A CHANGE in ration has led to fewer foot problems and feed cost savings for Cumbrian beef farmer Thomas Toppin.

Mr Toppin, of Gale Hall Farm, Melmerby, near Penrith, used to feed his 400 head of finishing beef an intensive diet of rolled barley, distillers dried grains and straw but has changed to one based on byproducts – bread waste and biscuit meal – plus barley wholecrop.

Controlled release non-protein nitrogen has been added to balance the high starch content and guard against lameness.

“The high starch content in the diet was causing high levels of acid in the rumen and poor rumen function,” said Mr Toppin. “Lameness had risen to levels of 25 per cent per batch of cattle.”

Mr Toppin farms alongside his brother and father on the 1,150-acre farm. Its fells location gives Mr Toppin 500 acres for grazing – he has almost 1,000 sheep – and a limited amount of land for combinable crops, including 121 acres of barley and fodder beet for his livestock operation.

While about half of Mr Toppin’s barley was homegrown, buying in the remainder was becoming expensive.

He said: “With processors and supermarkets wanting bull beef at under 16 months I had been struggling to get them finished.

“They go to Dunbia and I aim to sell them at about 700kg. I have been looking for ways to fatten them quickly and efficiently and, with feed costs being what they are, I’m always looking for savings.

“The diet was costing about £2 a day due to the price of grain, and the quality could vary from load to load.”

After talking with his feed consultant, Helen Peart, from Penrith-based Jim Peet Agriculture, Mr Toppin decided to replace the bought-in barley with bread and biscuit byproducts and wholecrop his home-grown barley to increase the fibre content.

The new diet costs £1.40p/head per day.

The bulls now receive 12kg wholecrop barley; 3kg waste bread; 1.5kg biscuit meal; 75g minerals; 50g yeast; and 50g non-protein nitrogen (Optigen). Mr Toppin said: “Bread waste and biscuit meal, which I get from a factory in Yorkshire, can be bought at 65 per cent dry matter (DM) and 14ME for £120/tonne and the biscuit meal is 91 per cent DM at 14.5ME for £165/tonne.

“When you compare this to purchased feed barley at 10ME, this ‘waste’ feed represents excellent value and is good quality.

“The high DM of the biscuit meal also boosts ME content without adding too much bulk and, with its high oil content, adds a shine to their coats.”

The heifers have received a similar diet change. Starting on grass silage, at 18 months they move to a similar mix to the bulls but based on grass silage rather than wholecrop.

With lameness and severe foot problems, including foul, increasingly becoming a problem, Mr Toppin had already tried adding liquid urea mixed with molasses to the diet, without success.

Optigen, the non-protein nitrogen supplement now included in Mr Toppin’s diet, is a matrix of fat into which tiny crystals of urea are embedded.

Bob Kendal, Northern ruminant manager for Alltech, said: “This means that as the fat slowly degrades in the rumen, the crystals are released to give a constant supply of ammonia to feed the rumen bacteria.

“Because the non-protein nitrogen is concentrated, it creates space in the diet which can be filled by extra forage, helping to balance the high starch levels and reduce the acid loading in the rumen which can contribute towards foot problems.”

Mr Toppin added: “It also allowed me to use my wholecrop more efficiently and not use, or buy in, distillers grains, saving me about 13p/head/day or 30 per cent of feed costs when raising bull beef.”

Mr Toppin has seen a significant improvement in foot health following the diet change and inclusion of the non-protein nitrogen.

“Lameness has dropped to about five per cent per batch while growth rates are still on target – we aim for an average daily liveweight gain of 1.6kg per day for the bulls, 2kg for Simmental cross bulls and heifers achieving a daily liveweight gain of 1.3 kg.”

Gale Hall Farm beef

  • 400 finishing cattle (250 bulls and 150 heifers and steers).
  • 160-strong suckler herd – rearing replacements with a Limousin and Simmental bull and 130 to 140 head for the finishing herd. Best females are kept, the rest, along with the bulls are finished on farm.
  • Heifers and suckler bred bulls also bought at 15 to 18 months from local markets
  • Bulls finished at 700kg and sent to Dunbia before they reach 16 months (animals over 16 months are penalised by 30p/kg)
  • Suckler herd heifers and steers are finished at 600 kg, at about 20 to 24 months, and sent to Woodheads, local butchers or the live market, depending on price.
  • About 80 per cent of bulls are graded U and receive a 15p/kg deadweight premium over the rest which are graded as R. About 50 per cent of the heifers and steers also make the U grade.