB
Mine don’t mine eat grass produce a good calf and are fairly hardy
 

JP1

Member
Livestock Farmer
Plenty of herds of Limousin cows are out wintered in the Limousin where they come from. Quite a few only ever see hay or grass as well. In the proper Limousin (not where I am but further east) the climate would be a hell of a lot harsher than most of the UK as well.

EDIT if you want to see really tough cattle go to where the Salers come from
Are not many of the Salers tied in byres over Winter though?
 

Davy_g

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Co Down
Melton Mowbray prices were poor for natives. Why? Natives do live cheaper and will even outwinter rather than spending on shed room and feed. They eat grass and grass products rather than expensive (now very expensive) grain rations. How do we get this across to the commercial suckler man?
WB
Interesting point, your savings come at a cost as they take longer to produce less beef.
For me the ideal is a cross of continental x native. Each to their own and everyone will know what works on their farm.

There will be a lot of headscratching with the high cost of inputs. How do you produce the same or more for less inputs. Extra time on the farm to get to weight will always hurt natives in lowland settings.
 

nxy

Member
Mixed Farmer
Are not many of the Salers tied in byres over Winter though?
I wouldn't have thought so. That was the traditional system here with the Limousins as well though you never see it now. Every shed we had on the place when we came had oak partitions with holes for the cow chains. A few years back I sold a load of the worn timber to a furniture maker in the UK apparantly it was just the thing for heavy rustic coffee tables etc.
 

DrDunc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Dunsyre
I’m probably wrong, but I don’t see the outwintering as a massive seller. I‘m sure if the sheds are there, it’s usually cheaper to keep them inside.
Cheaper inside if they're on slats. You also get "free" fertiliser in the slurry tank. Bedded courts need straw, and I'm not about to stick out my neck and predict the price of golden bricks this autumn

Out wintering used to be the norm here 50 years ago. Climate change has seen a very wet end to that practice, no matter what breed

I have mostly Angus and Shorthorn cows, with crosses thereof. Put to Shorthorn and recently a simental bull. They graze grass in the summer, and are fed haylage in the winter. Quality is progressively increased as they near calving. Calves sold as yearlings are fed grass and straw only, with the analysis this year ME11.8 mJ/kgDM and crude protein 18.2%. No cereals......

This summer I'm using rough hill grazing on which to bull simental cross Shorthorn heifers using a luing bull. Can't get much cheaper grazing than that, the idea was to increase sale margin by reducing input costs


This was all thought about years before the world and it's input cost prices went mad




Anytime want to tell me how to produce beef, or even the grass to feed them any cheaper????

Because currently I don't see how I can afford to keep cattle here in the hills, no matter what breed.

Edit
And it's Fu**ing depressing
 
Last edited:

Optimus

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North of Perth
Cheaper inside if they're on slats. You also get "free" fertiliser in the slurry tank. Bedded courts need straw, and I'm not about to stick out my neck and predict the price of golden bricks this autumn

Out wintering used to be the norm here 50 years ago. Climate change has seen a very wet end to that practice, no matter what breed

I have mostly Angus and Shorthorn cows, with crosses thereof. Put to Shorthorn and recently a simental bull. They graze grass in the summer, and are fed haylage in the winter. Quality is progressively increased as they near calving. Calves sold as yearlings are fed grass and straw only, with the analysis this year ME11.8 mJ/kgDM and crude protein 18.2%. No cereals......

This summer I'm using rough hill grazing on which to bull simental cross Shorthorn heifers using a luing bull. Can't get much cheaper grazing than that, the idea was to increase sale margin by reducing input costs


This was all thought about years before the world and it's input cost prices went mad




Anytime want to tell me how to produce beef, or even the grass to feed them any cheaper????

Because currently I don't see how I can afford to keep cattle here in the hills, no matter what breed.

Edit
And it's Fu**ing depressing
Whats the thinking in putting the luing over the heifers as opposed to an Angus or back to the sim?
 

DrDunc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Dunsyre
Whats the thinking in putting the luing over the heifers as opposed to an Angus or back to the sim?
Easier calving and keep the heifer calves out the luing for hill grazing cows

Simental calves too big for heifers, longer gestations, and calves ideally need concentrates to push them once speaned. Shorthorn yearlings are actually heavier fed on grass / haylage / mother's milk than simental with 2lbs of cake one they're off mothers

Angus bulls seem to have lost their easy calving along the way of "improved" ebv weight gains, and anyway, why produce Angus calves that are worth £1200 when 22 month old, when I can sell Shorthorn sired offspring at 12 months old for £1100???
 

Henarar

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Somerset
Melton Mowbray prices were poor for natives. Why? Natives do live cheaper and will even outwinter rather than spending on shed room and feed. They eat grass and grass products rather than expensive (now very expensive) grain rations. How do we get this across to the commercial suckler man?
WB
Ours get no feed but I can't see out wintering working here no matter what breed, probably shouldn't be keeping cows at all, may go in for rabbits like my dad started with
 

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