Archive Article: 2000/01/28
David Maughan farms on two
farms totalling 172ha (425
acres) in Co Durham on the
Raby Estate. The 45ha (112
acres) of grass supports an
18-month beef system and a
silage beef system producing
200 finished animals a year.
Both use purchased Conti-
nental bull and heifer calves
CROSSING the threshold to a new millennium brings with it challenges of adapting to what will surely be a chilly trading environment in coming years, with consumers demanding a continual supply of cheap food produced to ever higher standards.
Against this background we shall be attempting to drive down our unit production costs, so our New Years resolution is to tighten up management recording.
To this end we are about to replace our seven-year-old computer, which is creaking with overload, with a faster more up-to-date model, possessing a much bigger memory. If only it was as easy to update its user.
We are now a month into the pit of whole-crop wheat silage at Denton. It feeds extremely well, with the animals condition showing through. This is despite having a dry matter of 50%, which we thought might cause spoilage on the clamp face.
In reality this has not occurred, possibly because we used an additive, but also because the fine chop of material has undoubtedly aided consolidation.
With an ME value of 11 and digestibility value of 69% it is, with the benefit of additional protein, proving a first class ration. We still have a few escapee hens from our free range unit, for whom the wholecrop pit has become a magnet. At least they are a useful hoover in cleaning up fallen wheat grains.
We have now weaned our second batch of bull calves, making a total of 100 animals for 18 month finishing in 2001. We are also filling the Denton pens with heifers, making numbers up to 108 for the silage beef system.
One of our frustrations of new Agenda 2000 beef support arrangements is that discretionary 90-head limits have not been raised. Perhaps they will be next year.
We may be looking at expanding our free range egg unit by a further 2500 birds by incorporating an existing poultry shed. The opportunity of organic conversion for this unit will also be examined.
Winter months bring with them an opportunity for cross pollination of ideas. We are fortunate in Durham Grassland Society to have last years Nitram award winners – Chris and Margie Hall – to share their thoughts and experience with us.
David Maughan