Future Beef Newsletter June 2024
Olivia Hynes
Aonghusa Fahy - Farm Update | Proinnsias Creedon - Farm Update | Top Tips for June | Dates for your Diary | Beef Edge Podcast
Dates for your Diary
- Wednesday June 26, 2024:
BEEF2024 ‘Securing your future’ at Teagasc Grange, Co. Meath
- Friday July 12, 2024:
National walk on Ken Gill’s farm, Clonbullogue, Edenderry, Co. Offaly at 6.30pm
- Friday July 26, 2024:
National walk on Eamon and Donnchadh McCarthy’s farm, Carrigeen, Glendine, Youghal, Co. Waterford at 7.00pm
- Event postponed
National walk on Shane Keaveney’s farm, Granlahan, Ballinlough, Co. Roscommon postponed to Wednesday September 11, 2024.
Farm Profile - Olivia Hynes
Olivia Hynes runs a mixed enterprise in Co. Roscommon.
Olivia farms full time in Jamestown, just outside the village of Four Roads in Co. Roscommon. The farm is approximately 70ha between owned and rented land. There is 17ha on the home farm, but the main grassland block of 47ha is in Kilcash, almost 10km away.
Olivia runs a mixed farming enterprise with 55 cows calving in spring and she also lambs 250 ewes in February. In this busy period, she can draw on the help of some family members who live nearby. Weanlings are targeted for the export market and replacement heifers are retained to calve at two years of age. To learn more about Olivia’s enterprise, including her plans and performance, click ‘Read more’.
Farm Update - Olivia Hynes
Getting the balance between quality and quantity – Olivia will cut silage on June 6.
Olivia normally uses two rounds of AI for six weeks, picking a mix of strong terminal sires along with high-value replacements bulls. A Limousin (LM) bull was then let in for the last three weeks to mop up. However, there has been a change to the breeding policy as a result of the bull being sub-fertile in 2023.
The LM bull has been slaughtered and Olivia has decided not to purchase another and will use 100% AI this year. The purchase price along with the maintenance cost for a bull that will only be used for a couple of weeks is difficult to justify. In addition, Olivia had not the time to source a bull that was easy calving and had good milk figures of 7kg plus. AI will give a choice of bulls with the right traits backed up with a high reliability figure. However, going all AI is a big step.
Olivia has been using AI for the last numbers of years for six weeks, so it just means extending the period to nine weeks. Breeding started in May and every effort is being made to pick up the heats. The cows and heifers are in great body condition. She is using a vasectomised bull with a chin ball and she had heats recorded in advance of the start of the breeding season.
One of the main reasons Olivia lambs is February is to sell the lambs off grass with no meal to the local factory. June is all about drafting lambs for sale. Around 25-30 lambs are picked out weekly that meet factory specifications. The target carcass size is 19kg. Selling lambs at this time of year helps greatly with cash flow for the farm. There are a lot of bills to be paid from spring time.
The other priority for June is making silage. The cupboard is bare after a long winter. Olivia plans to cut 40 acres on June 6. This area was grazed bare with sheep in February, so the quality should be 70+ DMD.
Watch the video below as Olivia discusses her priorities for June including breeding, making silage and drafting lambs for sale. For further information on her breeding plan, click ‘Read more’.
Farm Update - Aonghusa Fahy
By being organised and using technology, Aonghusa manages to use AI despite working full-time off farm.
Aonghusa farms in Tullira, just outside Ardrahan in Co. Galway. He is married to Olivia and they have two young girls, Kayla (four years) and Hallie (two). The farm is fragmented into two main blocks. The home block contains 22ha of dry land, while the remaining 36ha is in Tulla, Co. Clare, almost 36km away.
Aonghusa works full-time off farm as a secondary school teacher, so juggling family, work and farming can be a challenge, especially during calving and breeding time. Despite limitations on time, he still manages to use AI. He is organised and uses the technology available, such as Mooheat, to assist in heat detection. The breeding season started on April 22 and he will use AI for six weeks before letting in the LM bull to mop up. The second round will be finishing at the beginning of June, so Aonghusa will scan to see what conception rates are like. He got great results last year and is hoping that the bull will only have to cover two to three cows.
With the recent rise in temperatures, grass is growing almost twice as fast as the herd are eating it. Aonghusa has taken corrective action to get the grazing platform back under control.
Click on ‘Read more’ for an update on the grassland and breeding situation.
The second round of AI will be finishing on June 3.
Farm Update - Proinnsias Creedon
Proinnsias with his wife Máire and their sons Diarmuid, Ciarán and Aodhán.
Proinnsias turned 36 weaned calves out to grass on May 5. Before this, they were gradually reduced from ad-lib ration to 2kg ration/head/day. He selected a sheltered paddock close to the yard that had not received any fertiliser for them to graze first. They were turned out on a calm, dry day where no rain was forecast for that night. He managed them as follows:
▶ straw provided ad-lib;
▶ 2kg ration/head/day being fed in two splits; and,
▶ started grazing in a grass cover of 1,400kg DM/ha, as it contained more stem (fibre) to help prevent any scour issues.
When Proinnsias is happy that the calves are settled at grass and the weather remains stable, he will gradually reduce the ration feeding levels and will improve the grass quality that the calves are allocated.
Overall, he is very happy with calf performance this year, despite the poor spring. While there were some small respiratory disease outbreaks and scour challenges, the calves overcame them very quickly and mortality is currently at 0%:
▶ performance target: 100kg (minimum 90kg) at 12 weeks of age; and,
▶ current performance: 102kg (range 84-126kg) at 13 weeks of age (36 weighed on May 8).
For further information, click on ‘Read more’ below.
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