Awel y Grug Project 2 update - July 2024
The suckler herd evaluation has been completed at Awel y Grug and the following recommendations were noted:
The enterprise review has shown that the technical herd performance is good with key performance indicators showing that fertility metrics are close to industry targets, there is room for improvement when it comes to calf growth rates as this will have a big impact on cow output if selling store cattle at 13 months of age.
Financially the herd is performing well. However, it is always important that figures for individual years are not taken out of context. For the year 2023/24 there were more numbers of young cattle sold compared to the number of cows on the farm which had the effect of boosting individual cow output figures.
If the herd is to be retained then a clear replacement policy must be established.
Gross margin analysis of both the store and finishing enterprises shows that the beef finishing is unprofitable within the current system at Awel y Grug and should therefore be discontinued in favour of selling stores at a younger age.
Analysis also demonstrates that per livestock unit the beef enterprise is performing better than the sheep enterprise at present. However, fixed costs are higher for the beef enterprise and this results in a negative net margin whereas the sheep enterprise delivers a positive net margin.
Options investigated and discussed in the final report
Option 1- Current farming system with improved sheep and cattle performance
Option 2- Disperse suckler herd and increase ewe numbers to 1,000
Option 3 - Disperse suckler herd and increase ewe numbers to 1,000 but with improved flock performance
Option 4 - Establish a contract heifer rearing enterprise running 50 R1 and 50 R2 heifers alongside 700 ewes
Dispersing with the suckler herd and increasing ewe numbers does show a marginal increase in overall business profitability (financial data will be made available in final report) mainly due to a reduction in repairs and motor expenses but farm gross margin would be marginally lower than they are under the current system as can be seen in option 2.
There is certainly more scope to improve the financial performance of the sheep enterprise than the beef enterprise and if this can be achieved along with slight improvements to the suckler cow performance, then it will have a significant effect on overall farm profits.
Chris mentioned that dispersing the suckler herd and increasing ewe numbers is an attractive option due to the high labour demands associated with the cows and the options analysis shows that the most profitable option would be option 3, however this option is based on a marked improvement in technical and financial flock performance. There would be enough shed space at lambing for an additional 300 ewes if there were no cows on the farm.
It was also noted that there are additional benefits to having cattle on farm whereby a financial value cannot be placed on and should be considered, these include their role in nutrient cycling and impact of mixed grazing on biodiversity, sward composition and worm burden.