A focus on grazing management has helped one Carmarthenshire beef farmer reduce his workload and inputs, while improving cattle growth rates.

Aled Evans, farm manager at Rest Farm in Whitland, was involved in an innovative grazing management project run by Oxford-based research body FAI Farms and McDonald’s UK and Ireland.

The three-year Better Grazing project looked at the benefits of improving grassland and grazing management on four beef farms across England and Wales.

Each farm worked with a grazing consultant to introduce new practices in grassland management – such as rotational grazing – and systems were simplified so that fewer groups of cattle were grazed, meaning more paddocks and fields were available to use.

At Rest Farm, the changes made due to the farm’s involvement in the project have resulted in a reduction in input costs, workload and carbon footprint, alongside an improvement in cattle growth rates.

The farm finishes 240 cattle a year and Mr Evans has changed from a five-day grazing period with four groups of cattle at the start of the project, to two groups of cattle moving to a new block of grazing every 24 hours.

This has resulted in the grazing period being extended by 71 days, and the winter housing period reducing by 40% to 100 days.

“Over the three years of the project there’s been a big shift to feeling more in control,” says Mr Evans.

“I’m more aware of optimal stocking rates, so I’m no longer focused on output per hectare. We’re also using nitrogen fertiliser as an optional input now, and only use it if needed and if economically justified, rather than applying it routinely.”

Although the focus on grazing required a £9,000 investment in installing mains-fed electric fencing and improved water infrastructure, Mr Evans says savings have been made in labour, feed and fertiliser costs.

The farm’s artificial nitrogen fertiliser applications fell by 90% from 12.9 tonnes in 2018 to 0.75 tonnes in 2021, and the amount of purchased feed required by the farm was cut in half to 60 tonnes.

This resulted in combined annual savings of just over £28,000 – based on a £9,720 saving on nitrogen fertiliser costs at a price of £800 a tonne, and an £18,600 saving on purchased cereals costs based on a price of £300 a tonne.

Meanwhile, cattle growth rates improved and average daily liveweight gain increased from 0.84kg to 0.9kg.

Total emissions from the farm reduced by 13% between 2018 and 2021 to 831 tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year – this was attributed to maintaining similar levels of outputs, while reducing purchased inputs.

“We’ve managed to reduce our need for expensive purchased inputs, while providing ourselves with a better quality of life,” says Mr Evans.

“Our working week has reduced from 77 hours to 50 hours, even with having more stock during the course of the project. The mindset shift and upskilling required to make these changes has been a worthy challenge.”

Overall project success

All four farms involved in the Better Grazing project reported a reduction in inputs, alongside an increase in output.

FAI Farms operations director, Karl Williams, said project results show a decrease in purchased feed use on the four farms of between 28% and 100%, a decrease in the use of synthetic fertilisers of between 47% and 69%, and an increase in daily liveweight gains of up to 43%.

“Whether it’s the economic benefits through reduced reliance on inputs or increases in production, or the environmental benefits of using fewer artificial fertilisers, the results of the project show optimising grass growth and utilisation could have major impacts on the industry,” he says.