Financial
- 2023 profit monitor results
- Target output per LU of >350kg/LU for suckling system
- What are your variable costs at as percentage of your gross output? Target <50%
Michael Biggins January/February 2024
Financial
Michael & Niall have completed their 2023 profit monitor to analyse the farm’s financial performance, compare with previous years, and to benchmark against suckler farmers in the Future Beef group .Three main areas to analyse are;
- Output per livestock unit (LU) – The kilograms of beef produced for each LU on the farm. Every management practice on the farm affects this; health, mortality, performance at grass and housing, genetics, and in a suckling system the cow & bull fertility and calving spread. The figure for the farm is figure is 320kg/LU which is very similar to 2022. The target for a suckling system this is >350kg/LU.
- Stocking rate – The number of livestock units per hectare on the farm. The stocking rate was 2.13LU/ha up from 2.03 LU/ha in 2022. A higher stocking rate generally equates to a higher profit, but it is more important that each animal is performing well on the farm beforehand. The farm stocking rate will depend on the grass growth, land quality, labour availability and Nitrates Directive regulation
- Variable costs as a % of gross output – Target ~45% to ensure there is enough money in the pot left to pay the fixed costs and leave a positive net margin. Michael and Niall’s figure is slighter higher in 2023 at 37% compared to 32% in 2022. The 2023 figure is still an excellent one . Similar to most farms , the big 3 costs are meal, fertiliser and veterinary .
To reach the 350kgs/LU a focus will be an increasing the weanling performance on grass and possibly looking at using sexed semen on 20 cows meaning more can go to the terminal bull. This will increase output.
Performance
Calving started in the first week of February and it has been a very busy month. 71% of the herd calved in the month ie 42 cows. Last year in 2022, 32 calved in February. So far, there has been no issues .The weather has been the big issue trying to gets cows and calves to grass.
Photo 1: The calves are well bedded with sawdust
Grassland
Compared to February 2023, this one has been very challenging. With 42 cows calves getting to grass has been a struggle. Michael has no option to keep the calves well bedded until the weather improves. He is worried of a disease outbreak with this amount of cows and calves kept in .
In addition, the slurry tanks are almost full and it is impossible to get slurry applied even to the drier fields. He should be fine until the end of February- hopefully there will be an improvement.