Beef systemisation has the potential to be a gamechanger on sheep and beef farms with the potential to double, or even treble, productivity and profitability.
Speaking on a Beef + Lamb New Zealand Central Otago Farming for Profit Systemising Beef webinar, farm consultant and beef specialist Bob Thomson described all-pasture beef systems as “the biggest opportunity we have in sheep and beef farming.”
Beef systems are run over a dedicated area of land, typically between five and 20 hectares. Electric fences are used to create cells, and Thomson used the example of 20 permanent cells which are divided into 80 cells for winter. On two-day shifts, this creates a 160-day winter rotation. The length of the rotation is directly related to winter pasture growth.
The challenge for running these systems in cold climates was the lack of pasture growth in winter, and the potential for adverse weather events (e.g. snow), therefore farmers needed to have a war-chest of feed as a backup to see them through.
This means that pasture covers at the start of winter should average 2,700-3,000kg DM/ha. This means pre-graze covers could be as high as 4,000kgDM/ha. High pasture covers will mean that pasture quality is low and consequently winter liveweight gains will also be low.
In Central Otago, winter starts on 1 May so planning to build pasture covers to meet this target should start in February. Thomson suggests deferring 20% of the area of the beef system to help build covers to hit the 1 May targets – or use supplementary feed in autumn to make up the difference.
Nitrogen can also be a useful tool to help build pasture covers in autumn.
“Pasture cover is king. Think about it as a pasture wedge, like hay in the barn, starting with up to 4,000kg DM/ha and grazing down to 1100kg DM/ha.”
Pasture covers are mined over winter and then rotations are sped up in early spring.
Thomson says to make these systems as profitable as possible, it important to carry as many animals as possible through winter to take advantage of spring growth.
He says because pasture covers are high going into winter, feed quality is relatively low, so only relatively small weight gains of 0-0.2kg/day could be expected with big bulls and 0.2-0.3kg/day for smaller bulls.
Rather than stocking rates, Thomson recommends farmers think about liveweight per hectare and this should be benchmarked to 1 May with associated pasture covers. In cold climates, with an annual pasture production of 8tDM/ha/year, 1 May stocking rate will likely be 800kgLW/ha. With higher annual pasture production, stocking rates will increase. For example, properties producing 10tDM/ha/year, the 1 May stocking rate will be likely be 1,000kgLW
“Stocking rate is based on annual pasture production and determined by the ability to build pasture covers going into winter.”