Charolais lays 'golden eggs' at East Lediken

Such have been the improved profit margins of the Charolais calves out of Salers cross cows on this 1600-acre mixed beef, sheep and arable unit, that herd numbers have been increased from 240 cows last year to 300 for 2017, with plans for further expansion.

There are also plans to construct a new cattle court with an outdoor corral and a new weighing system for the store cattle which will enable them to identify the most efficient females to breed from.

Instead of selecting future breeding females just by eye, the new system will enable selection of the best breeding females from more accurate liveweight gain and feed efficiency data of their offspring.

“There is a lot of expense involved in breeding cattle, but they have always been our bread-and-butter, so our goal is to get to 400 cows by keeping more home-bred replacements,” said Murdoch Duncan, who farms with his parents, Bill and Isobel, with assistance from full time employees, Bruce Omand and Matthew Ralph.

What is perhaps most impressive, is the fact that the family has been able to increase herd numbers significantly with limited reliance on EU payments. The unit was home to just 70 cows in the SFP reference years of 2001-02 and had a quota for 50.

“We’ve always relied upon a simple system based on the breeds with maximum growth rates and the cattle being outside as much as possible to reduce the risk of disease.

“A lot of people said no one would want the Charolais cattle last year, with reduced carcase weights required by the abattoirs, but nothing could be further from the truth. The future of the breed is better now than it’s ever been,” said Murdoch, who added that by using them over the right females and fed correctly, the system is producing more profit than ever.

“We used to sell our calves as forward stores for good money at 16 months of age, for the finishers to take them on to 22 months plus. But we are now selling the calves at just over a year old and they’re averaging in excess of £1100 through Aberdeen and Northern Marts at Thainstone and United Auctions, at Huntly,” said Murdoch.

“Our first lot of 40 Charolais cross stots sold in February last year averaged 485kg and sold for an average of £1180, with the best in that group, a 10.5-month-old stot out of a Salers cow, weighing in at 576kg and selling for £1240 with a liveweight gain of over 2 kg/day.”

The Duncans’ first batch of calves sold this year, just last week, proved a star attraction at Thainstone, too, when a selection of stots and heifers averaged 512kg and realised £1121.81. The best pen of calves, which scaled 542kg at 11 months of age, made £1165.

“We are trying to supply finishers with good quality store cattle with the size, shape and carcase, at a younger age and the Charolais can do that as they have the highest liveweight gains and levels of feed efficiency.

“With the right diet, they can be finished at 16-18 months of age with reduced carcase weights instead of the more traditional 22months,” commented Murdoch.

Bill, who was brought up finishing Charolais cross cattle, added: “We have always relied on the Charolais purely for the extra weight they put into the calves and Salers cows and Salers cross cows are the females for them as they have the size and the frame to produce big calves without any calving problems.

“Calves out of the Salers are quicker to get up and suckle and the cows themselves are quick to come back to the bull so herd fertility has improved – last year we only had four yeld cows!

The other good thing about this big red French breed is that crossed to the Charolais, it produces golden champagne coloured calves which are highly sought after, Bill said.

While the initial herd at East Lediken was based on red Irish cows crossed to an Aberdeen-Angus as heifers and then to the Charolais, the addition of a Corskie Simmental bull in 2006, purchased from the Greens, enabled the business to keep replacement females to build up numbers further.

It was, though, the purchase of a Salers bull from the late Willie Davidson his wife, Jennifer and son, Alisdair in 2008, and the resultant progeny born, that gave the Duncans a real insight into this easy calving maternal breed. That, in turn, led to them buy regular batches of bulling heifers at society sales at Castle Douglas.

Over the years, the family bought from the McClymonts at Cuil; Andrew McConchie, Mains of Penninghame; the Davidsons, Poldean; and Neil Austin, Rusko.

At present, the 300 cow herd comprises 200 Salers and Salers cross cows with the remainder made up of Simmental and Limousin crosses, with aim being to build up numbers further by retaining Salers cross females. Heifers calve at two years to a Salers bull and are bulled again to the Salers for their second, with the Charolais being used thereafter.

The feed rations have been altered significantly to enable the calves to reach 450-550kg before they are sold, but with the business growing 600 acres of cereals, this is cheaper than having to buy in feeding.

Calving starts mid-February through until May, in straw-bedded cattle courts with outdoor corrals. Cows and calves are turned out to grass where they also have access to silage and ammonia treated straw until the summer, with treated straw available all summer.

“It’s a great feed as the bales don’t degrade the same as silage and that means the cows will eat it as and when they need it,” commented Murdoch.

A creep feed is introduced to calves in August, comprising a starter pellet to introduce their stomachs to concentrate, which a month later, is mixed with Harbro’s Mintlaw 20, a 20% blend, for a further month.

It is at this stage that the calves are introduced to Maxammon-treated barley, with the percentage of barley in the ration being slowly increased until four weeks before they are weaned. Then they come on to a winter diet of Maxammon barley and balancer pellets, plus treated straw.

“We find this feeding system is less stressful on the cows and the calves,” said Murdoch. “The cows are housed in better condition and the calves suffer less stress at weaning as they have already been introduced to their winter feed ration.”

Calves are weaned into straw-bedded cattle courts with corrals in November and given Dectomax pour on wormer.

Home-grown barley, treated with Maxammon, continues to be fed for the remainder of the winter. This product basically turns barley into a safer feed by raising its pH, thereby reducing the risk of acidosis. It also raises protein levels and removes the need to add more expensive concentrates. East Lediken’s Maxammon barley-based calf mix is 17.5% protein, which is fed alongside ammonia-treated straw.

“We have found the Maxammon barley simple to use as we treat whole, dry grain (dried down to 16.5% moisture for ease of storage) through our mixer wagon adding 150 litres of water to five tonnes of barley with the Maxammon and cover for two weeks.

“This softens the grain, which we then bruise allowing the grain to crack rather than being smashed which produces a better feed for the calves to digest.

“Once bruised, we mix it with the balancer pellets and molasses with guidance from Harbro nutritionist, Willie Thomson,” said Murdoch. He pointed out that growth rates from housing in November had improved from an impressive 1.6kg per day right up to some calves exceeding 2kg per day.

Ad-lib ammonia treated straw is also fed to the cows when they come inside to straw-bedded cattle courts and corrals, which has not only reduced only feed costs, compared to the previous mixture of silage and straw mixed in a feed wagon, but also reduced bullying and the labour required to feed the cows.

Silage is only introduced after calving. Harbro’s super suckler mineral, rock salt and Energyze Easy Calver buckets are available on the run-up to calving.

Calving difficulties have been reduced with the introduction of more Salers blood in the herd too, with the majority of Charolais bulls – most of which have been purchased from Esmor Evans’ Maerdy herd at the Stirling bull sales and to a top of 9500gns.

“We look for a good sized bulls with plenty of length and size,” said Bill.

The introduction of 360° cameras with night vision has minimised labour at calving time too as the need to repeatedly get up during the night to check cows has been significantly reduced.

Instead of getting up and going outside to check cows, which often disturbs them, the family can now view the herd within five minutes on the cameras in the house.

The real plus of the outdoor feed corrals, though, is the amount of bedding saved and the fact that disease is minimal and no need for routine vaccinations for pneumonia in cows or calves prior to weaning. Calf scours are kept in check too.

With an ever expanding cow herd, a 300-ewe commercial flock, and Isobel’s pride and joy, her flock of Knowehead Border Leicesters and 600 acres of cereals to attend to, modern technology is proving key to maximising production when the labour is restricted.

It helps when combining an easy calving breed such as the Saler and the weight gain of the Charolais, pointed out stockman Bruce: “There’s no denying it – the Charolais does the best job. I was always an Angus man until I came here but the Charolais certainly does the business. They’re quieter to work with and, out of the Salers, they’ve got the get up and go too.”