Main boards - Beef 2024
Securing your Future in Beef Farming
Board 1 -Securing your Farm Future
Stand 1 Board 1 - Securing your Farm Future (pdf)
Board 2 - Building from a position of strength
Stand 1 Board 2 - Building from a position of strength (pdf)
Pearse Kelly, Head of Drystock Knowledge Transfer, Teagasc and Dr. Paul Crosson, Beef Enterprise Leader, Teagasc go through the first stand
Summary
- The source of beef calves coming into the beef sector has changed substantially in the past decade with a sharp increase in dairy-beef coinciding with a reduction in suckler cows.
- The key principles underpinning profitable farm systems are largely the same for suckler and dairy-beef systems – producing high levels of beef output from a predominantly grazed grass diet while maximising the contribution to ecosystems services.
- Recent research has found that Monitor and Research farms had 4.9 and 2.2 times greater profitability, respectively, when compared to National average profitability.
- The environmental impact of beef systems encompasses greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity and water quality.
- A recent online survey of beef farmers highlighted the prevalence of part-time farming and the desire for greater labour efficiency to improve work-life balance.
Read accompanying paper Securing your future in beef farming (pdf)
Key factors underpinning viable and sustainable beef farming
Stand 2 - Board 1 - Impact of Technology Implementation
Stand 2 - Board 1 - Impact of Technology Implementation (pdf)
Stand 2 Board 2 - Technologies to Improve Viability
Stand 2 Board 2 - Technologies to Improve Viability (pdf)
Dr Mark McGee, Teagasc Research Officer and Aidan Murray, Teagasc Beef Specialist go through the second board
Summary
- Failure to meet animal performance targets is a major source of inefficiency in beef cattle production systems.
- If animals are to be finished younger, achieving high growth performance is critical.
- Animal growth rate is largely a function of feed ‘quality’ and quantity, animal genetics and herd health.
- Where key performance targets are not met, this has large negative ramifications for the profitability and environmental footprint of beef production systems.
- Reducing greenhouse emissions is generally associated with greater profitability of grass-based beef production systems.
Read accompanying paper Key factors underpinning viable and sustainable beef farming (pdf)