Farm incomes are front and centre in any consideration of the future direction of beef farming.

Farm incomes are driven by three factors: price and market conditions, direct payments and productivity.

Price and market conditions and direct payments are largely outside the influence of farmers.

Unfortunately, the medium-term outlook is not very promising, with looming threats from Brexit, Mercosur and TTIP as well as potential policy changes in EU agricultural policy.

Many beef farmers are thus at a crossroads. On average, across the wide variety of systems in the sector, farmers just about cover their costs of production with little left for the time, management skills and investment they put into their farms.

The basic payment, for most, is the reward but for some this will be reducing over the coming years.

What can be done?

What can be done on these farms to address their relatively low return from beef production?

The answer lies in the lessons learned from programmes such as the Teagasc – Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Beef programme, which after seven years has now concluded its second phase.

Across all farms there was a consistent message. When efficiencies in the areas of grassland management, breeding and animal health were improved, increased margins followed.

Over the last four years gross margins increased by over 50%, with over 80% of this due to improvements in technical efficiency.

These efficiency gains were also associated with improvements in environmental sustainability.

Grassland management

Grazed grass is the cheapest source of feed in Irish livestock production systems.

Grass utilisation on the majority of beef farms – at less than 6t/ha – is way too low.

On the BETTER farms, by contrast, they’ve achieved average utilisation rates of 8t/ha and upward.

Growing more grass at the shoulders of the season is also dependent on having grass varieties that perform well at these times of the year.

Many beef farms can benefit by increasing their levels of reseeding so that newer varieties of perennial ryegrasses, with both earlier- and later-growing traits, can be incorporated into their swards.

Regular soil testing is essential: 90% of fields on farms are below optimal for either pH, phosphorus or potassium.

Correcting these alone will significantly increase the annual production of grass on most farms.

Correcting lime status should be the priority on most drystock farms. Increasing the number of paddock divisions and reducing the number of grazing groups has also clearly been shown to increase grass production compared to set stocking.

The Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER farm beef programme demonstrated time and time again that where soil fertility is corrected on farms and a proper rotational grazing system is put in place, the increase in annual grass production is phenomenal.

Teagasc will be launching a major national initiative in the next couple of months to promote better grassland management through the PastureBase Ireland project.

Breeding

At present in Ireland there are over one million suckler cows. We know from programmes such as the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER farm beef programme that there is a direct correlation between breeding and profitability.

Take a key indicator: calves/cow/year figure. At present our national average is 0.79, while the rate is 0.95 on the BETTER farm beef programme.

Ireland is on the cusp of a steep change in the advancement of beef breeding. With the introduction of the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) we will be the first country to deliver a breeding programme through the use of genomic testing.

We have seen the positive effect that improvements in EBI have had on the dairy sector – and I believe there is no reason why a similar, if not greater impact, cannot be delivered for the beef sector.

We are now living in the era of “big data” and within the agricultural sector this is nowhere more evident than in the case of animal breeding.

The key challenge for ICBF, Teagasc and all stakeholders will be to utilise this data resource for the direct benefit of Irish beef producers. The new Beef Knowledge Transfer discussion group programme, which will be launched this summer by DAFM as part of the Rural Development Programme, will be a key driver in getting this valuable information out to farmers over the next few years.

Our view is that beef breeding in Ireland will undergo a paradigm shift in the very near future, akin to what is currently under way in Irish dairying.

Genomic information will increase the accuracy of genetic evaluations, thereby not only increasing farmer confidence in bull and replacement heifer selection, but also increasing genetic gain.

New genetic evaluations for traits such as animal health, meat quality and environmental footprint will not only help achieve more holistic genetic gain, but will also cement the global reputation of Irish products as being of superior quality, produced in an environmentally and socially friendly manner.

It is also probable that biotechnological developments, such as genome editing, may be applied at a limited level. Genome editing involves the direct manipulation of the DNA of the animal and is likely to be undertaken for traits such as polled.

To realise the huge potential from the rapid developments in the science of animal breeding will require a concerted effort from farmers, breed societies, AI companies, Teagasc, ICBF and DAFM.

Animal health

At the commencement of the Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER farm beef programme, it became apparent very quickly that there were underlying health problems on a number of the farms.

The programme, as a result, prioritised the need to draw up a herd health plan for each of the farms. This emphasis was continued into the second phase of the programme.

The new knowledge transfer discussion group programme also has a herd health planning component that will encourage a positive interaction between vets and farmers to assess and prioritise the health risks on farms.

A suite of control measures – from biosecurity to vaccination – will be put in place on farms.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is now emerging as a particular challenge on livestock farms that needs to be carefully managed as a key component of a herd health plan.

Animal Health Ireland (AHI) in conjunction with industry partners will continue to develop strategies to control of diseases such as BVD, IBR and Johnes.

One of the best strategies for ensuring animal health is also the one of the oldest: selecting the healthiest and most resilient animals for breeding the next generation. Genomics has the potential to realise this goal for producers.