The beef finishing in Country Crest is 14 bays long and was built in 2013. Approximately 1,000 cattle are finished per annum, with all the beef being used for high-end restaurants, butcher shops and meal solutions for large multiples.
Michael Hoey from Country Crest being presented with a gift from the Irish Farm Buildings Association for hosting part of the tour.
The beef finishing unit in Country Crest can feed up to 360 cattle at one time and is very comfortable with layback areas and a well designed handling unit.
A feed store was also built on the unit, used for storing potatoes, soya and barley.
The farm buildings tour visited Irish Custom Extruders in Ballymun where the Comfort Slat Mats are made. Tony Dunne gave the group a rundown of the manufacturing procedure and new innovations they are working on, such as this flap (pictured) which aims to limit the ammonia emissions that can come from the slurry tank below. This system is being tested in Holland where ammonia emissions are a real issue in intensive dxairy systems.
Special pounding machines are used on samples of the comfort mats to help simulate the effect of wear and tear similar to what may occur in a livestock shed.
The new emmission flaps are also being tested to see how long they might last.
Freshly made plastic mat profiles leaving the machine being cooled with water as they go.
The foundation yard in the Longtown Department of Agriculture Veterinary Research Farm. This is where the minimal disease cattle herd of 80 suckler cows and their followers are kept and a small sheep flock of 20 ewes.
A water tank and wash down pump are situated in the cattle handling shed in Longtown which takes the work out of cleaning the handling pens after use.
Approximately 1,600 round bales of straw are used annually and large roofed farm yard manure stores were built to accomodate this.
A purpose-built calving shed in Longtown has a straw bedded layback and calving boxes, a roller door entrance to the calving boxes allows tractor access for cleaning out and a solid wall in the middle gives a solid structure to push used straw against with a tractor loader. Calving boxes are cleaned after every calving.
On Friday, the Irish Farm Building Association held a study tour showcasing the very best practice in the Irish farm buildings industry. The delegation visited Country Crest in Lusk, Co Dublin, where they got to see a very well designed and impressive beef finishing unit. The majority of the feed for the unit is produced and processed on the farm, including potatoes, barley, maize silage and grass silage. Approximately 1,000 heifers are finished per annum in the unit and are killed in Troy’s in Tyrellspass and the meat is marketed by country crest in a range of products for high-end restaurants to multiple retailers.
Next the group visited Irish Custom Extruders, manufacturers of the Comfort Slat Mat. The mats have been in production for over 10 years now and are exported worldwide. Tony Dunne from Comfort Slat Mats said that the mats have a patented design which gives a number of advantages, such as speedy removal of waste to the tank underneath. Its air-cushioned design brings the comfort of outdoors indoors and higher livestock weight gains. The group was shown the rigorous testing procedures being carried out to test the expected longevity of the mats and also new product development.
Veterinary Research Farm
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The tour ended in the Department of Agriculture Veterinary Research Farm in Longtown, Clane, Co Kildare. This farm provides animals for the production of positive and negative control tissue and sera for use in various diagnostic procedures at Backweston laboratories. The study group was given a tour of the foundation yard where the minimal disease risk cattle and sheep are kept. These nucleus herds allow offspring of known health status to be produced for research purposes. All the buildings in this yard were built to the Department minimum specifications.
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On Friday, the Irish Farm Building Association held a study tour showcasing the very best practice in the Irish farm buildings industry. The delegation visited Country Crest in Lusk, Co Dublin, where they got to see a very well designed and impressive beef finishing unit. The majority of the feed for the unit is produced and processed on the farm, including potatoes, barley, maize silage and grass silage. Approximately 1,000 heifers are finished per annum in the unit and are killed in Troy’s in Tyrellspass and the meat is marketed by country crest in a range of products for high-end restaurants to multiple retailers.
Next the group visited Irish Custom Extruders, manufacturers of the Comfort Slat Mat. The mats have been in production for over 10 years now and are exported worldwide. Tony Dunne from Comfort Slat Mats said that the mats have a patented design which gives a number of advantages, such as speedy removal of waste to the tank underneath. Its air-cushioned design brings the comfort of outdoors indoors and higher livestock weight gains. The group was shown the rigorous testing procedures being carried out to test the expected longevity of the mats and also new product development.
Veterinary Research Farm
The tour ended in the Department of Agriculture Veterinary Research Farm in Longtown, Clane, Co Kildare. This farm provides animals for the production of positive and negative control tissue and sera for use in various diagnostic procedures at Backweston laboratories. The study group was given a tour of the foundation yard where the minimal disease risk cattle and sheep are kept. These nucleus herds allow offspring of known health status to be produced for research purposes. All the buildings in this yard were built to the Department minimum specifications.
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