Livestock

Outwintering Systems For Cattle

SAC has, in conjunction with QMS and industry sponsors, demonstrated a number of outwintering systems suitable for suckler cows and store cattle at Bush Estate, Edinburgh. 

These GAEC compliant systems avoid the need to drive machinery to the field each day and move the feed to the stock on new ground each day behind an electric fence.  Savings are made on costs associated with straw, machinery, and daily feed costs. They include outwintering on:

• Kale, strip grazed and supplemented by straw bales
• Stubble turnips, strip grazed and supplemented by straw bales
• Deferred grazing, strip grazed in November and December

Easicare Sheep Systems

SAC has worked with a number of leading farmers in the development of sheep systems involving less labour input per ewe.  These systems allow each flockmaster to manage more ewes without compromising welfare and production.  A number of farmers have developed later lambing systems that rely on observation and rigorous selection rather than intervention at lambing.  Other Easicare principles can be adopted by those lambing conventionally in order to reduce labour.  SAC launched the Easicare initiative in conjunction with Rumenco in 2005.  This has involved a series of meetings on farms that have allowed farmers from all parts of the UK to pick up more information. 

Beef & Sheep Benchmarking

SAC specialists have developed several new benchmarking formats for cattle and sheep. The formats are designed to be easily filled in from farmers' records. In addition to providing figures comparing your enterprise to other farms SAC offer targets and advice for improving current performance.  These include:

• Suckler herd fertility and calving pattern
• Suckler herd age structure and reasons for culling
• Scanning to sale/retention benchmarking for sheep enterprises
• Losses at lambing
• Ewe to ram ratios