How a beef finishing unit overcame a hidden performance challenge

Over the past two generations, the Bryson family has farmed Town Head Farm in a multitude of ways.

Starting out with 50 dairy cows, the Ayrshire farm peaked to 120 head in the 1980s on a grazing-based system with a milk round. The dairy ceased production in 2010, when milk prices plummeted, coinciding with farm investments needed to continue production. From the 1970s through to the early 2020s, the Bryson family also grew tomatoes commercially, up until inflated costs during COVID-19 took them out of production. The farm now finishes around 300 store cattle a year and continues to rear 34,000 free-range laying hens every year.

Jim Bryson leads the charge on the cattle unit, working to an average daily liveweight gain of around 1.14 kg.

“We finish around 6 cattle a week, buying them at 100–120 kg and selling at 340 kg deadweight,” Jim said. “We get 90 percent of the cattle out of Lanark market and sell everything into AK Stoddart every week, so we still have the cash flow like we did when we had the milk cheque. We have a lot of Anguses, Limousines, Charolais, Salers, Simmentals. On average, they are on farm for 5 to 8 months.

“They are all fattened inside, and we are pretty self-sufficient on feeding. The chickens and cattle complement each other, and my brother and I help each other out. I get a lot of the muck out of the chicken houses to put on the 120 acres of wheat that is dedicated to producing feed for the cattle. We don’t need much fertiliser, which is a big saving. All we buy is a little soya just to keep protein levels depending on grass.

“Depending on circumstances, we put some of the cattle out on grass for a spell if they are a bit lighter, as it’s cheaper to grow them on grass. We still do three-cut silage like we did when we had the dairy; we try and get the best out of grass we can. The finishing ration is just straw, silage, wheat, and soya as needed. InTouch sorts it all out for us.”

Jim also discussed his farm’s recent performance challenge.

“For a while we didn’t know we had a problem,” he explained. “The cattle just started to slow up eating their ration. They were just not ‘doing’, taking too long to fatten. Matt McClymont from Alltech InTouch came in to take normal silage samples, and everything was as it should be. He put his thinking cap on and started to consider the risk of mycotoxins. We tested for it, and sure enough, they were present. We put Mycosorb (A+) in with the ration, and within one week the cattle were back to normal. We carried on feeding that for a few months until that block of silage was finished and the next block of silage had been tested alright.

“Matt keeps a close eye on what we’re doing, so he’ll pick up on anything I might have missed. If there are any issues, he likes to know about them or to find them out. Matt is always encouraging me to do more in the way of monitoring cattle better and going into finer detail with how we feed them,” Jim concluded.

Matt McClymont talks mycotoxin mitigation

“Mycotoxins are toxic compounds naturally produced by moulds that can grow on numerous feedstuffs, such as cereals, maize, grass. Mould growth can happen at any part of the feed production cycle – growth, harvest or storage – and is driven by weather conditions. Mycotoxins will tend to thrive in warm, damp and humid conditions,” Matt explained.

“The impact of mycotoxins can be lethal,” he added. “In ruminants, feed intake and nutrient absorption will be compromised. Often, the immune system and fertility are also impacted. Finally, microbial growth can be altered, leading to adverse effects on rumen function and digestive capabilities.”

“Alltech’s mycotoxin research facility, namely the Alltech 37+® lab, samples and tests various crops for over 50 varieties of mycotoxins. Most feedstuffs tested usually show more than one mycotoxin present. In recent sample data, 91.5% of feedstuffs had two or more mycotoxins present, with the average showing up 4.9 mycotoxins per sample,” Matt said. “Given this enormous risk that mycotoxins pose to production profitability, the threat simply cannot be ignored. Once the challenge of mycotoxins is known – which I must stress can change from field to field, clamp to clamp and year to year – we can establish a suitable mitigation plan.

“In the case of Jim, intakes were suppressed, and we tried various dietary tweaks to no avail. I took a silage sample as part of the Alltech 2023 European Harvest Analysis for mycotoxins, and it showed extremely high levels of penicillic acid. We got the Mycosorb A+ into the ration, and the cattle were back to normal, cleaning up their feed pretty much straightaway.”

If you notice any of the above symptoms in your herd, consult your vet or get in touch with the Alltech InTouch team to help identify and mitigate potential mycotoxin issues.