Future Beef Newsletter November 2024
John Barry
Olivia Hynes - Farm Update | Ed Curtin - Farm Update | Top Tips for November | Dates for your Diary | Beef Edge Podcast
Top Tips for November
Dates for your Diary
Today, November 1
Last day to upload weights for the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP).
Today, November 1
Last day to apply farm yard manure.
Today, November 1
Last day to upload claims for the National Farm Safety Measure.
November 15
Complete your SCEP course by November 15 or be removed from the scheme and have to repay all monies.
November 19
Teagasc National Beef Conference, The Landmark Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon,
Co. Leitrim, N41 N9W4 at 5.00pm.
Farm Profile - John Barry
John with his fiancée Sarah and their son Jack.
John farms with his father Jim in Newtown, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, where they farm 72.3ha in three distinct blocks.
The land is generally made up of dry, free-draining mineral soils and there is a gradual slope on the farm. John has been working part time off farm since 2021.
John has an 80-cow suckling-to-store system consisting of 50 spring- and 30 autumn-calving suckler cows. The males are sold as 18-month store beef, along with heifers not retained for breeding. John’s aim is that they gain as much weight as possible from grass, rather than feeding expensive ration and silage. He uses 70% AI (CH, BB, LM, SI bulls) and currently has a five-star terminal Limousin stock bull. AI is used for the first round to breed replacements/quality export-type weanlings, and then the stock bull is used for the rest of the breeding season.
John joined the Results-Based Environment-Agri Pilot Project (REAP) in 2021 and the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) in 2023. As part of these he planted new hedges and added field margins to complement the existing treelines and hedges on the farm.
The farm is divided into 27 divisions, with the ability to split individual fields with temporary fencing. There is good housing on the farm and John added a four-bay slatted/creep area shed last year.
For further information on John’s plans, click ‘Read more’.
Farm Update - John Barry
Autumn calving has progressed well on the farm this year since starting on August 23, with most calves born outside thanks to the mild weather.
John has had no health issues with calves so far, although the cows were vaccinated against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) pre calving as it has historically been an issue on the farm. These antibodies would have passed to the calves through the colostrum and act as a preventive against IBR. Only three cows are left to calve in November and no calves have been lost to date. Breeding will start on November 1.
Autumn cows and calves at grass.
Weaning of the spring calves is now complete on John’s farm and they are grazing the silage fields as part of the last rotation. They will be housed over the coming month and have been vaccinated, dosed, and some of the males were castrated. They are eating 2kg of ration/head/day.
Suckler cows are not routinely dosed on the farm and faecal egg samples showed that there were low egg counts, so they do not need to be dosed. They did however show a ‘low positive’ result from rumen fluke, which is not usually an issue. John has noticed three cows that were quite runny and are a little thin so he will selectively dose them for rumen fluke to be safe.
The sheds have been power washed and any necessary repairs were carried out in the autumn.
Watch the video below where John discusses his stock health in the lead-up to housing.
For more on John's breeding plans and latest sales click 'Read more'.
Farm Update - Olivia Hynes
Olivia has been improving access on her farm.
Olivia is farming 75ha in Four Roads, Co. Roscommon. She has a 50-cow spring-calving suckler herd and a flock of 240 early-lambing ewes.
As a result of a subfertile bull, Olivia’s cow numbers were back this year and she is buying in-calf cows with calves at foot to get her numbers back up to 50 for next spring. The difficulty caused by the bull, and the original cost of him, left her questioning if the risk is worth taking again and she has decided to go 100% AI for next year. Olivia will be using a vasectomised bull and chin ball for heat detection.
The suckler cows stay on the home farm in Jamestown for the breeding season but it is a long land block that stretches away from the farmyard. While a passageway provided access to some of the land, a further seven paddocks were inaccessible from it. Olivia decided to extend the existing passageway by 150 metres to make it easier to bring cows to the yard for AI next spring. In the meantime it is easier to move stock between paddocks and to access them with a tractor or quad. The biggest challenge will be to provide enough water to each paddock, as the fields are high up and the pressure is low. Olivia plans to contact her local Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) advisor regarding availing of funding through the new Farming for Water European Innovation Partnership (EIP), which has a suite of measures that she may be able to implement on the farm.
New roadway installed on Olivia’s farm.
Click here to read more on the new Farming for Water EIP.
Click ‘Read more’ to view Olivia’s latest update.
Farm Update - Ger McSweeney
Ger with his wife Karen and their daughter Ella.
Ger is farming 35ha in a suckler-to-beef system in Tooreenbawn, Millstreet, Co. Cork.
The bull weanlings are currently on 2kg of ration/head/day of a 16% protein concentrate, along with good quality silage. They will be increased to 4kg/day over the coming weeks and fed this diet until early January. Then they will switch to a finishing diet in January, which will consist of 10kg/head/day of 12% protein finishing meal along with silage.
Ger’s target is that they will be 500kg at 12 months of age and the plan is to have these bulls finished under 16 months. Silage is due to be tested and the best quality silage fed to the finishing cattle. Bulls will be weighed on a monthly basis to assess performance over the winter months.
Bull weanlings are now housed.
A fodder budget has been completed on the farm and Ger estimates that he will have sufficient fodder to see him through the winter months. Very little silage has been fed to date, until recently when the bull calves and dry cows were housed.
Dry cows are on silage only and Ger is very happy with the body condition of cows recently weaned. Cows will be regularly assessed for body condition and any that are becoming too thin or over fat will be managed accordingly prior to calving next spring. For further updates on Ger’s farm, click ‘Read more’.
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