Breeding, drafting and grassland management with Shane Keaveney, Future Beef Farmer

June proved to be a particularly busy month for Shane Keaveney, Teagasc Future Beef Programme participant from Co. Roscommon, whose focus centred on breeding, grassland management and drafting bulls for slaughter.

Breeding has gone well. The Charolais (CH) bull has been out with the cows since April 30 and, while there are the odd repeats, the bull has had very little to do in the last three weeks. This year, Shane has picked 10 of his best maternal cows for AI. To reduce the labour requirement, he has followed a synchronisation programme with fixed-time AI. He has kept the cows close to the shed on ground that he reseeded last year. The Simmental bull ‘Lynx’ has been used in order to bring milk back into the herd. Shane will also artificially inseminated five maiden heifers.

At the end of June, there were just five bulls left for slaughter. The bulls are ahead of last year’s group in terms of weight and age at slaughter. On average, slaughter age has been reduced by three weeks. There has been no issue with fat class and grading.

The story is not as good on the grassland side. Growth rates fell in mid-to-late June. In order to reduce demand and build grass covers, Shane had to rehouse 10 store heifers. The colder weather has also affected the growth of the red clover crop. He is planning a holiday with his family in July, and is hoping that growth rates will improve before he goes.

The above is just a snippet of the happenings on Shane Keaveney’s farm over the month of June. For more detailed information, read the full monthly update here.

This update on Shane Keaveney’s farm was first published in the Teagasc Future Beef newsletter for June. Click here to find out more about the Future Beef Programme and to sign up to future newsletters.