Future Beef Newsletter August 2024
Stephen Frend, Newford Farm
John Barry - Farm Update | Ruairi Cummins - Farm Update | Top Tips for August | Dates for your Diary | Beef Edge Podcast
Top Tips for August
Dates for your Diary
- Wednesday September 11, 2024:
National walk on Shane Keaveney’s farm, Granlahan, Ballinlough, Co. Roscommon, F45 PC04 at 6.30pm.
Farm Update - Stephen Frend, Newford Farm
Newford Farm manager Stephen Frend
In 2015, Teagasc and Dawn Meats established a standalone suckler herd at Athenry, Co. Galway, with support from the Irish Farmers Journal and McDonalds, to demonstrate best practice in sustainable suckler beef production. The objective for the Newford Farm is to demonstrate the potential of a large, well-run suckler calf-to-beef (steer and heifer) farm to generate a viable family farm income.
In May 2023, the IDA announced it had secured a new tenant for the site of the farm in Athenry and, while Teagasc welcomed this significant investment for the west of Ireland, it meant that the Newford suckler herd had to vacate its existing location. Teagasc and Dawn Meats consulted with their stakeholders and there was a strong view that the Newford suckler demonstration farm had a significant positive impact on delivering key messages to suckler beef farmers.
All of the key stakeholders agreed that Newford Farm should continue on a new site, thus ensuring that progress achieved to date could be built upon. Consequently, an alternative farm was identified near Athleague, Co. Roscommon, and leased for seven years.
The present day Newford Farm is laid out in two separate divisions. The main block of farmland, comprising 58ha, is dry (loamy limestone soil) good-quality grassland, with its highest point 156m above sea level, and is used for grazing the suckler cows and calves. There is also 5ha for biodiversity on this block of land. The main farm has extensive winter accommodation for cattle but also requires a lot of capital expenditure in terms of grassland reseeding, fencing, water troughs and calving facilities, etc. The outside block of land, Neilan’s farm, comprises of 22ha (including a 3.5ha turlough) and is located 10km away and has a medium/heavy soil type. This out-farm also has cattle accommodation and handling facilities, but most of the land will require reseeding, too.
The cows on the Newford Farm have good maternal traits.
Suckler cow type, breeding and productivity
The cow breed types at Newford are Aberdeen Angus X Friesian and Hereford X Friesian, with an average liveweight of 660kg. They have good maternal traits, especially milk production, resulting in high pre-weaning liveweight gain of the calves. The average replacement index of the suckler cows and the 2024 replacement heifers are €136 and €156, respectively.
100% AI is carried out on the farm and this has proven to be very successful. With the breeding season now over, click on ‘Read more’ where Stephen outlines how it went this year. You can also watch a video below.
Farm Update - John Barry
John Barry with his fiancée Sarah and their son Jack.
John Barry is farming 72ha in Newtown, just outside of Nenagh in Co. Tipperary. He has a split spring (50 cows) and autumn (27 cows) suckler herd, and sells the bullocks and heifers off grass at 20 months of age.
Autumn calving suits John as the cows are at grass, which reduces labour for feeding and bedding versus the spring herd. It also helps with cash flow on the farm as stores can be sold throughout the year. The seven autumn heifers and 20 autumn cows are expected to start calving between August 12 and early November.
Cull cows are being restricted at grass to avoid becoming over fat.
The cows are being managed as follows:
▶ Weaning: took place in early June;
▶ Diet: grazing paddocks after the spring herd to maintain body condition;
▶ Minerals: 100g/head/day powder minerals fed with oats in blue barrels in fields;
▶ Vaccinations: infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) booster given at least three weeks pre-calving and leptospirosis vaccine will be given at least two weeks pre-breeding; and,
▶ Health: pour-on given to deter flies and help prevent mastitis, no dosing.
John has the calving pens cleaned and disinfected and has checked that his calving camera and jack are working. Frozen biestings is available if required and he has iodine, ropes, a feeding bottle, lubricant, and PPE. Calf tags have also been ordered. Click on ‘Read more’ to see how John manages the cows after calving.
Farm Update - Ruairi Cummins
Ruairi with his daughter Laura and their dog Jess.
Ruairi is farming 38ha in Kilmoganny, Co. Kilkenny. He operates a 45-cow suckler to store/beef system, with bulls finished under 16 months of age and heifers and bullocks sold off grass under 20 months of age.
Ruairi plans to oversow one paddock with a red clover/perennial ryegrass/white clover mix. It was damaged in the spring and some docks have appeared, which he has since sprayed off. He will graze it tightly with the cows and calves and then use an ion-bock to sow the seed. Watery slurry will then be spread on it at less than 2,000 gallons/acre to provide phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), and help establishment. Ruairi plans to graze it at less than 1,200kg DM/ha to help the new grass to tiller out.
His attention has also been turning to building grass covers for the autumn. He will spread 23 units of protected urea/acre before mid August to get the best response to his last round of fertiliser. Ruairi has checked his fertiliser limits to ensure he is able to spread this amount. His aim is to have a farm cover of 700-800kg DM/ha by mid August, with 16 to 18 days of grass ahead. Second-cut silage ground will be coming back into the rotation this month to help stretch out the rotation length. He also plans to take a third cut of silage from one field and will apply 2,500 gallons of slurry/acre and 38 units of protected urea/acre. For further information on this and other aspects of the farm, click on ‘Read more’.
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