Black Baldies do the business at Drumdow

That is the overwhelming viewpoint of former Agriscot beef farmer of the year, Robert Parker, Drumdow, who believes producers have to rely more on easier fleshed cattle and grass-fed systems if they are to survive Brexit, instead of the often costly cereal-fed, bigger continental breeds.

You only have to take a look at his 200-cow grass-fed Black Baldie suckler cow herd to see the fruits of his labour – or should that be lack of – as the herd regularly produces a 92-95% sellable calf crop from the numbers bulled. Every year, some 160 calves are cashed at a year old, with 30 heifers retained as replacements. Barren rates are consistently less than 5%.

Wintered and calved outside on silage only, heifers calve at two years of age, with the entire herd calving within a nine-week period with few if any problems.

"Cows need to be easycare and so do sheep if you want to make money from them. The more people expand, the more they need to cut their costs of production and look to easycare systems because there is not the labour to do the work," said Robert, who farms 570acres in partnership with his wife Eileen, at Drumdow just outside Stranraer.

"We've been calving outside for eight weeks now and I've only pulled 11 calves out of 185 cows that have calved to date and most of them were breaches. We've haven't had a vet to calve a cow for years now," he said, adding that he rarely has a dead calf from his Black Baldies – Aberdeen-Angus and Hereford cross cows which are criss-crossed back and forth to Hereford and Angus bulls, respectively.

This compares to the previous beef system in this rich grass growing area, whereby Limousin cross heifers were bought in and bulled to a Charolais, which although produced some top end calves many of which attracted lead prices as stores, were a lot more costly to produce and often resulted in fertility issues the following year amongst the cows.

Furthermore, such calves were born over a longer period of time producing an uneven batch of calves. Input costs, particularly feed and vet bills, were significantly higher too. There was also the added worry of bringing in disease when buying in heifers which ultimately led to a complete turnaround at Drumdow and the switch to focussing more on maternal breeds and retaining home-bred replacements for a disease free, closed herd.

Intrigued by the Black Baldie having seen such heifers grazing his neighbour, John Douglas' Mains of Airies' fields Robert initially bought a few heifers from the Ervie herd in 2001, but it wasn't until he was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship in 2006, to study beef production from the native breeds and, seeing at first hand just how well such cows perform in the poor grassland areas of Argentina, that he was persuaded to make the complete change over.

And, now a good 10 years later, he is convinced concentrating on maternal, grass-fed beef is the way forward.

"Twenty years ago, our calving percentage sold from the Limousin cross cow herd was 82% from a 12-13-week calving period with the Charolais cross calves going on to average 385kg at a year old, but, two years ago our Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cross calves sold at the same age averaged 410kg. We didn't top the sales with any of the native-bred calves but they were born within a nine-week period and with a 95% calving record – that's an extra six tonnes of beef sold from the same number of beef cows," said Robert who is also chairman for the Scottish branch of the Nuffield Scholarship Association.

It's only the bullock calves that are cashed through the market, which in recent years have averaged in excess of £950, with the heifers either retained or sold for significantly more privately, for breeding.

"Black Baldie bullock calves are really a by product of the cross, it's the heifers that attract the premiums. Black Baldie females make tremendous, quiet maternal cows which have a good tight udder and produce enough milk but not too much and the calves are a delight to work with."

And, by relying on the Aberdeen Angus and Hereford breeds for his Black Baldie cows, not only is the business able to benefit from the ease of fleshing characteristics, but also hybrid vigour resulting in improved growth and fertility.

"You need two beef breeds that compliment each other and are of a similar size. You don't want cows that are too extreme if you're outwintering."

In contrast to previous years when Robert would buy some fairly costly Charolais bulls at Stirling, all stock bulls are now bought on farm privately, which is proving particularly beneficial.

"I haven't been to a show or a sale of bulls for years. Instead, I look to buy outwintered, unfed bulls from reliable breeders who have the same outlook on farming as I do. I need bulls that work and will last for a good number of years. I also want to breed from bulls that are good female breeders and are not too extreme, therefore I buy on figures, particularly for calving and milk," he said.

It's a big ask, but it is paying dividends, with Aberdeen Angus bulls purchased from Andrew Elliot, Blackhaugh and Donald Biggar, Chapelton, while Hereford bulls are acquired just along the road from John Douglas' Ervie herd. All will last into double figures, but then, so too do the Drumdow Black Baldie females.

Robert also believes in pushing the boundaries with both his cattle and sheep enterprises with the result that heifers are put to the bull at 400-450kg to calve at 500-550kg.

In saying that, he stressed that the market no longer wants big cattle, with the processors having reduced their weight specifications which are unlikely to be reversed.

All cows and in-calf heifers are outwintered and calved on rough/stoney hill-type ground from the beginning of April onwards with creep feeding introduced to the calves at the end of July. Calves are weaned at 300-320kg into the shed in December when they introduced to a home mix comprising 2kg of home-grown barley, silage and minerals with the bullock calves sold the following March/April through United Auctions, Stirling. Heifers are usually sold a month later.

This compares to the adult herd which is outwintered on silage only, however, the various herd types are separated and fed differently. Black, white headed cows are fed a maintenance minus ration post weaning, while the brown, white headed females are fed for maintenance only. The pure black, Black Baldies are the hardest cattle and are fed a maintenance plus ration after weaning.

"The black and white headed Black Baldies are definitely the easier kept and fleshed cattle, even though they are made up of the exact same genetics but then they are usually bred from a Hereford bull."

Regardless of the colour, there is no doubting this simple, grass-fed cow herd is coming up with the goods at Drumdow, but then continental cattle were never the best converters of grass and very much reliant on expensive cereal feeds.

The big question is how long will it take producers to realise that the biggest, shapiest cows and calves that so often produce the highest prices through the market are not always the most profitable? A smaller commercial cow that breeds a slightly smaller calf year in year out, with minimum stress off grass, leaves far more money at the end of the day.

In saying that, it has taken almost 20 years for Robert to produce is his ideal, disease-free, closed cow herd

"The secret to herd or flock improvement is consistently getting rid of the bottom end. I've been culling hard on anything that's required additional contact – calving, temperament, big teats, barren – for years with the result being that I only look the cows four times a day during calving. The calves all go on and do well now too, with all our steers, to include the late born and the poor doers last year averaging 400kg when sold through United Auctions, Stirling, while our heifers averaged 420-450kg a month later," concluded Robert.

* Applications for this year's Nuffield Scholarships close on July 31, with the association's two-day conference taking place in Glasgow on November 22 and 23.

There is no doubting the switch to an easier calving, easier fed cow breed has paid dividends at Drumdow, and the same holds true for the farm's 250-ewe Easycare sheep flock which produce a 140% saleable lamb crop off grass.

"The sheep are awful to look at but I can live with that when they make money," said Robert. "We don't feed the ewes any concentrates before lambing, all they get is good quality silage and blocks for energy – this year we went through half a tonne of blocks."

All ewes and hoggs are lambed outside from mid April onwards and all the lambs with the exception of ewe lambs retained for replacements, are sold off grass by the end of December to produce U and R grades.

Add to that the fact the sheep shed their own wool, there are no shearing costs and no problems with dirty tails or maggots, and input costs for the lambs are limited, and it's easy to understand the appeal of the breed in comparison to the Mule which Robert previously relied upon.

In those days, Robert ran a 500-ewe Mule flock that produced sellable lambing percentages of 185%. However, while the Mules produced a bigger lamb crop, input costs were significantly higher as the business often had to fork out for 30tonne of ewe rolls, and with all lambed inside, additional labour also had to be brought in.