Future Beef Newsletter September 2024
Noeleen Brereton, Teagasc Kildalton
Shane Keaveney - Farm Update | Kay O'Sullivan - Farm Update | Top Tips for September | Dates for your Diary | Beef Edge Podcast
Top Tips for September
Dates for your Diary
- Wednesday September 11, 2024:
National walk on Shane Keaveney’s farm, Granlahan, Ballinlough, Co. Roscommon,
F45 W599 at 6.00pm.
- Friday September 27, 2024:
Farm walk on Aonghusa Fahy’s farm, Tullira, Ardrahan, Co. Galway,
H91 TPD2 at 3.00pm.
Noeleen Brereton, Teagasc Kildalton
Beef technician Noeleen Brereton has been busy managing the herd at Teagasc Kildalton.
Noeleen is a beef technician at Teagasc Kildalton where she manages the 55-cow spring-calving suckler herd, which comprises a Limousin × Simmental breed type.
Bull calf from SI4147 born in February 2024.
On the 23rd Aug, we spread 50 kg/ha (18 units of N/acre) of 46% pro urea on our non-clover paddocks, 25 kg/ha (9 units of N/acre) on the clover paddocks (clover paddocks received half rate of N all summer). We also spread 0-10-20 on the reseeded ground at 250 kgs/ha (2bags per acre). This reseeded ground got 75kgs/ha of pro urea which is approx. 28 units per acre N. We are trying to build AFC up to the 1000kgs/ha which is the target for early Sept. AFC is currently sitting at 777 kgs and needs to be higher to ensure stock are kept out grazing into November. There will be one final application of fertiliser before the closing date in mid-September.
Weaning is starting this week so cows can be tightened up. This will help to reduce demand further.
Grass wedge for this week
Breeding season
We are privileged to remain in the 10 % of Euro-star herds in the country. The replacement value of the herd currently stands at €126. The 2024 breeding season started on 5th April and we finished up after 11 weeks on 27th June. We completed our pregnancy scan on 7th August, the results indicate that we will have 55 cows calving down in spring with 9 of those being first-calvers. Calving is due to commence 20th Jan 2025 and finish in just under 10 weeks.
AI Sires used for 2024 breeding season on cows
AI sires used on replacement heifers 2024
Performance
We weaned the calves this week, the bulls averaged 287 kg with ADG from birth 1.1 kg/day and the heifers averaged 261 kg with an ADG of 1.0 kg/day. Ahead of weaning and as part of the beef welfare scheme, we have creep grazed the calves and supplemented them with concentrates for the past month, they are currently on ~ 2 kg/day. We find by having the permanent creep gates in each paddock the calves are more mature when it comes to weaning as they are used to grazing ahead of the cows. As part of the SCEP scheme we weighed all cows and calves and weaned on the same day.
The suckler calves are all up to date on vaccines for RSV, PI3, pneumonia and black leg.
We faecal sampled all suckler calves, dairy beef calves, replacement heifers and finishing steers in June. The results from the vets indicated an issue with worms in both lots of calves, we treated them using an Albendazole oral dose product and the dairy beef calves also required a dose for coccidiosis (Toltrazuril product). We treated both lots of calves as required and we then re-sampled all calves, replacement heifers and finishing steers in August, the results were all under the threshold for concern.
Sire: CWI, born Feb 2024
Sire: CWI, born Feb 2024
Born Feb 2024, sired by Charolais stock bull
Farm Update - Shane Keaveney
Shane and his wife Gráinne.
On September 11, Shane and Grainne Keaveney will host a National Future Beef farm walk (see Dates for your diary for details).
Shane farms with Gráinne and their three children, and operates a 37-cow, spring-calving sucker herd. The system is simple and suits the farm type. The males are finished as under-16 month old bulls, and heifers that are not kept as replacements are sold as forward stores. Shane has been using a Charolais stock bull for the last three years. To breed his own replacements, sexed semen was used for the first time this year. He also uses AI on the maiden heifers.
The farm comprises 35ha, including rented land, which is split into four main blocks. The farm is heavy in nature, with a mixture of clay and peat soils. Shane joined the Future Beef programme back in 2021 and has made many changes to his system since. He has targeted a reduction in age of slaughter by pushing the bull weanlings earlier, gradual weaning, and feeding a high-quality red clover silage over the winter. In addition, he has adopted simple actions to reduce harmful emissions by switching to protected urea, applying slurry using low-emission slurry spreading (LESS), and reducing the chemical fertiliser overall.
At the farm walk, there will be an opportunity to meet Shane and see how the farm is performing from both a financial and physical perspective. The establishment and management of red clover will be discussed at the walk and how Shane has used it to increase weanling weight gains over the winter period.
Shane’s farm is in the Island River catchment. John Kelly from the Water for Life project and Kieran Kenny, Teagasc Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme Advisor, will outline the new European Innovation Project (EIP) Island River Catchment Scheme and the opportunities for local farmers.
The beef market outlook will be disused by Brendan Egan, Castlerea Livestock Mart Manager and Anthony O'Dowd from Dawn Meats. There will be a number of industry stakeholders available to meet and discuss any queries you may have, and refreshments will be served. Click on ‘Read more’ for further information.
Farm Update - Kay O'Sullivan
Kay O’Sullivan is taking part in the Irish Pollinator Monitoring Scheme.
Kay is farming 52ha of grassland in Mourneabbey, Mallow, Co. Cork. She operates an organic suckler-to-beef system of 25 spring-calving cows and also lambs 30 organic ewes.
She has been partaking in the Irish Pollinator Monitoring Scheme since 2022, which was set up to monitor the status, trends and distribution of pollinators across different habitats throughout different years. This involves a trained surveyor visiting the farm once per month from April to August, amounting to five days in total. They monitor what is going on in the fields and along field boundaries, such as the hedges and field margins.
Pan trapping is one recording method used.
The 2022 preliminary findings were recently analysed and show the following pollinator groups on Kay’s farm:
▶ 39% solitary bees;
▶ 27% hoverflies;
▶ 23% bumblebees;
▶ 8% butterflies; and,
▶ 3% honeybees.
The pollinator group with the highest number of species recorded was the solitary bee, followed closely by the hoverfly. Bramble and dandelion received the majority of visits from insects, followed by white clover, creeping buttercup and creeping thistle.
Species of conservation interest that were discovered include the small fleckled mining bee (vulnerable), groove-faced mining bee (vulnerable), and the humming syrphus, whose larvae prey on aphids.
A south-facing bank where some solitary bees are nesting.
To read more about Kay’s biodiversity and farm habitats click on ‘Read more’, and further information on the Irish Pollinator Monitoring Scheme is available here.
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