Part two: Dairy beef highlights from 2024
2024 offered dairy beef farmers a whole host of opportunities to gain knowledge to improve the efficiency of their dairy beef farming enterprises.
In part two of this series of articles, Catherine Egan, Beef Specialist at Teagasc, reminds us of some the key Teagasc events, webinars and publications from the year outgoing.
DairyBeef 500
A five-year campaign launched in 2022 with the aim of promoting and demonstrating socially, environmentally and financially sustainable dairy beef systems, the Teagasc DairyBeef 500 team hosted a series of farm walks and webinars throughout the year.
Webinars
Kicking off its year of knowledge sharing activities was a webinar on preparing for calf rearing, which featured representatives from Munster Bovine and MSD, along with DairyBeef 500 demonstration farmer, Peter O’Hanrahan.
Watch the webinar below:
Following this was a webinar centred on sourcing and feeding dairy beef calves, where key insights were shared by members of the DairyBeef 500 team and Volac on calf sourcing policies and nutritional programmes. Also joining the webinar was Charlie Smyth, a DairyBeef 500 participant from Co. Cavan, who shared details of his farming system and his protocol for buying calves.
Watch the webinar below:
More recently, the DairyBeef 500 team hosted a webinar on preparing your calves for sale in 2025. Featuring speakers from Teagasc, MSD and Munster Bovine, it focused on preparing the cow now to produce a healthy and viable calf next spring and examined dairy breeding policies to maximise the use of high genetic merit beef sires. This webinar was the first in a series of two, with the second scheduled for January 16, 2025 at 8pm. Register for the Sourcing and finishing of high quality dairy beef animals webinar here.
Watch the Preparing your calves for sale in 2025 webinar below:
Events and open days
DairyBeef 500 open days
The farmers enrolled in the DairyBeef 500 Campaign are a key pillar of the programme, allowing other farmers to see how the latest technologies are working on commercially-operated demonstration farms. To facilitate this knowledge sharing, a number of important open days were hosted by the enrolled farmers throughout the year. Open days were held on: Peter Byrne’s farm in Castledermot, Co. Kildare; James O'Sullivan’s farm in Union Hall, Co. Cork; Gareth Peoples’ farm in Tullyannan, Glebe, Co. Donegal; and Aidan Maguire’s farm in Antylstown, Co. Meath.
BEEF2024
A combined effort from Teagasc researchers, specialists, advisors and the DairyBeef 500 team also delivered a dedicated Dairy Beef village at Teagasc’s flagship national beef open day, BEEF2024 in Teagasc, Grange. Some of the key highlights included: Teagasc research systems; genetic tools for improving calf quality; calf rearing and health; earlier finishing age for dairy-beef cattle; and the Tipperary Dairy Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm.
Find out more about the Dairy Beef Village at Beef 2024 here.
Also occurring at the BEEF2024 Open Day was the launch of 12 dairy beef factsheets by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.
These factsheets are based on real farm data and analysis from dairy beef research units in Teagasc Johnstown and Teagasc Grange. They also use data and farmer experiences from Teagasc DairyBeef 500 demonstration farms.
The 12 Dairy Beef factsheets are available to read here.
Dairy Calf to Beef International Conference
Another event of note was the major Dairy Calf to Beef International Conference, which took place in October and was hosted by Teagasc, with the support of the British Society of Animal Science (BSAS) and ABP. The technical conference focused on the production of beef from the dairy herd, and provided the latest information and new innovations to promote sustainability within the sector and to underpin the future viability of the dairy and beef sectors.
Learn more about the Dairy Calf to Beef International Conference here.
Tipperary Dairy Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm Open Day
Based on the theme of ‘Dairy Beef Integration’, the Tipperary Dairy Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm – a joint initiative between Dawn Meats, Shinagh Estates and Teagasc - also hosted its first open day this year.
Established to demonstrate best practice in breeding, rearing and finishing dairy-beef animals, the open day examined integration, carcass specifications, genetics, calf rearing and grassland management.
Read the proceedings from the Tipperary Dairy Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm Open Day here.
In tomorrow’s article on Teagasc Daily, Catherine Egan will reflect on some of the key events organised by the Future Beef team throughout 2025.