Future Beef Newsletter July 2023
Trevor Boland
Farmer Profile | Farmer Update
Olivia Hynes - Farm Update | Kay O'Sullivan - Farm Update | Top Tips for July
National Genotyping Programme
The National Genotyping Programme has a closing date of July 14. This is a must for all suckler farmers to help improve the genetics of your herd. You can apply online through the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF). All your questions are answered at this link.
Top Tips for July
Farmer Profile: Trevor Boland
Trevor Boland farms in partnership with his father Joseph in Sligo.
Trevor Boland farms in Bunnafedia, Dromard, Co. Sligo. He is married to Tara and is farming in partnership with his father Joseph. He works full-time off farm as an accountant with IFAC.
The farm size is 48ha, with 23ha owned and 25ha leased. Like most farms in the west of Ireland, it is fragmented into four main blocks. There is 30ha around the farmyard, which is composed of a heavy clay soil and is susceptible to poaching. The leased out block is a clay loam and is drier by nature. Bunnafedia is in a high rainfall area, with a standard 1,300mm+ of rainfall per annum.
Trevor is well stocked at 155kg nitrogen (N)/ha. The main enterprise is a 50-cow autumn-calving suckler herd. The bull calves are sold at 10-12 months and the heifers are either sold as forward stores or finished at under 24 months. He also buys in 40 early maturing-type heifers in early spring to finish in October/November.
There is a big focus on growing and maximising the use of grass on the farm. Trevor walks the farm on a weekly basis and uses PastureBase Ireland to help him make the correct grassland management decisions. The farm is well divided into 45 paddocks, with an average size of 1ha.
The main focus areas are:
✔ improve calf quality by using high-value terminal AI bulls;
✔ breed all replacements from within the herd using AI;
✔ calve all heifers at two years of age;
✔ increase the overall average daily gain (ADG); and,
✔ incorporate clover to reduce chemical N use.
To see more about Trevor’s farm, see the Farm update below and click ‘Read more’.
Farm update – Trevor Boland: “I love calving cows and as a part-time farmer, calving in autumn is the only way that I can do it”.
Calving will start on August 1 and according to Trevor, there are many advantages to calving at this time of year, namely:
▶ cows will calve outside when the weather is good and the days are longer compared to spring;
▶ once the cows are in a ‘fit’ condition, they generally will calve near the house unassisted and then stay out on grass until housing in October;
▶ as a result, there are no hygiene issues – both mother and calf are outdoors in a healthy environment – as a part-time farmer this is a major advantage;
▶ this system suits a fragmented farm that gets a lot of rainfall – in early spring the calves are weaned and let out to grass while the cows can be kept in longer until ground conditions improve more; and,
▶ at this stage the weanling is well ready for grass and cheap weight gain can be achieved.
Calving in autumn can be seen as a higher cost system compared to spring, so Trevor needs to make high quality silage for his cows to eliminate the use of meal. Another big focus is keeping the cows from getting too fat when grass is growing at its best. During the summer months, Trevor has a number of key areas that he will focus on to ensure a stress-free calving period.
Click ‘Read more’ for further information and see a video from Trevor below also.
Farm Update - Olivia Hynes
Olivia Hynes finds her sheep enterprise works well with her suckler herd.
Olivia says: “The summer months are all about getting lambs ready for sale and getting the ewe flock right for mating”.
As Olivia lambs all of her sheep flock in February, drafting lambs started in June and will continue into July, she explains: “Lambs get no meal and I will go through the lambs every week and pick out what is fit for sale”.
Once the lamb will kill out to a 19.5kg carcass, they are drafted for slaughter. The earlier-born lambs usually end up being slaughtered directly off the farm, but Olivia will also select lambs for sale at the local marts.
She is also busy getting the ewe flock ready for mating. Paying good attention to the ewes will pay off at scanning, with a target scan of 1.9 lambs per ewe. All of the ewes are now weaned and Olivia will check their body condition in July. The ewe lambs have been selected and that group, along with the hoggets, are getting priority treatment. Olivia lambed over 200 ewes this year and wants to increase this number to 260. She finds that the sheep enterprise works well with her 55 spring-calving suckler herd. There is a substantial workload on the farm but Olivia finds time to switch off and attend local ladies football matches around Co. Roscommon.
Olivia’s latest update on the Teagasc website is available through the ‘Read more’ link.
Farm Update - Kay O'Sullivan
Kay O’Sullivan is thorough in preventing animal health issues.
In 2022, Kay had the lowest veterinary bill in the Future Beef Programme at €22/ha. She successfully achieved this figure by taking precautions to prevent animal health issues. One of these measures is taking faecal egg count (FEC) samples regularly and only dosing based on the results.
What stock are FEC sampled?
Weanlings, yearlings and cows.
When?
Weanlings are done monthly over the summer, with yearlings being sampled every two months for gut and lung worms. Cows are tested in October/November for liver fluke, rumen fluke, gut worms and lung worms.
Interpreting results
Kay consults with her vet on all FEC sample results. If the threshold exceeds 250 eggs per gram (EPG) she will administer a dose based on the results. It is typically only gut worms that cause an issue on her farm, and she treats young cattle with an ivermectin product. She does not use combination products unnecessarily, as it can help to build anthelminthic resistance. The dosing withdrawal period is tripled for the organic cattle.
Kay signed up to the 2023 Targeted Advisory Service on Animal Health (TASAH) programme, which is a free service that offers two free FEC samples and a farm visit from a vet. Further details and sign up information are available at: https://animalhealthireland.ie/programmes/parasite-control/parasite-control-tasah-consult/
Learn about other ways that Kay is reducing the anthelminthic use on her farm at the ‘Read more' link.
