High starch maize great for beef

Maize is a vital feedstuff at Anthony and Nick Rees’ beef finishing unit, forming the basis of the rations fed all year round at Cawdor House Farm, Wiston, Pembrokeshire.

A cattle dealer all his life, Anthony buys thousands of cattle each year. While many go straight to the slaughterhouse from market, since his son Nick joined the business six years ago, an increasing number are bought home to achieve a little more finish.

Now between 1,800 and 2,000 cattle are ‘farmed’ each year, kept from a minimum of a few days to a maximum of three or four months. There are 600-800 cattle on the farm at any one time and these tend to be two-thirds Aberdeen-Angus and Herefords (destined for Waitrose via Dovecote Park) and the rest continental breeds.

The maximum finishing period is three to four months as both Dovecote Park and farm assurance rules require stock to be kept on the farm for 90 days, and Anthony and Nick do not believe it is profitable to keep stock (regardless of breed or age) for any longer than that.

There are no scales on the farm, as cattle are sold according to fat cover not weight.

Continental cattle (heifers, steers and cows) are sold as soon as they are finished, and the Hereford and Aberdeen-Angus heifers and steers kept for the full 90 days, pushed during that time if they require more finish or just ‘stored’ until the three months is up.

This means Nick spends time formulating different diets, ranging from ‘very potent’ to something that will not make finished cattle go over-fat. He views maize as essential in those rations, as a cost-effective feed to really get cattle going.

While his father has grown maize for many years, Nick started to get really interested in the crop a couple of years ago when their rep was unable to get hold of the variety usually grown on the farm (Nancis) and the variety grown in its place ‘virtually failed’.

Since then he has bought seed from more than one rep, trying different varieties in order to spread the risk. He and his father also decided to grow some maize under plastic last year, and are trying again this year before making a final judgement on whether it suits the farm.

The farm is a marginal area for maize growing, which is partly why Nick wants to try different varieties for himself, rather than just accepting what seed reps tell him will work.

“Nancis is very early so worked well here, as we get it wet at both ends of the year,” says Nick. “When we couldn’t get it we decided to try other varieties but we had to try the ones we fancied and not what reps told us to.

“Last year we started thinking and properly looking at it. We’re beef finishers so with maize we’re looking for starch - but we do need that bulk too.”

Last year 40ha (100 acres) of maize was made up of 20ha (50 acres) of Ixxes and 10 ha (25 acres) each of Justina (under plastic) and Acclaim.

Less than a hectare (two acres) of Artist was also trialled, although this did not give the quantity or size of cobs required.

Ixxes will not be grown again either, as the crop started to die back before the cobs were mature (possibly due to eyespot) and the cobs were not ripe even when harvest was delayed by two weeks. Nick attributes the Ixxes problem to eyespot, but is less worried about the disease than perhaps he once was, as the resulting silage analysed very well and fed far better than expected.

This led him to think eyespot affects bulk but does not reduce grain or starch content, which is what he needs for his cattle. Justina and Acclaim grew and analysed well so will both be grown again this year, Justina under plastic again. Anthony is more reserved about growing under plastic than Nick, saying: “We’ve grown good maize every year until the last year or two. We had been wanting to try plastic and we’ll do a bit more this year, but I don’t think we’ll do this much again.”

But Nick thinks the larger cobs, which they agree plastic provides, justify the extra cost as these drive the starch content of the silage. He also likes being able to plant the maize under plastic earlier, breaking up the workload in May when previously up to 40ha (100 acres) of maize was planted in less than a week.

Worried

This year 20ha (50 acres) will be put under plastic - 12ha (30 acres) of Justina, 7ha (18 acres) of Benicia and a small area of Aurelia.

Nick is very worried about the Benicia, as it was sold to him for its ability to offer starch and bulk but he thinks it may not mature early enough, even if planted in the farm’s best maize field. He is also slightly concerned that, because of the way the rotation of fields has worked out, only 35ha (85 acres) of maize will be grown this year.

Most of the 15ha (35 acres) not under plastic will be Acclaim, as it did so well last year, but will a tiny area of Kentaurus to compare.

“I am a bit worried, as 100 acres would be better,” he says. “But it’s not like we have 200 dairy cows that need feeding every day - we can always just kill more cattle. We’ve got the wholecrop, and can buy bread or something else in, so there are alternatives. But before anything we’d probably kill the cattle.”

As in most regions, planting is a little behind this year and Nick is anxious to get the maize under plastic in the ground. He and farm staff do all the cultivation work with planting, spraying and harvesting all done by contractors.

Maize usually follows grass and so this is sprayed off before a good dose of slurry and/or FMY is applied. The ground is then covered twice for cultivation with fertiliser applied in between; maize grown conventionally also gets fertiliser down the spout at drilling.

Seed rates are discussed with the rep and are often a little below average, to encourage lots of cobs over leafy material. For example, Acclaim was planted last year at 98,850 seeds per ha (40,000 per acre) instead of 113,600 per ha (42,000 per acre).

Spraying is all done pre-emergence, unless there is a particular problem post-em.

Last year, the maize under plastic was harvested in late September/early October, with conventional maize three weeks after that and the Ixxes two weeks later again. Nick says he is getting good at knowing when to tell the contractor to come, and benefits from the fact he has far fewer maize customers than silage.

“We’d rather get silage off in the rain when we’ve got good X Wquality grass than wait for some sunshine,” says Nick when asked about grass silage. “When you’re finishers you can’t have a gut filler, you need a pusher.”

Analysed

An additive is used on maize and grass silage, to prevent spoilage, and everything is analysed to help Nick formulate rations.

Spring wheat (12-16ha; 30-40 acres) is grown for wholecrop, to cover the gap between the end of one maize season and the start of the next.

Almost all the land is included in the rotation, bar a few fields which cannot be ploughed, as Nick and his father believe there is ‘nothing better than fresh grass seed’ and they rarely leave a ‘long-term’ ley longer than five years.

In addition to long-term leys, Italian ryegrass is grown behind maize in the years when weather permits. Three cuts of silage are taken before going back to maize 18 months later.

Maize land is left bare through winter when harvest is late, such as last year, which is one of the reasons why more plastic is being laid this year, as the grass would usually still be growing in April, making plastic unfeasible.

Contractors are used at lot because, in addition to the cattle dealership and farm, Anthony and Nick also run a collection centre for Pembrokeshire, bringing together large quantities of cattle to supply slaughterhouses when individual farmers have too few cattle to send their own lorry loads. This sees 400-600 cattle come to Cawdor House each week, with the Rees’ using their own stock to fill up loads.

“I’ve always been a cattle dealer but have to change with the times and so started the collection centre,” says Anthony. “For the last 10 years I’ve been of an agent than a dealer, and then Nick came home so we concentrated more on finishing stock too.”

Anthony is in market five days a week and spends the rest of his time (helped by his partner) running the collection centre and office. Nick is at market once a week and does some lorry driving when farmers cannot get cattle to the collection centre themselves. They employ one full-time member of staff and one casual worker, bringing in additional help when needed.

Therefore, the farm has to run with minimum labour input. Two new sheds, built up the road when Nick joined the business to allow more cattle to be bought in for finishing, were built with this in mind, taking one hour to feed and bed 350 cattle, compared to up to four hours for 300 cattle in older buildings at Cawdor House.

The new buildings are used for pushing cattle that need a lot more finish before sale. Heifers, particularly Hereford and Aberdeen-Angus, are kept at Cawdor House and animals that just need ‘storing’ for 90 days are kept a the third unit. Splitting cattle further, in terms of breed, sex, age, is impossible because of constraints on time.

Regret

The first of the two new building went up five years ago, offering loose housing for 150 head. The second, built three years ago at exactly the same size as the first, has cubicles for 196 head and made Anthony and Nick seriously regret putting loose housing in the first shed.

Nick says they rarely have an animal that won’t lie in the cubicles and automatic scrapers operating every two hours keep the cattle so clean bedding is no longer used on top of the mattresses and cattle are not clipped.

As well as saving time and money on straw and clipping, the cubicle shed can also house more cattle, meaning the first shed may well be converted in time, leaving only a small area of loose housing for bulls and lame animals.

Cattle are also kept cleaner, and savings made on feed, by designing the sheds to be (more or less) starling-proof. These birds are a big problem for the Rees’, forcing them to always keep clamp faces covered and switching from a protein blend to a cake, as the blend was too palatable for the starlings.

The cake is part of the finishing ration (see panel, right), which is based on grass and maize silage and fed out once a day from a mixer wagon. Cattle on a ‘storing’ ration are fed mostly grass silage but with a bit of maize and corn to ‘make it tasty’.

Cattle bought in spring and summer and previously ran outside are turned out to grazing on arrival at the farm (apart from when autumn is approaching) but anything used to being housed remains indoors. Bulls remain inside all year round and more are purchased through the summer months to keep the sheds full.

Supplementary feed at grass is a basic maize, corn and straw ration, although some cattle may be fed just cake. Storing cattle will be offered very little other than grass, as the focus all the time in on not getting cattle too fat.

“We can lose a lot of money selling over-fat cattle so we have to be careful,” says Nick.

“We sell on cover and cattle spending 90 days here. Everything goes between 260kg and 430kg deadweight but it’s always the fat we go by, not the weight.”

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