PROFILE A J Lloyd
Weight and volume is more important to me than a premium.
limit the spread of any bugs. The majority of the cattle will then stay indoors, moving slowly from a growing ration to a fattening ration. They are slaughtered at 18 to 24 months at 380 to 430kg deadweight.
“
Home-produced and bought- in stores are fattened on the farm for Morrisons and local abattoir HG Blake Ltd.
Building up a business in beef
Judith Tooth meets beef farmer and baling contractor Andrew Lloyd (below).
W
hat do you give a boy for his 12th birthday? A new skateboard? Next
season’s football strip? The lat- est video game? Not for Andrew Lloyd. His present was hiding in a pen – the livestock kind – and took him completely by surprise. Two heifer calves were waiting for him, a gift from his father, Terry. “I think Dad bought them from
Bury market,” says Andrew. “He kept pigs – he still does, for BQP – but I guess he thought I’d like cat- tle. My mother kept some cattle. So I looked after the calves, bred from one, gradually built up num- bers, worked for other farmers … and now I’ve got 1150!” By 2003 Andrew had grown his beef business enough to buy a farm, a former Redwings Horse Sanctuary site between Norwich
and Aylsham, next door to his fa- ther’s pig unit.
He gradually took on more
land, some owned, some rented, and his beef suckler cows now stand at 250 Limousin cross- es. He takes their calves and as
many again of bought-in stores to slaughter, supplying them to Morrisons and local abattoir HG Blake Ltd.
“I usually buy herd replace- ments from up north where the cattle are hardier,” says Andrew. “I look out for dispersal sales
and have a buyer, Stephen Gra- hams, to select the best animals for me. I lost some grazing last year so took the opportunity to get rid of some of the older cows, but I expect to build numbers up again.”
Breeding policy The cows are put to Charolais and Limousin bulls and calve between April and June, indoors or out, depending on conditions. They then graze in groups on marsh- es either locally at Skeyton or fur- ther afield at Wroxham, Ludham and Beccles. Weaning takes place gradu- ally in groups of around 25 from the end of October to January to
“I buy in stores at 10 to 15 months of age, either from New- ark cattle market or privately from local producers, to fill what would otherwise be a gap in sales. I try to buy continentals to match the diet and the system here. I know there’s renewed interest in the more traditional breeds, but weight and volume is more impor- tant to me than a premium, and it’s what my system is set up for.” There is no grazing on the home farm, the land used in- stead to grow three forage crops every two years: rye whole crop, drilled in autumn and cut in ear- ly July, followed by ryegrass, cut the following May, and finally maize. Agrii is contracted to fer- tilise and spray the crops, and Ut- tings of Bungay look after forage harvesting of rye and maize.
Feed policy
“Silage is the key feed, and I build on that to make up the rations. I’d rather cut earlier than later to en- sure good quality. We’ve made 80 per cent of the grass silage now, but there are some later cuts in July on land in environmental schemes, so we stack the bales from each field separately. “We’ve been growing rye for about four years now, and I’m pleased with the way it performs on the light land here, the volume of crop produced and the quality of the silage we make from it. It’s quite dry, sweet-smelling, and the cattle really enjoy it.
“Then we buy in concentrates – mainly from Duffields and An- glia Farmers – to make up the rations. Everything is tested by a nutritionist and levels adjust- ed according to stage of growth.” A new Wareing cattle shed is going up to hold 300 cattle, match- ing the capacity of the existing building. The frame and roof are up, and groundworks are being done in-house.
Due for completion in October, it will have a higher roof for bet- >> JULY 2018 • ANGLIA FARMER 71
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