A beef and sheep study tour took Fermanagh farmers to Counties Tipperary and Roscommon to see how quality forage was key to improving margins. The CAFRE Beef and Sheep study tour visited three BETTER farms in the Republic of Ireland. The BETTER (Business, Environment Technology through Training Extension Research) farm beef programme is a joint Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal initiative, supported by industry sponsors, which aims to develop a road map for profitable beef production. It focuses on reducing production costs and increasing farm output by focusing primarily on breeding, grassland management and performance monitoring. William Johnston, CAFRE Beef and Sheep Adviser explained that the three farms visited were:.Joe Murray, Co Roscommon – suckler cows to weanlings or stores; .David Walsh, Co Tipperary – beef finisher (Angus and Hereford) and Billy Glasheen, Co Tipperary – suckler cows to stores or beef.

The study tour was awarded funding from the Vaughan Trust and the group would like to express their thanks to the Trustees for their generous support.

Adopt a planned approach -The farm management on each of the three farms was to a high standard and significant progress has been made on a number of fronts including improved sward composition, better grazing strategies, higher soil fertility, increased silage quality and general grazing management. Joe Murray has a “three year farm plan” which identified its strengths and weaknesses, set out key goals and a simple plan for improvement and he advocated that every farmer, who is serious about development, should have one.

Focus on the basics - Several of the areas being addressed as part of the plan of improvement will be familiar to many. Using soil analysis, applying lime, bringing up P and K to recommended levels, reseeding, setting up a rotational grazing system are practices that can be used to increase grass production which if utilised efficiently can be harvested as increased animal production or reduced cost animal production. From the farms visited it was evident that attention to detail and better management makes the difference in terms of level of production achieved and margin generated. David Walsh reseeded 20 acres last year and has installed extra drinkers so that fields can be subdivided into paddocks. The extra grass production which results will enable him to put his calves to grass for the second year and then be sold off grass.

Maximise the use of high quality forage - Grass and silage account for the biggest share of ruminant diets by far on most farms whether you’re in Tipperary or Fermanagh. Host farmers have made advances in both the proportion of forage and the quality of forage in the diet of their animals. Examples of this are extending the grazing season, making high digestibility silage and continuously offering quality leafy, grass to cattle. Billy Glasheen has reduced his costs of production by moving away from using ad lib meal and straw in the finishing ration towards high quality silage and 5kg of a good quality finishing concentrate.

Continue to monitor performance - Each of the three farms have up to date eProfit Monitor figures which provide the same kind of information that CAFRE’s Benchmarking can. Improvements in grass production and utilisation which can incur costs in the short term but prove to be beneficial as stocking rates increase and output per hectare increases. On all three farms margins have increased since they joined the BETTER farm programme. Joe Murray measures grass covers on the grazing platform on a weekly basis and inputs them into PastureBase-Ireland – a tool to assist with grazing management. He makes very high quality silage and operates a paddock based rotational grazing system. This attention to detail and other changes have contributed to an increase in Gross Margin per hectare of 500% since he joined the programme.

William asked: “Will it work in Fermanagh?

“The BETTER farm approach will most definitely work in Fermanagh! Granted, we are unlikely to achieve the average turnout dates which the Tipperary farmers can enjoy but if we evaluate our present position and have a planned way forward and make full use of high quality grass farm margins will improve.

Two Fermanagh farmers, Stephen Maguire and John Egerton, in the NISBP (similar to BETTER farm programme) are testimony to this.