Maize is a vital part of Cornish farmer Andrew Jackson’s specialist beef finishing business.

It provides the bulk of the energy in the ration, which – alongside premium Angus genetics – helps to keep daily liveweight gains across the enterprise above 2kg/day.

Whilst performance levels are already outstanding, Andrew continues to push for improvements, experimenting with areas such as maize seed rate and cutter bar height at harvest, and seeking out the best new varieties to suit his needs.

This year, he is growing  Limagrain’s new very early maturity variety LG Spotlight.  Developed through Limagrain Field Seeds’ extensive UK maize breeding programme, it promises high starch with improved digestibility, alongside good yield potential and standing power. By early July, the crop was already shoulder high, with tassling and cob development occurring before the end of that month, so there is considerable anticipation for how it develops and what it delivers come harvest.

Producing 2kg Daily Liveweight Gains from Beef Cattle

Beef finishing is the main farming enterprise at 200 acre Trethawle Farm, near Liskeard, with cattle currently arriving at around 10 months of age, typically about 350kg liveweight, in batches of over 200. These are grown on and finished on a contract with Sainsburys.

“We’re a high biosecurity AFU (Approved Finishing Unit), so everything is reared and finished inside,” explains Andrew. “The rations for growers and finishers are geared to high growth rates, so that we can maximise throughputs. Ideally, cattle are only with us for around six months, achieving 330-340kg carcase weights, so we can finish as many as five hundred in a year.

Andrew has been impressed with the digestibility and yield of LG Spotlight Maize.

Andrew benefits from being part of a Sainsburys farmer benchmarking group, which keeps a close watch on fixed and variable costs. The beef finishing contract he’s on provides security, with the end price being tied to costs of production, including fuel, feed and interest rates. There’s also an advantage in the known origin of the calves coming in, which are all from dairy farms supplying the supermarket and are currently in good supply.

“The calves are all Angus cross, bred using premium Angus genetics, so we’re starting with healthy animals with great potential,” he adds. “It’s then up to us to grow them as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

Why Maize Silage Is Central to the Feeding System

All cattle are fed on a total mixed ration (TMR), with good quality grass silage balanced by maize, which typically makes up one-third of the dry matter. This is complemented with crimped barley, soya,  a rumen protected protein, a molasses blend with urea, yeast and minerals, and a bought-in concentrate blend.

“We take multiple cuts of grass silage, to maximise the quality, and cut our maize quite high, for increased starch density,” says Andrew. “We want the best ration that we can achieve, to maintain growth rates around 2kg/day, and keep improving the carcase grades.”

Growing Maize in Challenging Cornish Conditions

Trethawle Farm is marginal for maize growing, with lower heat unit accumulation than more favourable areas and relatively shallow soils, so varieties must be robust and reliable. Around 25 acres are grown each year, as part of a rotation with grass and winter barley, so there is usually at least five years between maize crops.

“We aim to take a first cut of grass as early as possible, which may be the end of March or early April, depending on the season, and then prepare the ground for maize,” explains Andrew. “The grass is sprayed off, and we apply farmyard manure, at 12 tonnes/acre, before ploughing and power harrowing. We’re trying to retain as much moisture as possible in the seedbed, and then – with the ground prepared – we wait for optimum soil temperatures before drilling, usually around mid-April.

Maize Establishment and Crop Management

“By drilling quite shallow, at about one inch, we’re putting the seed into warmer soil. It’s worked well for the last four or five years, with the crop emerging much more quickly. We’re also using a slightly lower seed rate than the norm, at around 40,000 seeds/acre, to give the plants more space and encourage better cob development.”

Crop nutrition is fairly standard, with nitrogen broadcast onto the seedbed at around 90 units/acre, and a compound applied down the spout at drilling, and weed control is limited to a pre-emergence herbicide, with a post-emergence application used only where required.

LG Spotlight Showing Strong Early Potential

The first half of the 2026 maize growing season has been quite favourable in Cornwall, but Andrew has nevertheless been impressed with the way LG Spotlight has grown.

“The crop was up and out of the ground early and has not looked back,”

“By early July it was up to my shoulders, and has more bulk and a better plant structure than anything we’ve grown before. For us, it’s all about the cob development, so we’ll hope it continues along the path it’s on and delivers at harvest.”

Focused on Starch Content at Harvest

With the season progressing as it is, Andrew anticipates the potential for an earlier harvest than his norm, which would be early October, allowing time for a following crop of winter barley. He’ll then be focused on the starch content of the maize silage, to ensure he has the energy required to continue pushing the growth rates and conformation in his cattle.

To help growers follow crop performance through the season, Limagrain Field Seeds launched its inaugural Demo Farm initiative this year, hosting on-farm demonstration days across the country.

The aim was straightforward: to give growers the chance to see varieties performing in the field, discuss results directly with farmers and Limagrain experts, and gain practical, real-world insight beyond what trial plot data alone can offer.

One of these demo farms is hosted by Rob Atkin at Field Farm, Uttoxeter, Staffordshire. Rob has been involved in practical farm trials for many years, including work on variable rate technology and environmental initiatives aimed at improving soil health and reducing water pollution.

He has been integrating cover crops and livestock into his system, while maintaining a strong focus on economic performance.

“I still need yield to pay the bills, so yield is important,” he says. “But I want varieties that work in real farm conditions, not just in perfect plots. I want to know how they perform under pressure and whether they genuinely fit into my system.”

Field Farm operates across a wide range of soil types, from heavy clay through to high-organic-matter silt. It’s a mixed operation, combining arable cropping with beef and sheep enterprises, with a growing focus on soil health and cost control across the business.

Trials established at Field Farm this year include a field-scale comparison of establishment techniques in wheat and barley, alongside winter wheat, spring barley and oilseed rape variety trials. On one of the hottest days of the summer, under clear blue skies, visitors to the open day were guided through the latest cereal and oilseed rape variety trials. Limagrain’s newly recommended winter bean, LG Arctic, was also on trial, alongside a range of early maturing maize varieties.

Varieties discussed on the day ranged from those narrowly missing out on Recommended List inclusion, to new candidates progressing through trials, to recently listed varieties now available to growers. The overarching theme was consistency of yield across different seasons and drilling situations, alongside strong disease resistance profiles.

Find out more about our oilseed rape varieties here.

Yellow Rust

Yellow rust in wheat was the key issue leading discussions at the wheat plots. Ron Granger, arable technical manager for the breeder, urged growers not to discount any variety simply because of revisions to its yellow rust rating, especially where other favourable characteristics remained unchanged.

“Take LG Typhoon, for example — yes, you have to watch yellow rust more closely given the Yr15 changes, but it’s still got fantastic Septoria resistance, has the agronomics to suit wider-row direct drilling situations, and is still a true early drilling variety.”

He went on to suggest early rust control was vital, especially where juvenile plant resistance is not available in a variety. However, he pointed out that some varieties had held off yellow rust better later in the season, once adult resistance kicked in post growth stage 37.

“The speed of early rust development in different varieties is something that should be looked at more closely by the industry, as it’s evident this season that some varieties surprised us with how late rust developed in them compared with previous years. We still have a lot to learn, and our pathologist is certainly being kept busy this season.”

Maize in the Rotation

As part of the Demo Farm trial, a series of plots comparing maize varieties has been set up at the Staffordshire site. The site forms part of a wider network of farm trials Limagrain is running this year across the north, as the crop continues to grow in importance on more northerly farms. Yield and quality assessments will be taken pre-harvest to better understand how these varieties perform on more challenging sites.

After struggling with oilseed rape establishment a few years ago, Rob introduced maize into the rotation. “We are a marginal site here for maize, so we are looking for very early/ultra-early maturing varieties. This suits the rotation, as it gives us a good entry for a following crop of wheat. Growing ultra-early varieties also gives us some flexibility to drill a little later, should we need to. It’s also a useful break crop to help clean up weeds.”

LG’s ultra-early variety Flashmob fits this bill well and is used by Rob in his beef finishing ration, as well as being grown for a neighbouring dairy farm — a useful outlet for their slurry and a way of freeing up land.

“As long as the crop pays for itself and covers its costs, we are happy, and it has done this so far.”

This year’s trials cover a range of early and ultra-early maize varieties to assess performance under Field Farm’s conditions. “As well as commercial and near-commercial varieties, there are also some new coded lines for evaluation,” explains Richard Camplin, forage technical manager for Limagrain.

The plots were drilled after autumn stubble turnips, which sheep had grazed off. “We went in with a subsoiler before drilling, as it had been a bit wet and the sheep probably stayed on a bit longer than needed, so there was some compaction. The crop got 15t/ha of muck and 150kg/ha of nitrogen later on — and after struggling through a cold, wet June, is now knee high and starting to fill out,” says Rob.

PANEL: Cultivations Trial — Direct Drilling vs Shallow Cultivation

For Rob Atkin, one of the most interesting aspects of the trials was comparing cultivation methods and their effect on establishment and crop quality heading towards harvest.

“We started our min-till journey on the farm in 2003, moved into shallow cultivations, and now direct drill in the main,” Rob explains. “We were interested to see how the same variety — in this instance LG Defiance — grown in the same field, would look when direct drilled versus established after shallow cultivations.”

Wheat trial
“Initially, the wheat established in shallow-cultivated soil performed better, showing more early vigour than the direct-drilled crop,” says Rob. “However, this reversed through spring: the direct-drilled wheat tillered more strongly — likely because it had needed to work harder to establish its roots early on, leaving it better founded once the dry spring set in. By comparison, the shallow-cultivated wheat looked thinner. However, heading towards harvest, it’s now hard to tell the two apart. Harvest will tell the true story.”

Spring barley trial
A similar comparison was run in a field of spring barley, using new Limagrain variety LG Aquarius. The barley was drilled into a field that had previously been cover-cropped and grazed by sheep, leaving some soil compaction. Results followed a similar pattern to the wheat: “The cultivated crop established better initially, as it didn’t have to work through the compaction left by the sheep. However, the direct-drilled barley now looks stronger and hasn’t ‘shot’ in the way the cultivated crop has — again likely because its roots were forced to work harder and go deeper during spring, helping it hold up better through the summer heat. As with the wheat, harvest will reveal the full picture.”

Why it matters
Even small yield differences between the two systems are worth taking seriously, believes Mr Atkin. “A gain of just 0.2t/ha across a whole field can be enough to justify adapting cultivation strategy.” Rob acknowledges every year brings different weather and soil conditions, but the broader trend has been towards wetter winters and drier springs, as seen again this year.