Maize Fast Beef

The ability to finish cattle quickly and simply are the reasons Warwickshire beef farmer Mike
Pearson has fed Mole Valley Farmers’ Maize Fast Beef for the last two years.

Mike finishes around 800 dairy cross native bred cattle a year, buying in bullocks at about 400kg. About 50-80 cows and calves are also bought-in each year at Redlands Farm near Banbury. This provides flexibility, allowing cows to be put back in-calf, sold with calves at foot or finished.

“Native breeds are easier to fatten and we can get a premium on them. And they’re quiet,” Mike explains.

The fact there’s a range of stock on the farm means Mike needs a feed that will suit everything. That’s one of the reasons he favours Maize Fast Beef.

“We like the nut because it gets them fat quickly and you can feed it to anything from four months old,” he explains.

Farm Facts

• W J Pearson and Son
• Around 630 acres split across two holdings
• Buys predominantly dairy cross native bred bullocks at 15-18 months old at 400kg
• Achieve a carcass weight of 350kg (55% killing out percentage)
• Half grade O+ and half R. Dairy cross Herefords average O+ 4L
• Beef sold to a variety of outlets 150 Continental cross draft ewes bought-in each year and lambed outside in March. All ewes and lambs are then finished
• Ewes fed Mole Valley Farmers’ Champion Ewe nut for one month before and after lambing
  Mole Valley Farmers’ Rapid Lamb creep fed from four to six weeks through to finish

For beef rationing advice, call the Feed Line on 01278 444829.