“Our goal is to produce a top conformation calf to sell as a really good store off the cow.” These will generally be sold through Bridgnorth Market aged seven to nine months, at about 285kg.
“This spring they averaged £830 apiece,” he says. “We were over the moon with that, and some we sold that were slightly older, aged about 12 months or more, made more than £1,000.”
Calves from Keys Hill Farm have been in the limelight for consistently taking prizes, winning the best group of four or more store cattle in last autumn’s St Luke’s Fair and also taking first and second place for the best pen of six steers at the May Fair Sale 2019.
Getting calves to this point has involved starting them early on creep at about four weeks of age, and switching to the barley/balancer mix at roughly 12-14 weeks.
Mr Fieldhouse says: “We gradually switch from the starter pellets to the mix, which at this age comprises 75% barley and 25% PrimeMix 34 + Levucell TITAN.” This gives an overall protein of 15% in the concentrate, which is fed with grass silage over winter and offered ad-lib. He says: “They do incredibly well on this and never show signs of acidosis or the tender feet we have seen in the past.”