How do Spanish beef farms compare to Ireland?

In early November 14 Dairy Beef 500 farmers went on a study trip to visit a number of farms in the Catalonia region of Spain, in the north east of Spain. On the trip they visited a number of farms, with the two main enterprises being calf to beef and suckler to beef.

The key differences between both systems were that farmers were focused on producing a product for the domestic market, this is generally a paler meat, produced from a younger animals. One noticeable difference witnessed was the target carcass weights. In the Spanish system, lighter carcass weights are generally preferred, with premium prices available for animals producing carcasses between 220-240kg, carcasses that are often penalised here.

Unlike Ireland, all animals are housed for the duration of their stay on farm. Grazing does occur in certain regions within Spain, in the north mainly, but feedlot type systems are the norm in the Catalonia region, where animals are typically offered ad-lib concentrates and roughage in the forage of straw for the duration of their stay on farm. Typical lifetime concentrate input per animal is 1.8-2t.

Across Spain, approximately 55% of all dairy-beef animals are Holstein Friesian males, but there is a shift to more of a continental-sired calf due to increased feed efficiencies.

Regardless of the calf being domestically produced or imported, the milk feeding period typically lasts up to 8 weeks of age on these farms. Across the farms, there is a major focus to get calves eating concentrates as quickly as possible, resulting in milk replacer feeding rates of approximately 9kg per calf. A started type meal is offered to calves up to 12 weeks of age, at which point they are moved onto a high-protein growing ration, which they stay on up until 32 weeks. Once animals reach that point, they are moved over to a finishing diet, with slaughtering typically occurring by 44 weeks of age at a life weight of 400-470kg. Meal costs o were generally in the region of €450-470/t. The cost breakdown, calf purchase price typically accounted for 10% of total cost, feed costs were 56% and medicines and veterinary were 5% of total.

Substantial numbers could be handled with very little labour input, typically you were seeing 1-1.5 labour units per 1,000 head on the farms we visited. The growing and finishing sheds were set up in such a way that a lot of the meal feeding was automated, with each pen having a meal bin and auger system that topped up ad-lib meal regularly.

In terms of the calf rearing facilities, they were very similar to what farmers are using in Ireland, with calves fed through teat feeders. A lot of thought had been put into making it as labour efficient as possible, as the milk replacer storage sheds and calf rearing sheds were all located in close proximity, with motorised milk carts used to move milk from one shed to the other.

Dairy Beef 500 advisor Sean Cummins gives an interesting insight into the recent Dairy Beef 500 farmer study trip to Spain on the Beef Edge Podacst, listen here.