Winchmore To Have Loafing Barn For Calves

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31077, 4 June 1966, Page 10

Winchmore To Have Loafing Barn For Calves

The Winchmore irrigation research station is planning to look further into the use of a loafing barn to help winter calves with the aim of raising over-all beef production to make it more competitive with lamb production.

An open-fronted lean-to type barn modelled on that of Mr D. Grigg’s at Rotherham in North Canterbury, which was described on these pages last year, is to be erected on the station. It is hoped that it will be completed and ready for use late this month.

The aim will be to feed hay and also a protein or nitrogenous supplement with the hay in the barn, with the cattle being fed swedes or autumn saved pasture outdoors. It is hoped that after this sort of wintering it may be possible to run up to two beasts to the acre outdoors and to raise over-aIT beef production to about 4501 b to the acre, which would make it extremely competitive with lamb.

Discussing the reasons for this further investigation last week, Mr S. D. Walker, a scientist at the station, said in the first place it seemed that beef was likely to be a more favoured product on the markets of the world than lamb. Earlier work at the station showed that if calves could be wintered successfully, beef cattle could be used to raise meat output per acre. Running all sheep for lamb production it had been shown that the level of meat output per acre was about 2401 b. In the case of beef cattle alone using calves bought in and marketed at about 20 months the level of beef production was about 260 to 2701 b to the acre. Where there was a combination of the two with 50 per cent meat and 50 per cent beef the output went up to close to 3001b.| However snags with the use of beef cattle were the higher prices recently ruling for calves and also that the price per lb for top grade beef had never exceeded, let alone equalled, that for lamb. There was also a bonus of wool with sheep of about 701 b to the acre with sheep alone and 401 b with sheep and cattle combined. So from the straight profitability point of view sheep were preferable. This situation might not, however, persist for ever and there was the possibility

that beef cattle might be added to the stock on a property without the need for additional labour units, because most people felt that the labour demand for cattle came at a different time to that with sheep. The problem with beef production at Winchmore had been with wintering of calves. The system that worked so veiy well with ewes using rationed autumn saved pasture and about a bale and a half of meadow hay per ewe per winter had not always been so successful with calves. They were able to close large areas of autumn saved pasture but they did not seem to be able to produce sufficient feed

of tile right quality every house. Last year’s results year for the calves. At stock- had seemed to indicate that ing rates of up to 1.2 beasts feeding on a loafing barn systo the acre this meant that tem in the winter was no they were understocked in worse than feeding indoors the summer but overstocked when viewed in the light of in the winter. results over the whole of the

At Winchmore they had looked at the question of using swedes to winter the calves on and this was quite successful, but as well as the ground being out of production for a year except for the swedes, it introduced a problem of having to re-establish pasture. Establishment of new pasture after a heavily stocked irrigation pasture had not been as successful as they had hoped. Although ultimately a very good pasture developed, in its first year production was not as good as it could be. As a result of this they had started some indoor feeding in an open-fronted shed that had been a pig fattening

winter, spring and summer fattening periods. Feeding on fair to good meadow hay alone over the winter also gave quite satisfactory results in terms of the over-all fattening results for the three seasons. Also the feeding of some green material in the form of grass or oats plus meadow hay gave over-all results as good as where the calves were wintered bn barley grain. The factor that brought about this result was the compensatory growth that occurred when these cattle went outside again. Cattle fed indoors last winter on greenfeed totalling two and a half tons of oats and grass per head and 25) bales

of hay put on 1551 b in 113 days; where a poor pen of cattie was excluded from this treatment the gain for 113 days was 1801 b; where the cattle got 36 bales of fair to good meadow hay alone the gain over the period was 1401 b; on 23 bales of hay and 7241 b of barley and 611 b of linseed the gain was 2001 b; and where six animals were run on three-quarters of an acre with access to the loafing barn and were fed 26) bales of hay and 8141 b of barley and 741 b of linseed they gained an average of 2601 b. But after these cattle had been run outside for another 133 days after wintering those on greenfeed had made a combined gain of 4201 b; excluding the poor pen again those on greenfeed had gained 4651 b; those on hay alone 4001 b; those on hay and cereal 4101 b; and those that had been on hay and cereal and running

on three quarters of an acre gained altogether 4651 b. In the loafing barn, which they had hoped might already be up, they proposed to feed hay inside and to feed the cattle outside on autumn saved pasture or swedes. As well as hay the cattle feeding in the loafing barn would receive a nitrogenous supplement of urea or a protein supplement of linseed—these would be fed in conjunction with the hay. After wintering these cattle would be split up and run at a light stocking rate of one to 1.2 beasts to the acre and at a heavier rate of about two to the acre. The thought behind this was that with a limited amount of supplementary feeding the cattle could be wintered well enough to go on to a heavy stocking rate thereafter, and by so doing the output of meat per acre could be stepped up considerably—to about 4501 b to the acre, which could make beef extremely competitive with lamb. Mr Walker said that the open-fronted type loafing barn they were having built would have a loft above for the hay and the feeding rack or trough would be against the back of the shed. The cattle would stand on a concrete floor. The animals being wintered on this system—there would be 32—would be compared with similar cattle on a run-off outside. For these investigations Aberdeen Angus calves had been bought in the autumn—calves of this breed were being used because it seemed that there was a better chance of getting even lines.