Focus Farm is run by three generations of same family

Editorial Department • Published 11 Feb 2010 10:03 0 Comments

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Focus Farmer Allan Brady leads a group of farmers through his farmyard.

Three generations of the same family are actively involved in the running of one of the latest Focus Farms to be established in Fermanagh.

The Focus Farm Project is funded under Axis 1 of the RDP with the aim to contribute to the creation of a more competitive agricultural industry through the provision of farmer-led training to farmers.

There are five new Focus Farms established in Fermanagh and one of them is run by Allan Brady, at Calkhill, Florencecourt, under the theme of beef. Like other participating farmers in the scheme run by the Department of Agriculture he demonstrates good farming practices and shares experiences with other farmers of managing a farm business as well as demonstrating innovative farm methods and modern technology.

The Brady farm just off the main Enniskillen to Gortatole Road, enjoys three generations of family labour involving himself, his wife, Margaret, his father, Charlie and sons, Christopher, full time at home and Matthew, who works part-time alongside his studies at Greenmount Campus.

The family farm a total of 370 acres, some rented and leased with a 70-cow suckler and beef enterprise established on the home farm as well as a dairy herd and sheep flock on other land. The stocking rate is 1.33 cow equivalent per hectare producing weanlings and finished cattle.

Allan has plenty of experience with cattle, having been farming with his father since 1978 and working part-time for the Ulster Farmers' Mart at both Enniskillen and Allams for a number of years.

His suckler cows are predominantly Continental bred using Limousin and Aberdeen Angus bulls. One of his important crosses is Aberdeen Angus on Belgian Blue cows.

The suckler herd is divided between spring calving(30) and autumn calving(40) with the spring calvers AI'd at grass. The male calves from the spring herd are sold the following March at around 10 months old and the females kept for replacements or finished. The first 11 males sold in 2009 averaged £799 per head.

The autumn calving cows produce calves on the ground between August and October with the Belgian Blue cows crossed to Aberdeen Angus for easy of calving, low cost finishing and taking advantage of premium prices for AA stock.

In-calf heifers are put in calf to Curragh Matthew, the stock Aberdeen Angus bull and these are due to calve from June onwards.

A novel feature of Allan's stock is the use of embryo transfer. He has five Aberdeen Angus cows with calves from embryos purchased from John Elliot's renowned Scottish herd. These calves were born from June 2009 and are being performance recorded through Signet. Their weights ranged from 290kgs for heifers to 360kgs for bull calves after 200 days. These are housed on a bed of woodchip.

The 10-month old calves from the spring calving herd last year due to be sold in March, are creep fed in an area on slatted tanks covered with a bed of rushes.

He baled the rushes as a trial and while serving their purpose, he says they do not soak up the moisture as well as straw and need replaced much more frequently. Slatted areas for the cows have been covered in rubber for animal comfort.

The Brady farm is well laid out but Allan says the disadvantages of farming in heavier soils of Fermanagh are reflected through higher costs of higher contractor charges and higher vets bills and conacre charges than many other farms which are benchmarked. His net margin of £180 per cow, less conacre and labour charges he says is not enough to justify the amount of work carried out. However his net margin is in the top 25 per cent of benchmarked farms.

There are other positives for the farm which has been in the ESA scheme for 14 years. Habitats on the farm include wetlands, breeding wader sites and trees and protected species include lapwings and whooper swans. This is the only farm in Northern Ireland with white fronted geese using the land for winter feeding.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 11 Feb 10

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