Best Cattle for bad land

thewiseowl12

Hi,

I'm a young fella who's got a day job but I'd like to get into a bit of farming. We've about 30 acres, 10 acres of good land and 20 bad, rushy, parts peaty, usual west of Ireland craic. It comes from my mothers side but my father neglected it as he hates the sight of cattle, in time I hope to get it back in decent shape. However this will take time so I'm looking for advice on cattle that will thrive (best) in these sort of conditions.

AT the moment we have 2 heifers (charolais & limousine) and 2 cows (belgian blue and limousine) with 2 calves at foot. The BB cow has a great calf, great size for his age, as she seems to have great milk.

My own particular experience is that Limousine are hardy cattle who thrive well on bad land as they're very "clever", always foraging - we bought 3 heifers at the same weight & age and the limousine is now the biggest of them. I've heard good things about Charolais so we're experimenting with a heifer that we bought this summer.

Any posters have any advice or experience?

Thanks in advance.

Owl

poor farmer

What about sheep smaller outlay on stock no housing no damage to land

Birdnuts

poor farmer wrote: »

What about sheep smaller outlay on stock no housing no damage to land

Extra fencing, manegement costs though!!

PS: I would go with some sort of AA/Kerry cross:)

kay 9

What about AA/LM cross. Make nice cattle and have good weanlings and hardy cattle to leave out too:)

Birdnuts

thewiseowl12 wrote: »

Hi,

but my father neglected it as he hates the sight of cattle,



Owl

Was he bullied at school?? - Sorry couldn't resist that one:D;)

thewiseowl12

I don't think he was!

He grew up on a farm, I think he just got tired of the smell of sh*te, the amount of chancers in it and the small money for lots of work. Chancers as in people who are out to rip you off. They're still there.

Our plan (my brother and I) thus far is to raise our own replacement cattle and sell direct to the butcher/customer. We're going using pigs to clear up the fields that are gone wild. (Hopefuuly)Few trips to the mart to get replacement heifers/cows. We'd only be finishing 10 cattle a year I'd guess. And I want to keep away from sheep!

We're not in it to make a fortune but combined with another job, we think we could get an decent sideline income. Plus I like the cattle and the outdoors and its a way if spending an evening!

Thanks for all the replies thus far, I really appreciate it.

snowman707

kay 9 wrote: »

What about AA/LM cross. Make nice cattle and have good weanlings and hardy cattle to leave out too:)

+1

thewiseowl12 wrote: »

I don't think he was!

He grew up on a farm, I think he just got tired of the smell of sh*te, the amount of chancers in it and the small money for lots of work. Chancers as in people who are out to rip you off. They're still there.

Our plan (my brother and I) thus far is to raise our own replacement cattle and sell direct to the butcher/customer. We're going using pigs to clear up the fields that are gone wild. (Hopefuuly)Few trips to the mart to get replacement heifers/cows. We'd only be finishing 10 cattle a year I'd guess. And I want to keep away from sheep!

We're not in it to make a fortune but combined with another job, we think we could get an decent sideline income. Plus I like the cattle and the outdoors and its a way if spending an evening!

Thanks for all the replies thus far, I really appreciate it.

even though I'm not a fan off aa cattle I think in your situation they would be one of the better choices

I presume you may be using ai and would advise getting some aa or lm heifers off Br friesian cows and criss crossing

i.e.

aa cow breed to lm
lm cow breed to aa

therunaround

what sort of housing facilities do you have? You will be severely limited in terms of stock numbers without housing. Am i wrong to assume that your current low stocking rate is as a result of no housing. If this is the case, upping your stock numbers would be limited to summer grazing cattle- not a disaster given the cost of wintering cows. also have ye applied for the AEOS (new reps) scheme, the best way to improve your farm over time as you could use the money to invest in some drainage work.

The best of luck with your new enterprise. With the world population going from 6 to 9 billion between 2000 and 2050 and world land base reducing at a high rate, there is a future in farming.

Be patient is my advice. Avoid debt and try to keep it as a standalone business (dont let your dayjob money sink into it). Do a budget. If it takes 10 years to get a decent annual profit ( maybe getting the price of yere holidays out of it in the meantime) then so be it. With the likely new emphasis of government and EU spending on active farmers, I think its important now to avoid leaving land idle. I would suggest drystock in addition to your couple of cows though if uv no sheds.

thewiseowl12

We have a slatted house(built 2000) which we currently lease to our neighbour. The current low stocking rate is due to the recent return of rented-out land and also due to our current low capital base! I'd prefer to outwinter cattle (on kale in future) due to the lower cost and the benefits to the cows. Cows will potentially be brought in around calving time(we have other sheds).

The aim is to "reclaim" 4-5 acres per year and have hardy animals, probably bullocks, to graze the remaining wild parts until we've finished. Reclaimation will involve using pigs to do most of the hard work and after planting with kale which will be used to overwinter cattle. Following cattle the land is to be reseeded.

There used to be hay cut on the lands, the drains are all overgrown now but I think the above is feasible. We'll be aiming to finish 10+ cattle a year and try to cut out middlemen with the meat (direct to consumer/butcher).

We will use AI and try to minimise trips to the mart save to buy the odd replacement or sell unwanter/underperforming calves.

therunaround

definitely sounds like you have it well thought out. We built a bedded shed a few years ago and were very apprehensive about housing cows. we let them out to calve, feeding them hay and oats for a few weeks precalving as we have found that this "drys up" the cow and leads to a smaller, but still hardy, calf.

Like you, we favour the limousins too, despite the high level of "farmer fitness" required for running after them! The limousin cows do well oudoors over winter in fairness. Aberdeen angus an excellent choice too, and thats what the customer really does want if you are going to sell direct. Id leave the kerry cows in kerry but thats just a personal opinion

Would you consider calving outside the normal time ie summer calving to have angus to sell at 2 year old for a higher price- barbeque season??

Kale does need to be supplemented with silage and hay in fairness and this should be factored in. I wouldnt have enough practical experience of kale or your particular soil type to predict how well it would grow.

These are only things off the top of my head. You sound very well organised but there may be some food for thought above.

thewiseowl12

It is true that people prefer AA so its worth thinking about. I like Limousin, I had heard they were wild and in fairness the first limousin heifer we purchased was, but after having a calf she has settled right down and is now the quietest. In our experience Limousin are hardy adaptable clever animals that will do well in any terrain.

Currently we have them calf in spring, I don't see us changing this as it suits our lifestyles and theres a plentiful supply of good grass for the mother to provide good milk. We presently cut silage and we'd supplement their winter diets with that in future if feeding kale.

We're not in it to make a fortune, a few sideline shillings, all going well with experience garnered I'd look to scale up in future. I believe that the future is local produce with local purchasers. An abbatoir nearby and an agreement with a local butcher to chop your meat for you and thats all you need.