Upcoming DairyBeef 500 Farm Walk
Next Tuesday, May 7 at 6pm, the Teagasc DairyBeef 500 team will hold a farm walk on the farm of Peter Byrne, Newtown, Castledermot, Co. Kildare. Eircode R14 R763. This event will be of great interest to both dairy and beef farmers alike.
On the evening, attendees will get to see Peter’s farm in action. There will be information on his current farm system, looking at how the farm has performed from both a financial and physical point of view over the last four years.
Key topics
At this time of year, many calf rearers are turning their calves out to grass. After a successful calf rearing period on milk and concentrates, this can be a tricky period in getting calves to continue to perform without any set-backs. To address this, there will be an information stand with advice and tips on transitioning calves to grass, and the best options to avoid any digestive upsets and set-backs over the next number of weeks as they get established on a grass diet.
Other topics that will be covered will include current grassland management and how Peter uses a white clover sward to reduce his chemical nitrogen applications. He also uses some red clover swards to make high quality, high protein silage.
After a very wet and difficult spring and with many silage reserves now used up on a lot of farms, there will be information on how to build a fodder reserve and get fodder back in yards in advance of next winter or for use in times in extremes of wet or dry weather before then.
About the farm
Peter has been in the DairyBeef 500 programme for a number of years now. As part of the event, he will demonstrate the improvements that he has made on his farm in recent years and how this has had a positive effect on the physical and financial performance of his calf-to-beef enterprise.
Currently rearing approximately 160 calves, which are made up of both male and female animals, Peter also has a tillage enterprise on his farm. Within this, forage crops are also grown and used on farm where weanling animals are grazed outdoors over the winter period to help reduce housing and silage requirements.
All male animals on the farm are finished as steers at under 24 months of age with the aim to have some slaughtered prior to housing for the second winter. All heifers are slaughtered at under 20 months of age.
Everyone is welcome to attend this free event. The DairyBeef 500 team look forward to meeting you on the evening, where there will be plenty of information and discussion on all things dairy calf to beef. The event will be signposted locally.
For more information on the DairyBeef 500 Programme and on this event, please click here.