Boosting margins with Charolais genetics

Boosting Margins with Charolais Genetics - Ian Goldie
Switching to rearing bull beef and
integrating more Charolais genetics to
their cows is boosting margins at Ian and
Dorothy Goldie’s Solwayfirth herd. At the
couple’s two farms between Annan and
Dumfries near the Solway coast, they have
high stocking rates and put more emphasis
on the Charolais cattle they keep.
The two farms, Greenfield and Aiket, are
run as one holding and are half a mile
apart, totalling 280 acres with 35 acres
of winter barley, and 15 acres of spring
barley. Both are grown each year and all
straw and grain is used on the farms.
“The rest is down to grass and all
ploughable,” explains Ian. “Most is grazed,
with around 80 acres cut for silage with
two cuts taken, and the aim of getting
1400 tonnes in the clamp at a yield of
around 8 to 10 tonnes/acre.”
He believes forage quality is key, aiming
to get a lot of his animals’ growth from
quality forage rather than bought-in concentrates.
The commercial cows are the couple’s main enterprise, with
the Charolais starting off as a bit of a hobby but now they pay
their way, and he’s keen to point out that they don’t carry
any passengers. His family were among the first enthusiasts
to import the breed from France, with Ian taking over the
running of the Longbridgemuir herd from his father David on
leaving school.
Originally Limousin cross heifers were bought in with calves
at foot for a flying herd. But, because of fertility and high
replacement rates in these cattle, it was decided to start a
closed herd to improve the herds health status and phase out
the bought-in Limousin crosses.
Ian Goldie
The spring calving herd totals 140 head consisting of 15
pedigree Charolais, 35 homebred Charolais cross cows incalf to
the Shorthorn, 65 Limousin cross Saler crosses and Shorthorn
cross cows in calf to a Charolais and 25 heifers in calf to the
Saler. The best Charolais, Saler, and Shorthorn cross calves
from these cows are then kept as replacements, and join the
herd after calving at two years, again to a Saler. A further 15
pedigrees calve in the autumn along with 15 cross cows in calf
to the Charolais.
“I’ve become a big fan of using Charolais genetics in my herd,
not least because the Charolais is a commercial animal in big
demand within the trade,” says Ian. “Easy fleshing and weight
for age are both bonuses, as is the easy calving traits and the
ability to be right up to date with performance figures thanks
to genetics. All the pure-bred heifers are pelvic-scanned by
the farm’s vet to detect any potential problems, but to date
they have scanned consistently well.”
Ian’s come a long way since his entire herd
and 400-head flock of sheep were wiped
out with Foot and Mouth. The sheep
haven’t come back, so there’s more space
for the cattle. Although 20 texel/beltex
ewes are now kept for their daughters
Heather(13) and Grace(9). Rebuilding
the Charolais under the Solwayfirth prefix
has taken time, with purchases made
from Moyness in the north of Scotland to
Brampton and Bassett in North Yorkshire.
The purchase of Glenericht Magestic
from Allen Drysdale, Middle Drimmie,
Perthshire for 11500gns in October 2017
was a gamechanger for the Solwayfirth
herd, with one of his first sons, Solwayfirth
Oneal, selling for £10000 on Harrison and
Hetheringtons online sale in May 2020
with the four Majestic sons averaging
out at £5525. Another son, Solwayfirth
26
No bull works harder for the farmer, the plate and the planet

Peterpan, sold for the second
top price of 14000gns in
February 2021 and a further
two Majestic sons selling for
7000gns each in May 2021.
All the cows are housed from
around the end of October on
slats, and when they begin to
calve around the 15 of April,
they move outdoors to calve
to prevent the calves picking
up bugs which can build up
indoors. A cow catcher was
purchased several years ago,
and this has made calving
outside a lot easier - weather
permitting.
All cattle are fed a TMR diet, with the young bulls on a growing
ration fed 1.5kg/dlwg. The ration includes their home-grown
barley and a bought-in protein balancer. The in-calf cows are
fed silage and minerals but the ration includes up to 4kgs of
ground straw, depending on silage analysis, to prevent them
from putting on too much weight pre-calving.
“The Charolais are popular in the store ring and sell well,” he
says, and aims to sell his steer calves and heifers not retained
as herd replacements at 10-12 months old, weighing between
380 and 400kgs. “We’ve decided to try something different,
by rearing bulls, and so far, this is paying dividends. We
finished about 30 this summer and have now left all male
calves entire this year as we’ve found the margin is a lot
better. We’re getting an average of £1650/head for the bull
beef ranging between 14 and 15 months
of age at slaughter, and 380 to 420kgs
deadweight. This equates to about an
extra £500 a head for keeping them an
extra 16 weeks, although this is probably
the most expensive period to keep them.
We’re relying on a deadweight price of
around £4.20/kg to get a decent margin.
“Overall our aim is to breed easy-care,
commercially viable females, and to
move away from the dairy influence on
the suckler cows. We want docile cows,
ones that are a bit smaller but still have
good pelvic space, are good milkers, carry
flesh better and feed the calf well. The
Charolais genetics certainly play a big, and
ever-increasing, role in this.”
No bull works harder for the farmer, the plate and the planet 27