Extensive farming in Yorkshire case study
Highland Cattle are one of the most recognisable breeds for extensive farming systems, especially if you have access to hills and moors over which they can range. Their hardiness and ability to be outstanding converters of poor grazing means that they can be out-wintered in harsh conditions, leaving farm buildings free for further enterprises.
Ex-dairy farmer, Robert Phillip demonstrates this at his farm at Hellifield, near Skipton in Yorkshire. The farm has 150 acres of pasture which is used for forage crops and Robert also has access to 850 acres of limestone hill land under environment schemes.
Various enterprises on the farm consist of:
85 Highland suckler cows
Around 150 bought in Highland steers
Contract rearing of dairy calves
Farm shop
Suckler cows and calves
The suckler cows are wintered away on high hill land and will only cost the price of one molasses bucket apiece per winter. Only if the weather is very bad will they receive silage.
All cows come home to Hellifield to start calving in February and stay there for most of the summer. Heifers are calved at four years old. Robert says, “That’s the traditional way and these females last so long you can afford to do that, but some breeders with well-grown show heifers would calve-down at three years old.”
As a consequence of the breed’s demand as a tool in conservation grazing schemes, batches of heifers and steers go away for summering on to conservation ground in May and, when they come back, the landowner is sent a bill or the grazing is free. They will thrive on poor hill grazing in Yorkshire, East Lancashire and Cumbria, where other breeds would struggle and they won’t get any supplementary feeding.
Calves are weaned in September or October after a month of receiving creep. They are housed for two weeks while the cows are returned to areas of hill grazing at 1,200ft for the winter. The weaned calves are then turned out and rehoused again before Christmas – primarily to save the ground – and fed silage and a little barley.
Finishing
Finishing cattle are summered at grass and, depending on the weather, don’t receive any supplementary feed until late August or September. About 150 bullocks are bought-in each year, at all different ages, for finishing to supply Dovecote Park and Waitrose for the Christmas trade. All steers are dehorned.
The cattle sold to Waitrose have to be under 40 months. Beef retailed from the farm tends to be from cattle aged over 30 months. The bigger bullocks will have a 300kg carcass (deadweight) and, while it takes longer to get there, these cattle cost very little to produce.
“With cows lasting up to 15 years and a female herd replacement rate at little over 2%, these Highland cattle are the epitome of low-cost beef production.”
The finishing bullocks are housed in winter and fed ad lib clamp silage and a barley/beef nut mix. All the silage is home grown. Their average carcass deadweight weight is 216 kg fetching an average price £ 3.90/kg or £846/head. 20 to 25 animals a year are killed for the shop at home. These average considerably more.
