First-year results challenge historical limits

01-05-2004 | Not Specified

An on-farm study of various intensive beef finishing systems in northern Waikato has produced very challenging results in less than one year.

Pukekawa beef farmer Neil Aicken is chairman of the beef sub-group of the Waikato-Franklin Monitor Farm, and he ran three combinations of fencing and stocking during last growing season.

Also monitored for comparison were one high-producing area of recent new pasture on Alastair Reeves’ Te Akau property, and two areas of new pasture on Simon and Eve Saxton’s Glen Murray property.

The set-ups were as follows:

• Aicken, Brewster Rd, cell grazing system on 17ha of 2.5 bulls wintered per hectare.

• Aicken, Kawa Downs, laneway grazing system on 9ha of 5 bulls/ha (system 2).

• Aicken, Kawa Downs, laneway grazing system on 12ha at 6 bulls/ha (system 3).

• Reeves, Dam/Waipiri block, cell grazing at 3.5 bulls/ha.

• Saxton, double finishing on 4.6ha cell grazing, at 4.13 R2yr bulls/ha from July 10 to January 7, then 2.6 2yr bulls/ha from January 19 with expected kill date of June 20.

• Saxton, double finishing on 22.7ha of new pasture at 4.14 R1yr bulls/ha from June 1 to February 1, when the stocking rate was reduced to 2.7 R2yr bulls/ha.

Neil Aicken stocked his cell grazing system at Brewster Rd with 1108kgs/ha of liveweight on May 16 and sent them to slaughter on January 6, with an average result of 337kg CW/head.

Over 235 days system one (seven cells on a 20-day round, beginning with 1500-1600kg DM/ha) made 287kg net carcase weight/ha, which was 1.22kg/day/ha.

The laneway system 2 at Kawa Downs (5 bulls/ha) was closed up on April 30 and stocked on July 24 at 1800kg LW/ha on pasture cover of 3750-4000kg DM/ha. Those younger bulls finished on February 3 at 280kg CW and over 279 days achieved 444kg CW/ha, or 1.61kg/day/ha.

The laneway system 3 (6 bulls/ha) was treated the same way as system 2 and over 285 days achieved 603kg CW/ha, or 2.12kg/day/ha.

In both laneway systems the stocking rates were reduced to 4 bulls/ha on December 1, which was factored into the above calculations.

Plenty of nitrogen was used during the period June to December, with a cell system receiving 116kg N/ha and the laneways 148kg.

In presenting these figures to a beef finishing handout on February 20, Monitor Farm facilitator Peter Livingston, from AgFirst, Rotorua, and Neil Aicken made some assumptions about the potential production achievable from those IBS areas during the period February to April-May.

If stocking rate was reduced 50% but the same daily weight gain achieved, then the cell system would produce 366kg/ha/yr, and the laneway systems 518 and 688kg/ha/yr respectively.

The most productive Dam/Waipiri block on the Reeves’ farm was regrassed 18 months ago, closed up for one month and stocked with 349kg LW on June 15 as rising one-years. They shared eight cells with an average rotation of 24 days. The starting cover was 2000-2100kg DM/ha. They were killed on January 21 at 318.2kg CW, for a net gain of 502kg CW/ha in 251 days, or 2.08kg CW/ha/day.

Add to this some lamb finishing in summer at 10 lambs/ha for an additional gain of 30kg CW/ha, plus some supplementary production from young bulls growing at 0.8kg LW/day and the total meat production is 636kg/ha.

Simon Saxton’s two areas produced liveweight gains of 1.22kg/day and 1.03kg/day which would be getting up over the 600 kg of meat production annually.

In previous years Neil Aicken has achieved 600kg/ha on the 72ha of intensively farmed pasture on 450ha effective. The remainder of the property is doing 300kg/ha, for an average over the whole farm of 348kg.

Aicken aims to expand the IBS area to 125ha and target 800kg/ha meat production, plus 400kg on the rest of the farm. This would produce a total of 230,000kg, or 500kg/ha.

On June 30 last year he had 1425 cattle on the property, or 1335kg LW/ha, and on February 20 at the field day he was down to 703kg LW/ha.

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