Project Update (April 2021): Bull beef continues to be a successful enterprise at Bryn Farm

Bryn Farm, near Cardigan have been striving to improve the efficiency of their 80-head suckler herd and thinking of ways they can be resilient against the threat of TB. Bryn is a mixed farm with beef sucklers and arable, therefore looking into finishing bull beef using male calves from the sucklers and feed and bedding from the arable enterprise would complement each other and reduce the risk from TB compared to selling cattle as stores. The rolled barley was sampled to identify the nutritional value and it was balanced with a feed blend to get the adequate feed value for the growing bulls. Huw found the system very easy, ensuring the ad-lib feeders were full and weighing the bulls regularly to monitor their growth. Bull growth rate was above the target of 2kg/d at 2.41kg/d on average. With beef price of £3.70/kg in March 2021 and carcass weights of 330kg, they were averaging £1,200/hd. 

After removing costs, Bryn Farm achieved a profit of £3,500 and, importantly for Huw, he didn’t need to worry about the TB status as they were going straight to slaughter. This extra income from bull beef finishing has introduced a new enterprise onto the farm, spreading the financial and TB risk instead of selling everything as stores. After running the bull beef system in 2020 and 2021, Huw will continue with this enterprise and it has encouraged him to try and finish heifers off grass, again a new enterprise on the farm introducing a new cashflow stream into the business. 

Figure 1. Bull weight distribution in March and April