How calving at two improved herd performance

The Bell family, from North Yorkshire, switched to calving at two haven’t looked back after seeing an increase in herd performance. They also say the move has made management easier.

Targeting a first service at 15 months old initially seemed optimistic to the Bells, but after reducing calving periods and increasing farm output they are impressed with the results.

The 100-head pedigree South Devon spring calving herd of Sir John Bell, wife Lady Venetia, and son Jack, was previously calving at three years old.

They admit previously they struggled with a long calving period (12 weeks) and turning the cows and bulls all out on 1 May left no time for the stock to adjust to their spring grass diet.

cows at Arncliffe hall

© Michael Priestley

See also: 9 tips on calving replacements at two years old

However, five years into an AHDB Beef and Lamb project, they have stepped up data capture and daily liveweight gain (DLWG) across cows and youngstock at Arncliffe Hall, Ingleby Cross.

The result is that heifers are now served at 65% of their mature cow weight or 450kg.

The efficiency gains mean an extra 20 calves from two-year-old calving.

“We had 85 calves on the ground in 2015, 95 this year and in 2017 we should have 110,” explains Venetia. At an average of £1,200 for a fattened bull or a breeding heifer it is improving gross margins.

Jack and John Bell

Jack (left) and John Bell with cattle at Arncliffe Hall © Michael-Priestley-RBI

“Shed space is no longer taken up with two-year-old heifers; these are now first calvers,” she adds.

“A further benefit is that by bulling at 15 months from the start of the calving period we are selecting for fertility, using the earliest born heifers from dams that held service.”

Previously, all cows and heifers had 12 weeks running with the bull, but Venetia notes that this spring 88% of calves were born in the first six weeks and all but one calf was born within 10 weeks.

Arncliffe Hall

  • Closed herd of 120 South Devons and closed flock of 450 Lleyns selling shearlings
  • 222ha (550 acres) of grassland managed extensively under HLS
  • 404ha (1,000 acres) of arable land farmed under contract with neighbour
  • Heifers reared for mature cow size of 700kg.

Making the change

Calving younger has been accompanied with a new mindset about herd data collection and benchmarking, which the Bells now do diligently, capturing birthweights, weaning weights and daily liveweight gain results until calving.

“In the first instance we were concerned that we couldn’t get the heifers big enough, but this hasn’t been the case and we are now looking to reduce concentrates,” explains John.

“We now have heifers with calves out of heifers that calved as two-year-olds and they’re doing fine and we’ve not had problems with heifers getting over-fat as we occasionally did with the three-year-old calvers.

“We like the new system which reduces the labour required for calving and would not revert back to the old system,” he adds.

The project has required the Bells to get to terms with a Tru-test weighing scale and copious amounts of livestock data.

“We enter numbers manually on to the Tru-test,” admits Venetia, who oversees the data system and was trained to use the software. “We are possibly regretting not using electronic tags, but at the time we cut that cost out.”

Growing heifers

To achieve 65% of mature weight at 15 months the Arncliffe heifers need to be hitting 1kg DLWG targets. They manage the heifers and cows at a Body Condition Score (BCS) of 2.5-3. Calving starts around 8 March and 1 April, is the cut-off point for selecting replacements.

“We have calved down at 23 months but that is the limit,” admits Venetia. “Calving earlier increases dystocia hugely, something we have learnt by our own mistake.”

Calves are born inside around the 40kg mark. Bulls are kept entire and go deadweight to Dunbia, barring the top six that are kept for breeding.

We like the new system which reduces the labour required for calving and would not revert back to the old system John Bell

Heifers are creep fed at grass a 14.5%CP beef blend containing sugar beet.

They are eating approximately 0.8-1kg/day before being weaned usually in November after having been housed for two weeks with their dams.

“We find this allows them to adjust to the stress of housing before the stress of weaning and minimise growth checks,” says John, although he adds that he may consider looking at weaning outside before housing as this would have similar benefits, but mean the calf is weaned earlier allowing the cow to maintain body condition.

Cows and heifers are run in separate groups all year with six cow groups on the farm.

All cows and heifers are pregnancy-checked at housing and not mixed, remaining in six separate pens so cows remain in bulling groups.

Nutrition

First and second calving heifers (age two and three years, respectively) now have two silage ring feeders instead of one.

Grass silage is fed to mid-January then ad lib good quality straw with molassed protein liquid feed on top is fed in bunkers, alongside good quality hay.

Pre-calving buckets are used for all calving cows to reduce milk fever problems and boost colostrum quality and immunoglobulins for calf immunity.

From calving all the cows receive silage and concentrate until turnout. Last year’s silage analysed at 40.3%DM, 13.6%CP and 10.6%ME, with Jack currently considering using additives to adjust fermentation and minimise protein loss and silage variability.

Winter feeding targets a BCS of 2.5-3 at calving and 85% of mature weight by second breeding.

Turnout

Once turned out, heifers are required to grow and hold first service on a diet of spring grass, with high magnesium buckets supplementing minerals and energy to prevent grass staggers.

Grassland is predominantly permanent pasture, split into grazing in an HLS scheme and land under a zero-ploughing historic protection. Fertiliser, when applied, is a spring application of di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and then ammonium nitrate after cutting – both at 125kg/ha.

Bulling has been put back one month from 1 May to 1 June to allow for the herd to adjust rumen bacteria to summer grazing diets and benefit from the spring flush prior to breeding.

Everything is served naturally, with bulls being pulled out of the heifers after seven weeks and nine to 10 weeks with the cows.

The herd plan for 2017 is to use 15 heifers as replacements and sell 25 for breeding, with anything with faults such as health, feet, conformation or not being up to breed standard sold finished.

EBVs

“By selecting bulls on Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) for calving ease direct, calving ease daughters, birth weight, zero myostatin and gestation length we have no difference in calving difficulty now from calving the three-year-olds,” explains John.

“For the older cows we have more flexibility on calving ease direct and the myostatin.”

Management considerations

  • Select the earliest born heifers (before 1 April)
  • Delayed bull turnout by one month gives the herd the month of May to graze pasture, build condition on spring grass and adapt their rumen ahead of breeding.
  • Heifers are grouped separately and given extra feed space to minimise bullying. (Two ring feeders offer more access to silage than one and hay is ring fed also)
  • Winter weighing to track DLWGs and regular condition checks to keep BCS around 3.
  • Creep feed calves six to eight weeks prior to housing
  • Select specialised bull for heifer breeding based on EBVs for calving ease direct, calving ease daughters, birth weight and gestation length and 0 myostatin (moderate musculature).
  • BCS targets: Bulling = 3.0-3.5; Housing = 3.0-3.5; Calving 2.5-3.0

Four key benefits

  • Increase herd size by 20%
  • Efficient feed conversion and growth – Targeting quality red clover silage and beef blend at heifers to achieve DLWGs of 1kg/day to 15 months
  • Breeding 15-month-olds that are from the most fertile females that have held first service.
  • A tighter calving pattern means management and marketing of cattle is easier due to more even batches.

Top tips from Dr Viv Perry, University of Nottingham, and Sarah Pick, AHDB Beef and Lamb

  • When in-calf heifers should make steady weight gains in the first seven months of pregnancy, with weight steadily gaining through the third trimester until calving.
  • Fluctuations in growth rates should be avoided between breeding and first calving.
  • Otherwise in early pregnancy embryonic loss may occur and later in gestation calf size could be adversely affected
  • For autumn calving, herd heifers should be the first group to be housed, helping them transition from grass to winter rations.
  • Likewise, spring calvers should target the best grazing at yearling and calved heifers.