A client recently sold 29 beef and dairy stores at £525/head on average after transport and commission.  This was a good price in the current marketplace although £100/head down on the same time last year.  They weighed approx 370kg Lwt, aged16 months old.  Originally there were 30 head. Was any money made?

They were worth £50/hd in spring 2018 and reared with waste milk and milk powder.  They were grazed at grass with some concentrates in the first summer and outwintered on deferred grass and baled silage over a 100 day period being on grass only the rest of the time.

The biggest advantage with this system is the lower wintering costs compared to housing.  Also growth doesn’t get checked when back on grass only in early March following outwintering.  In fact they still grow at 0.5kg/hd/day in this winter period.

Over the 480 days of their lives so far, this mix of steers and heifers have grown at 0.7kg/hd/day on average and it has cost 60p/hd/day including labour and rent on land.

All costs including the calves were £10,225 leaving a net profit of £5,000 or £130/head/year or £282/ha/year.

This is based on using 10 ha land over the 15 month grazing period which is equivalent to 13.3 ha on an annual basis using 5t DM grass/ha which is low output.  But they use the less productive land especially in the second year when they consume half the grazing DM in the April to August period and the past two summers have been dry, restricting grass growth.

If these cattle were housed for five months as happens in a lot of cases, £102/head of the profit is wiped out!  It can be argued that the calf value today is £25/head maybe which helps.

This is considered a low input option but just one way of rearing beef.  In this system, costs have to be minimal and housing cattle on straw for 4-5 months wipes out any potentail profit when all costs are factored in.  If you house animals then they need to be fed intensively and grown faster with the right genetics but you need modern housing and good handling facilities.  The above shows with the right land, management and cost control, money can still be made in low beef prices though low in comparison to other farming enterprises.

Please note that there is no overhead costs in terms of Administration, Insurance, Finance, Farm Repairs, etc. included in these calculations which there would be if it was a whole farm enterprise assessment.

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

Six Months Old                                                                              Sixteen Months Old

Contact Gerard at gerardfinnan@fcgagric.com or your local FCG office, to ascertain the profitability in your beef enterprise whether it be the main or an ancillary enterprise in your business and identify the strengths and weaknesses in your system.