What’s been happening at Ballyvadin
Chloe Millar, Teagasc, gives an update on the Tipperary Dairy Calf to Beef herd, covering grassland, weanling and finishing cattle performance.
Grassland
The recent cold spell is a welcome break from the rainfall over the past couple of weeks. The ground conditions are improving every day and we have 105 weanlings still at grass. These weanlings are on 1.5kg ration and are doing well - the 41 heifers are averaging 219kg doing 0.78kg/day and the 55 steer weanlings are averaging 197kg doing 0.70kg/day. The farm cover is 545kg DM/ha. Our demand is quite low at grass (5 kg/Dm/ha) - these weanlings at grass will be housed as space becomes available once cattle are slaughtered. To date the farm has grown 12t of grass DM/ha of which 5t of grass DM/ha was taken as silage.
Weanling performance
Weanlings were housed in the slatted house as space became available. The first batch of weanlings (50) were housed on a slatted pen on the 2nd of November averaging 225kg. 110 weanlings were housed over the last 3 weeks. These weanlings were split between straw bedding and available slatted house space. Our housed heifer weanlings are averaging 200kg and were doing .80kg/day at grass and housed bull calves are averaging 240kg and were doing .76kg/day at grass. These animals are due their first indoor weighing next week as the last of them will be housed 3 weeks.
Finishing cattle
There were 235 cattle that were born in 2022 turned out to grass on the 13th of March. In July, 177 (92 heifers and 85 steers) cattle were drafted with the intention of the being killed before Christmas these animals were housed between the 26th and 29th of September and 58 cattle (20 heifers and 38 steers) were drafted as cattle to be finished in February – these animals were housed on the 13th of October. To date 96 of the finishing cattle have been slaughtered. Cattle are drafted every two weeks and the most recent draft was on the 27th of November. The remaining 83 steers are averaging 529kg and the 56 heifers are averaging 474kg.
The 96 finished cattle were killed over 3 drafts. The first draft were killed on the 12th of October and we have cattle booked in to Dawn meats Grannagh on Monday the 4th December.
Table 1 – Finished heifer performance to date
| Draft | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Number of heifers | 14 | 28 | 15 |
| Kill date | 12/10/2023 | 01/11/2023 | 17/11/2023 |
| Kill weight | 505.4 kg | 496 kg | 535 kg |
| Carcass weight | 242 kg | 247 kg | 261 kg |
| Kill out % | 48% | 50% | 49% |
| Carcass grade | O= | O= | O= |
| Carcass Fat | 3+ | 3= | 3- |
| Lightest carcass | 210 kg | 220 kg | 238.5 kg |
| Heaviest carcass | 301 kg | 275 kg | 287 kg |
| Average days on meal | 66 days | 86 days | 102 days |
| Average finishing meal | 207kg | 291 kg | 355 kg |
| Performance from turnout toslaughter | 0.96 kg/day | 0.88 kg/day | 0.98 kg/day |
| Days turnout to slaughter | 212 days | 232 days | 249 days |
Table 2 – Finished steers performance to date
| Draft | 1 | 3 |
| Number of steers | 14 | 25 |
| Kill date | 12/10/2023 | 17/11/2023 |
| Kill weight | 552.5 kg | 595kg |
| Carcass weight | 275kg | 297.8kg |
| Kill out % | 50% | 50% |
| Carcass grade | O+ | O+ |
| Carcass Fat | 3= | 3= |
| Lightest carcass | 234.6kg | 270.1kg |
| Heaviest carcass | 296.8kg | 361.8kg |
| Average days on meal | 66 | 102 |
| Average finishing Meal | 215 kg | 359 kg |
| Performance from turnout to slaughter | .96kg | 1.09 kg |
| Days turnout to slaughter | 213 days | 249 days |
Visitors
The farm has had over 450 visitors since we started taking in groups in May to November.
If you wish to organise a visit to the farm please email chloe.millar@teagasc.ie
Please note - We will not be taking any groups/visitors on farm from February - May in 2024 to reduce the risk of disease during our calf-rearing phase.