Firstly sorry to everyone who have posted on this thread for my late reply..
Some very intresting comments/ systems..
I would be very intrested to hear about the difference in cost's to your two systems for the suckler cows in the above systems??
Tb is/has been the death knell for quality suckled calf beef production for sure!!
Havent got figures to hand but from memory the cost to keep a cow on my farm (( all cost's including labour etc ) is about £660/ head as for the fhinshing side.. on ad lib corn/ protein and silage/ straw it worked out about £2/head/ day for steers/ bull with an average liveweight gain of 1.7 kilos/ day..
In all honesty the returns from the game arent really good enough for the money/work tied up in it..
( Now a request : can any suckled calve producer that is thinking of selling their calves off the cow put a ring on its balls and NOT squeeze them when they get a few months old, went to a sale on Exmoor on mon and clear as night follows day that a lot of the males that were sold as steers it would be 50/50 if they were actually steers/ bulls... any that don't look 100 % steers will defo sell for less!!! )
That's interesting I'm totally the opposite , can't be doing with rubber rings please pinch them all the time .
I totally agree which is why im only running a handful currently, prob will be if we all think like this where will the store cattle come from??
I bought several store steers yesterday, average 10 months old, well grown for their ages and they averaged £553/ across the board!!
Very few people actually know their true costs of keeping a suckler cow all year.. and would be horrified if they did!!
They weren't expensive , mind you beef is 25p / kg down in this area at the mo, hopefully it will come back next month