Finalise the feed plan
All will be looking at how to keep costs under control — but don’t take your eye off performance.
Feed Value
It looks like concentrates will continue to be priced at current levels for the remainder of this winter.
Meal is significantly cheaper than this time last year, and it generally includes significant levels of high energy cereals.
Despite this, many farmers are looking at ways of reducing their concentrate bill. Many are looking at reducing the volume of concentrates fed to individual groups of stock.
Is this really a sensible option though? What group of animals are likely to be targeted for reduced feeding on farms? What savings are actually being achieved?
The first thing that should be done on all farms is to set targets for each group of stock.
Be realistic with target weight gains/growth rates for each group. On the other hand, don’t accept substandard performance just because it would be perceived as being cheaper.
It is much cheaper to put weight on younger animals than it is with older animals.
Older and bigger animals divert much more of their food to maintenance before gaining weight. Most can tell you how much it costs to feed an animal, but I have yet to meet anyone who can tell me the real cost of not feeding an animal to their requirements.
It is very acceptable on any beef farm to set targets for weanlings at around 0.8-1kg per day.
This will obviously depend on sex, with bulls doing slightly better, and heifers doing less.
Protein and digestible fibres should be included in any growing blend, to promote efficient frame growth.
In all production systems, it is vital to have a period devoted to frame growth to avoid low weight and over-fat carcasses.
The period between seven months and 18 months is when the animal is capable of the most frame growth. Putting on 75mm (three inches) more height during this period will result in at least 25-30kg more carcass weight.
The target gain you set out for your finishers should be based on your target market in terms of grade, carcass weight and age.
Bear in mind also that animals should have grown sufficient frame before they are finished.
Continental bulls in their finishing period have the potential to gain up to 2kg per day.
However, for most finishing animals, an average of 1-1.3kg per day over the entire finishing period is achievable.
Apart from trying to reduce concentrate volumes, some are also looking at options such as reducing the meal cost per tonne by reducing the protein content.
This is in general not a good strategy, because most silages produced in 2014 have a very low protein percentage.
Let’s look at the reasons why you should not skimp on protein:
* Protein encourages intake, which improves performance. Poor intakes will result in under-performance.
* Rumen bugs require sufficient protein to efficiently digest nutrients.
* Protein is a major factor in promoting frame growth.
* Animals on a finishing diet will not flesh properly if they are deficient in protein.
On many farms, it has been common practice to feed a beef nut/blend to growing weanlings. However, this is not always ideal. These mixes are generally 14-16% protein, and at lower levels, will rarely balance grass silage sufficiently for growing stock.
Average silage proteins in Ireland in 2014 are running at around 11%. As a result, a standard beef blend fed at the usual 2kg will not provide sufficient protein for growth. Many mills sell a growing blend or nut. with 19-21% protein. These blends are much more suited for balancing 2014 silages to achieve required performance.
Many protein sources are available to boost total the protein intake in stock. It is important to find the one which suits your system best. Protein is not bad value this year, and it is an essential element in order to promote optimum rumen function and animal performance. It is also critical for youngstock that the source of protein is a quality one which is utilisable by the animals.
