Teagasc / Animal Health Ireland Beef Health Check Webinar
22 February 2022 22 February 2022Venue Online
With an increasing number of calves coming from our dairy herd many of which will end up being reared and finished on beef farms. It is important that we are aware of best practise when sourcing and settling in these young calves on farm to give them the best possible start. Done incorrectly you run the risk of poor calf thrive, higher calf mortality and consequently poor efficiency and financial returns.
The webinar which will be chaired by Dr Nicky Byrne who is the Dairy calf to Beef researcher in Teagasc Grange.
Speakers and topics
Peter O Hanrahan, Kilkenny beef farmer
Dr Nicky Byrne will be joined by Kilkenny beef farmer Peter O Hanrahan who was in the Greenacre Programme. Peter farms jointly with his father Thomas and they rear 200 calves through to finish at 24-28 months of age. He will discuss his buying in protocol, how he manages the calves immediately after arriving on farm with particular emphasis on feeding and health management. He will share his experience of what he sees as the key drivers in having a successful dairy beef system.
Chris Daly, ICBF
Our next speaker will be Chris Daly from ICBF and he will show us the new Commercial Beef Value (CBV) tool developed by ICBF to help farmers make better purchasing decisions when sourcing calves. If the sire of a calf is known then the CBV will give the potential beef merit of that individual calf based on its carcase traits etc. Although only in its infancy this tool has the potential to drive improved calf quality from the dairy herd if demanded by purchasers of calves.
Michelle Mc Grath, AHI
This will be followed by Michelle Mc Grath from AHI and who is a member of the Calf Care technical working group. Michelle will highlight how bloat can occur in calves whether they are fed using whole milk or milk powder. She will go through how the incidence can be reduced. She will also discuss issues around the increasing incidence of Summer Scour Syndrome in calves after turnout on some farms.
Natascha Meunier, AHI Beef Healthcheck Programme Manager
Finally we will be joined by Natascha Meunier AHI’s Beef Healthcheck Programme Manager who will give an outline of legislative changes to how we will be allowed to use anti-parasitic and antibiotics products at farm level.
This promises to be an excellent webinar dealing with health and genetics of dairy calf to beef systems. With short presentations from the various speakers you will have an opportunity to send your questions into the panel on the night and we hope for a lively discussion around all the issues covered.
