Herd
Beckhithe have a suckler herd of approximately 1200 cows, mostly Black Limousin which are bred with pedigree Aberdeen Angus bulls, providing easier calving, quiet temperament and quality of beef for which the breed is renowned.
The cows are grouped into batches of 45 and are turned out
from 1st April. The cows calve from late April to September. This aligns with nature and grass growth, and as a result calf losses are minimised.
Breeding
The farm's 37 Angus Bulls are introduced on the 15th July. Herd fertility is monitored very closely and Beckhithe have introduced a breeding programme which utilises their best heifers as breeding heifer replacements.
Heifers and the 200 best cows are artificially inseminated by the farm staff using easy calving Aberdeen-Angus bulls from the Genus range including Australian national champion, Dylemma Radar, and two highly rated US sires, Rockin D Ambush and Triple Band.
Cows and retained heifers are scanned by Beckhithe's own staff. Conception rates are high 87% for bulls and 65% for artificial insemination.
Calves are weaned at 5 to 6 months. Prior to weaning calves are creep fed to develop the rumen, and vaccinated for pneumonia. Every effort is made to minimise the stress of weaning.
Calves are weighed at weaning, in 2010 steers averaged 263kg and heifers 247kg.
Winter Housing
Cattle are housed from November to April. Beckhithe has 51 yards all designed specifically for the type of animals they house. Cattle are strawed daily, with the farm using some 3800 tonnes of straw during the winter period. The farm have a 28m3 Keenan feed wagon. The quantity of food fed daily is in excess of 80 tonnes.
Health
Beckhithe have implemented a Herd Health plan. In addition to
this the vet visits the livestock team on a monthly basis and
makes proactive recommendations on herd health and fertility matters.
Beckhithe are a member of the EFSIS / FABBL Farm Assured
Beef & Lamb Scheme. Annual independent inspections are carried out to ensure that all current legislation, codes of practice and strict scheme standards are met.
Identification and weighing
In 2010 Beckhithe introduced electronic identification for all animals and a digital weighing system. With animals passing through the crush some 15,000 times a year weights are captured automatically and then uploaded to Farmplan Cattle Manager providing valuable data. In addition to this reading of eartags is now much quicker and totally accurate.
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