UGS summer meeting on Bill Harpur's Portrush farm

Despite the variable weather UGS members and friends, including some on holiday, enjoyed an excellent visit to see this progressive beef farm where the main objectives are to:

- maintain output and reduce inputs

- operate a system for one person to manage

- maintain focus on individual animal health & performance

- maintain soil health

- increase use of white clover & mixed swards thereby reducing fertiliser usage

On arrival visitors enjoyed a cup of tea or coffee before being welcomed by Ulster Grassland Society President John Egerton who then introduced Bill Harpur to the assembled crowd

The farm extends to 170 acres with 155 acres down to grass and a further 15 acres of winter cereals grown annually. The farm is very exposed on the North Coast overlooking Skerries Islands and the Atlantic Ocean with soil type ranging from silty loam to sandy loam.

The main farming enterprise is a beef herd of 44 suckler cows with all progeny finished on the farm together with a calf to beef system finishing dairy-bred Aberdeen Angus calves. The very uniform herd of cows are mainly Limousin and Simmental crosses which are mated to Aberdeen Angus stock bulls. There are two bulls on the farm and these were selected on conformation with calving ease considered important for easier management.

Replacement heifers are purchased at the suckled calf sales as maiden heifers at eight to nine months of age with the final selection for breeding based on pelvic measurement ahead of going to the bull.

Bill also purchases 30 Aberdeen Angus calves for finishing each year with all calves (home-bred and purchased) finished on the farm for an Aberdeen Angus beef scheme - steers at 23 months and heifers at 21 months with age at slaughter reduced by 1 month in recent years due to the increased focus on animal health management.

Grazing management centres on a paddock grazing system with the use of electric fencing to subdivide larger areas. Good access to paddocks in the grazing block is considered important. Cows are normally turned out in mid April and grazed in two batches of 26 and 18 cows respectively.

Grass is measured weekly using a plate meter with paddocks normally grazed for 2-3 days on a 21 day grazing rotation and surplus grass baled for silage.

Target pre-grazing covers are 3,000-3,200kgs DM going down to 1,800-1,900kgs DM post grazing with paddocks pre-mowed up to the third rotation.

A two cut silage system is in operation with first cut (50 acres) taken in mid May followed by a second cut in mid July. Up to 100 bales can also be made annually from surplus grass on the grazing platform or later growth.

Silage ground normally gets 2,500 gallons of slurry in late February/early March. Last year the first cut silage had a Dry Matter 27%; Crude Protein 14%; D-value 71 and ME of 11.3MJ/Kg.

Soils are tested every two to three years with lime applied to fields as required. Soil pH is generally around 6.1 to 6.2 across the farm.

Fields are reseeded in the Autumn after three years in winter cereals with clover included in grass seed mixtures and old silage awards rejuvenated by stitching in clover where “soil pH and tilth” is considered more important than the machine used.

Bill also outlined his protocols on animal health with cattle wormed at 3, 5 & 13 weeks after turnout and routinely vaccinated for Blackleg and Botulism. Suckling calves are also wormed at the end of June and vaccinated in September against pneumonia.

Finishing cattle are housed on slats (rubber covered) from mid October and fed 40kg silage plus 2kg barley increasing to 3kg in the final six weeks before slaughter. Bill endeavours to keep cattle moving throughout their lives with no defined ‘store’ period.

Throughout the evening there was good discussion and plenty of questions from visitors helped of course by the hosts ability to forthrightly express his views which was greatly appreciated and enjoyed by those in attendance.

At the conclusion of the visit a vote of thanks to Bill Harpur was ably proposed by UGS President Elect Michael Graham before visitors enjoyed an excellent BBQ prepared by Simply Irresistible which allowed time for further discussion and the opportunity to reflect on an enjoyable and informative visit.