Beef Newsletter - February 2025

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In this month's edition:

• Springtime slurry applications
  Slurry is a cost-effective fertiliser for growing grass on beef farms, helping to reduce the high costs of chemical fertilisers. It provides essential nutrients like nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) that grass needs to grow.
• Benefits of lime
  Put lime on your fertiliser shopping list in 2025. The most recent soil test results show that 65% of drystock farms have a lime requirement.
• SCEP reference for 2025
  The Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) allows adjustments to your yearly reference number. If you reduced your 2024 figure by up to 20%, you might want to increase it for 2025.
• Data on calving times
  Noeleen Brereton, Mark McGee, Peter Doyle and Bernadette Earley of the Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc, Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath report on the calving times of suckler cows over a 16-year period. 
• Health & Safety - Slurry and calving/ lambing safety
  With slurry, evacuate all animals and ventilate before you agitate. Select a breezy day and open all doors and outlets to provide a draught. Keep people away from the shed and agitation point for at least 40 minutes after starting. Keep the tank opening secure at all times. Beware of gas in buildings that are linked by tanks or drainage channels.
  Keep safe during calving and lambing. Use calving/lambing gates and pens. Keep a physical barrier between you and a calving cow at all times.