Start up beef farming advice

A2020

Member
Hi all,

Looking for some advice. I'm currently working full time off farm but looking into a slatted house to keep some finishing stores (store to beef). I'm in no way a well experienced livestock man but just keep six bullock out wintering on a plot. I've just completed the green cert as well and could make use of the young farmers TAMS grant in the next year or two (hopefully it is renewed in some way) to invest.

I'm basically looking for some advice/comments on a suitable set up/ system or any recommendations to expand on this idea? I don't have a lot of land available but probably around 15 acres of grazing ground at the most. I'm well aware of the current situation with beef farming and the challenges however it's either push and go for it or give up on the idea which I don't want to as I do have a passion for farming and it's the only real option i can make a go of. If i was building a shed it would have to be an efficient system that can be operated safely by one person.

Any other advice on keeping say 25 animals for finishing in terms of breeds? smaller breed but keep more? pedigree markets? land rental? Any advice would be incredibly welcome.

Many thanks.
 
Hi all,

Looking for some advice. I'm currently working full time off farm but looking into a slatted house to keep some finishing stores (store to beef). I'm in no way a well experienced livestock man but just keep six bullock out wintering on a plot. I've just completed the green cert as well and could make use of the young farmers TAMS grant in the next year or two (hopefully it is renewed in some way) to invest.

I'm basically looking for some advice/comments on a suitable set up/ system or any recommendations to expand on this idea? I don't have a lot of land available but probably around 15 acres of grazing ground at the most. I'm well aware of the current situation with beef farming and the challenges however it's either push and go for it or give up on the idea which I don't want to as I do have a passion for farming and it's the only real option i can make a go of. If i was building a shed it would have to be an efficient system that can be operated safely by one person.

Any other advice on keeping say 25 animals for finishing in terms of breeds? smaller breed but keep more? pedigree markets? land rental? Any advice would be incredibly welcome.

Many thanks.


beef farming will pay for nothing in my experience , not the building of a shed , not even reseeding

if you have enough disposable income however , its an enjoyable hobby , just dont expect it to wash its own face

would you consider the likes of Belted Galloway , in their homeland of Scotland , they are outwintered as far as i know , if the land is reasonably dry , that should not be a problem as they are small

if you are determined to build a shed however and want to go with more conventional breeds like limousin , charolais etc , you are talking a three link slatted shed at the smallest , not much change out of 25 k if you get someone to do it all and that would be very good value from my experience , i did one in the depths of the recession eight years ago and it cost me that , 14 ft 6 slats
 
We used to kill our own bulls here out of the suckler cows because of going down with tb and not being able to sell, we stayed at it for a few years and started buying in bulls too but have since left the system. This might be no use to you but I’ll explain what we used to do might be some help. We used to try finish the bulls at 13/14 months, mainly for management reasons here. As I said they were mainly out of our own cows but the ones we bought were bought around October and would have been born in March that year. Lmx and chx was all we would buy, the lmx always looked bigger than the chx but one thing I remember is the chx always finished out better even if they were smaller than the limos at the start. The mousy coloured ones that no-one seems to want in the marts were one of the best to kill. Once we bought in October they might be outside for 2 weeks and then straight into the shed. We used to just feed good quality silage and Ad lib high energy nuts, as far as I can remember and by the time January came they were eating very little silage and nearly all nuts, I’ll probably be talking to the father later he will remember exactly how much silage and I think he used to calculate it at 1 tonne of nuts per animal but again I have to confirm this, 8 bulls per bay and the rubber matts were very important as we didn’t have them the first year and suffered with lame animals. Plenty of ventilation also as our sheds aren’t really finishing sheds and I remember one year a hot May came and animals were going backwards like mad. I’ll confirm later on how much silage and nuts he calculated for each animal
 
There aren't to many getting into beef these days. However it is enjoyable and your not married to them unlike dairy cows. My advice would be go for the TAMS first if your determined to build as it'll soften the cost of the build and after that probably decide on what you would like to be looking at regarding breeds. There's no point in feeding middling yokes if thats not what you want as you won't find enjoyment in the job. Equally don't spend a fortune on the fancy bullock or you'll loose money and I can assure you that doesn't take much to achieve.
Now regarding land rental, forget it unless you can get land at sensible money.
After that it's up to you on what you want to be doing numbers wise in a few years as regards the size of shed your building. Don't go mad and spend a fortune on a shed that will hold X amount of cattle in 10 years. Build what you need in the near future and you can always extend in the future if you need to. Keep concrete areas to a minimium in the slatted area. Some sheds were built with a big concrete area behind the feeding area or the opposite side to the feeding area and these are only scutter traps and make cattle very dirty unless your prepared to get in every day and clean them.
I'll be honest and say it'll take a long time for beef to pay off any building work. The margins from it are small so just be aware of that before you start spending money. If like a lot of us you have a real passion for the farm then have at it and the best of luck in your new enterprise.
Any questions, feel free to ask.
 
beef farming will pay for nothing in my experience , not the building of a shed , not even reseeding

if you have enough disposable income however , its an enjoyable hobby , just dont expect it to wash its own face

would you consider the likes of Belted Galloway , in their homeland of Scotland , they are outwintered as far as i know , if the land is reasonably dry , that should not be a problem as they are small

if you are determined to build a shed however and want to go with more conventional breeds like limousin , charolais etc , you are talking a three link slatted shed at the smallest , not much change out of 25 k if you get someone to do it all and that would be very good value from my experience , i did one in the depths of the recession eight years ago and it cost me that , 14 ft 6 slats
Hi, thanks for replying. Yeah I'm sure I'll not be rolling in it that's for sure! Actually was considering belted galloways just as I could out-winter them in a patch and just had a general interest in them anyway. Regarding the shed I was thinking of around that size possibly but as I said this is only on the cards if it can be done through the TAMS scheme otherwise absolute non-runner
 
We used to kill our own bulls here out of the suckler cows because of going down with tb and not being able to sell, we stayed at it for a few years and started buying in bulls too but have since left the system. This might be no use to you but I’ll explain what we used to do might be some help. We used to try finish the bulls at 13/14 months, mainly for management reasons here. As I said they were mainly out of our own cows but the ones we bought were bought around October and would have been born in March that year. Lmx and chx was all we would buy, the lmx always looked bigger than the chx but one thing I remember is the chx always finished out better even if they were smaller than the limos at the start. The mousy coloured ones that no-one seems to want in the marts were one of the best to kill. Once we bought in October they might be outside for 2 weeks and then straight into the shed. We used to just feed good quality silage and Ad lib high energy nuts, as far as I can remember and by the time January came they were eating very little silage and nearly all nuts, I’ll probably be talking to the father later he will remember exactly how much silage and I think he used to calculate it at 1 tonne of nuts per animal but again I have to confirm this, 8 bulls per bay and the rubber matts were very important as we didn’t have them the first year and suffered with lame animals. Plenty of ventilation also as our sheds aren’t really finishing sheds and I remember one year a hot May came and animals were going backwards like mad. I’ll confirm later on how much silage and nuts he calculated for each animal
Masseyrk662. Thanks very much for that. Whatever about the bullock I'd probably not go down the bull route just for sheer lack of experience with them. Very interesting though on the chx. You mentioned that they were nearly on pure nuts by Jan, did you gradually decrease the silage amount over the winter? I've hear that the rubber matts are very common now for that reason yeah. If you can get the figures from your father that'd be great.
 
Hi all,

Looking for some advice. I'm currently working full time off farm but looking into a slatted house to keep some finishing stores (store to beef). I'm in no way a well experienced livestock man but just keep six bullock out wintering on a plot. I've just completed the green cert as well and could make use of the young farmers TAMS grant in the next year or two (hopefully it is renewed in some way) to invest.

I'm basically looking for some advice/comments on a suitable set up/ system or any recommendations to expand on this idea? I don't have a lot of land available but probably around 15 acres of grazing ground at the most. I'm well aware of the current situation with beef farming and the challenges however it's either push and go for it or give up on the idea which I don't want to as I do have a passion for farming and it's the only real option i can make a go of. If i was building a shed it would have to be an efficient system that can be operated safely by one person.

Any other advice on keeping say 25 animals for finishing in terms of breeds? smaller breed but keep more? pedigree markets? land rental? Any advice would be incredibly welcome.

Many thanks.

Instead of getting in at the finishing end, why don’t you buy lighter cattle in the earlier end of the year and sell them out after 7 months once you’ve got your stocking density for your payments (assuming you have some entitlements)

save building the shed and foddering

your return on investment out of the shed won’t be great tbh, not at all trying to run you down just looking at the figures surrounding your Grazing block
 
Hi, thanks for replying. Yeah I'm sure I'll not be rolling in it that's for sure! Actually was considering belted galloways just as I could out-winter them in a patch and just had a general interest in them anyway. Regarding the shed I was thinking of around that size possibly but as I said this is only on the cards if it can be done through the TAMS scheme otherwise absolute non-runner
Might have trouble rounding up belted galloway cattle in Ireland, I have never seen one in a mart.
 
Masseyrk662. Thanks very much for that. Whatever about the bullock I'd probably not go down the bull route just for sheer lack of experience with them. Very interesting though on the chx. You mentioned that they were nearly on pure nuts by Jan, did you gradually decrease the silage amount over the winter? I've hear that the rubber matts are very common now for that reason yeah. If you can get the figures from your father that'd be great.
I was chatting to him there since he said he would be feeding them ad lib for 100 days, high energy low protein but it was between 1 and 1.5 tonne per animal to feed them. He said every 12 to 15 bulls were only eating about a bale a week on top of the nuts, I think it was slightly more though.
Edit: one thing about the beef finishers is it’s nice handy work compared to sucklers and it’s nice to see the progress animals are making theres great satisfaction out of it. If the money was even slightly better I’d buy bulls myself
 
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There aren't to many getting into beef these days. However it is enjoyable and your not married to them unlike dairy cows. My advice would be go for the TAMS first if your determined to build as it'll soften the cost of the build and after that probably decide on what you would like to be looking at regarding breeds. There's no point in feeding middling yokes if thats not what you want as you won't find enjoyment in the job. Equally don't spend a fortune on the fancy bullock or you'll loose money and I can assure you that doesn't take much to achieve.
Now regarding land rental, forget it unless you can get land at sensible money.
After that it's up to you on what you want to be doing numbers wise in a few years as regards the size of shed your building. Don't go mad and spend a fortune on a shed that will hold X amount of cattle in 10 years. Build what you need in the near future and you can always extend in the future if you need to. Keep concrete areas to a minimium in the slatted area. Some sheds were built with a big concrete area behind the feeding area or the opposite side to the feeding area and these are only scutter traps and make cattle very dirty unless your prepared to get in every day and clean them.
I'll be honest and say it'll take a long time for beef to pay off any building work. The margins from it are small so just be aware of that before you start spending money. If like a lot of us you have a real passion for the farm then have at it and the best of luck in your new enterprise.
Any questions, feel free to ask.
Hi diesel power, thanks for the reply and advice. Yeah I agree with you on building for the near future however it is hard to think away from the fact that I'm doing it once with a grant and god knows what will happen in the future, might be no grants etc. available when i go to expand but not the best way to think I know! Regarding margins, I know they will be small certainly and I've no plans to leave my other work but if I can get a good efficient set up and it's enjoyable then I'm all for it.
 
Try to put in a big tank for the shed size if this is likely to be the one and only tank you build, you will get a lot of comfort with it.
 
Instead of getting in at the finishing end, why don’t you buy lighter cattle in the earlier end of the year and sell them out after 7 months once you’ve got your stocking density for your payments (assuming you have some entitlements)

save building the shed and foddering

your return on investment out of the shed won’t be great tbh, not at all trying to run you down just looking at the figures surrounding your Grazing block
Kieran97 thanks. That's definitely an option to think about there yeah. My plan is to go with something like that initially before any shed is built so will see how we go with that!
 
I was chatting to him there since he said he would be feeding them ad lib for 100 days, high energy low protein but it was between 1 and 1.5 tonne per animal to feed them. He said every 12 to 15 bulls were only eating about a bale a week on top of the nuts, I think it was slightly more though.
Edit: one thing about the beef finishers is it’s nice handy work compared to sucklers and it’s nice to see the progress animals are making theres great satisfaction out of it. If the money was even slightly better I’d buy bulls myself
Thanks for checking that there. That's a fair bit of meal though. Yeah I completely agree on the finishers though and certainly its the side of things were I have a bit of experience in!
 
Before you go too far with the idea, have a careful read of the TAMS specs, you may not have enough stock to qualify as I think there may be something in that too.

Sorry for being a killjoy but no harm to check.
 
Before you go too far with the idea, have a careful read of the TAMS specs, you may not have enough stock to qualify as I think there may be something in that too.

Sorry for being a killjoy but no harm to check.
Thanks, definitely something I'd need to check there!
 
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