Reduce days to slaughter

Fifth-generation farmer Ian farms 300 acres at Upcott Farm, Chulmleigh in Devon, alongside his parents, wife, Debbie, and their five children. They run a mixed enterprise supplying free-range chicken to Hook 2 Sisters and finishing 300 British Blue cross-dairy calves annually.

 Cattle are now weighed every six weeks, with clear targets established for each stage of the production cycle to mirror the philosophy of the broiler enterprise.

 As a result of meticulous data management, good nutrition, and improved early-life growth, age at slaughter has been lowered from 24 months to 19 months. Heifers and steers are fed the same and average 355kg deadweight at R3 and kill out of 53%.

Calf Management

Shed

 Ian says lifetime performance is determined in the calf shed.

“This is the most important shed for us. If we get this right, we tend to find they fly through.”

 For this reason, a state-of-the-art calf-rearing shed was built three years ago. It features wind socks running the length of each roof pitch and inset drainage.

Feeding

Calves are all sourced from one dairy business in North West Devon and arrive in batches of 80 with 500 animals on farm at a time. They are EID-tagged and are fed milk powder using automatic Foster-Technik calf feeders. 

On arrival, calves are given an electrolyte straight off the lorry.

“One thing we have learnt more recently, is that hydration is key. Calves that are not feeling 100% often have reduced feed and water intakes, which exacerbates any potential issues. So, we now use Trouw’s Osmofit electrolyte during any times of stress,” says Debbie.

They start with six litres of milk (mixed at 135g/litre), to mimic the feeding levels on the dairy unit, but this is increased to seven litres, where it is held until 42 days when milk is gradually reduced over the next two weeks.

Currently, the Pinheys are trialing two milk powders — Trouw Milkivit Rearing (a 23% protein skim powder containing 17% oils) and Trouw Milkivit Energizer (a 23% protein skim powder with a higher fat content of 25% oils to mimic cow’s milk).

Data from automatic feeders allows them to pick up on health problems sooner compared to when they fed calves on buckets.

“We can track drinking speed, and if it drops to less than 70%, we give calves pain relief because eight out of ten times they are getting sick. This means we can treat the animal 24-48 hours before they show any signs off ill health, preventing potential issues,” says Ian.

Calves are weaned at 56 days once they are eating at least 2kg of Harper’s Calf Performer Nuts (18% crude protein). They are then allowed 3kg post-weaning, which is provided alongside ad-lib straw.

Weaning and growing phases

At weaning they will stay in the same group and move directly opposite to the right-hand side of the shed into one of four straw-bedded pens.

A total mixed ration (TMR) is introduced at 10 weeks to give calves ‘a little taste’. This is gradually increased, and the concentrate is pulled back over the next few months until calves are on a full TMR growing ration comprising 14.2% protein by five months of age.

The Pinhey’s feed advisor, Jake Chisholm, Ruminant Feed Specialist for Harpers Feeds, says: “We make sure there is always ad-lib straw provided to achieve that scratch factor. The rumen is a massive vessel – it is constantly contracting and turning, and straw is springy and opens it up to improve rumen capacity.”

Once calves tip the scales at 200-230kg, they move to a growing shed and stay there until they reach 470kg liveweight. Then they move to the finishing shed and are fed a 13.2% protein diet.

All three rations use homegrown maize and grass silage as the main ingredients, with rapeseed, soya, barley straw, rolled wheat, and crimped home-treated cereals utilised – oats or barley.

Jake monitors forage quality as regularly as he would on dairy farms – every 4-6 weeks – so that prompt adjustments can be made to balance forages.

Data- knowledge is power

A self-confessed data geek, Mr Pinhey regularly tracks performance using electronic identification (EID) tags and Tru-Test weigh scales.

 Calves are only weighed twice – when they enter and leave the rearing shed – to reduce stress, but older animals are then weighed every six weeks.

 An IAE race and Bateman crush, completed in 2017, have made weighing safe and quick, with 300 cattle weighed in just 1.5 hours.

 Data is captured via the Datamars app which gives insights into individual animal performance.

“I love data. Without data, you are stabbing in the dark, and you can’t make meaningful decisions,” says Ian.

 “When the calves arrive, I load their projected growth curve for the rest of their life, and we can see how they are performing compared to the targets set for each stage,” says Ian.

Finishing phase

Recently, the Pinheys have been trialing feeding cattle an ad-lib feed in the form of Harpers 16% Beef Finisher Molassed Mix once they hit 500kg.

 The last group finished on TMR ate 1t/cereal/animal while at the unit, whereas to date the group fed ad-lib cereal has eaten 750kg of cereal.

Jake explains: “We decided to use the blend on a 60-90-day policy to get them finished faster.”

Ian adds: “It looks like they could end up eating less cereal because they are going to finish quicker.”

The results will dictate what they feed finished cattle moving forward.

 Ensuring adequate throughput has been a key driver for lowering days to slaughter to 18 months, Ian explains:

“We have room for six batches of 80 at 18 months, but if we stray towards 20 months, we get a backlog and don’t have sufficient room for new calves.”

 Overall, cattle are achieving 1.1kg daily liveweight gain from arrival until finishing, with mortality running at 3.5% in total.

 But Ian says this is ‘too many’ and wants to reduce mortality to >2% and push the pedal further by increasing DLWG so they can lower slaughter age to 19 months while simultaneously lifting deadweight to 375kg.

“As we have reduced the finished age, we have sacrificed weight a little bit, losing about 25kg. But the last group averaged 365kg, so it is moving in the right direction,” he adds.