Over 200 farmers attending last Friday’s Teagasc national beef farm walk on the farm of John Pringle and his family in Co Wicklow were treated to a masterclass in suckler beef production. Sunnyhill Farm extends to 58ha, with 52.8ha of permanent grassland, 3.2ha in low-input grassland and 2ha of swedes. Stock numbers include 50 plus spring-calving cows, with bulls finished at 15 months of age and surplus heifers sold for breeding or finished at 21 months.

The suckler-to-beef system is run alongside a 230-head mid-season lambing ewe flock and 60-head ewe lamb flock, which lamb as yearlings. Sunnyhill Farm is part of Teagasc’s Future Beef Programme and majors on doing the simple things right and maximizing output, with a stocking rate of over 160kg organic nitrogen/ha.

Beef price boost

The beef system was in a prime position to take advantage of last year’s jump in farmgate beef price. This supported a significant increase in gross output value and, as detailed in Table 1, laid the foundation for excellent financial performance.

Discussing the figures, Teagasc adviser Peter Lawrence said that the farm is among the top-performing suckler-to-beef production systems, with an impressive output of over 1,000kg beef produced per hectare (ha). This generated a gross output value of almost €4,500/ha.

The level of variable costs as a percentage of gross output at just 39% was excellent performance, with Peter commenting that variable costs in many similar production systems are running at upwards of 45% to 50% of gross output.

This left a very healthy gross margin of €2,711/ha and when fixed costs of €1,255/ha were deducted, resulted in a net margin of €1,457/ha. This excludes premia with the farm’s Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) and National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS) payments worth €307/ha.

2026 forecast

Table 1 also includes target projections for 2026. Peter said the aim is to continue to increase output per livestock unit through the use of better genetics and keeping costs in check by utilizing grass efficiently.

Gross output value was forecast to increase to €4,900/ha, but this figure unfortunately now looks high given the sharp reduction in beef prices in recent months and fact that bulls are ready to be slaughtered. There is also an increase in variable costs predicted to account for rising input costs and possibly €2,000 to €3,000 fplus or bluetongue virus vaccination. Nevertheless, he said the farm should still be in a position to achieve good financial performance in 2026.

There were some questions on how the farm’s gross margin has jumped so significantly from a net margin of €70/ha in 2023 to €820/ha in 2024 and €1,457/ha in 2025. John explains that financial performance in 2023 was still effected by a TB outbreak in 2021/2022. He said a number of animals were lost and that the farm was focusing on herd rebuilding and had less sales to capitalise on.

Variable costs

Variable costs are outlined in Figure 1. Concentrates account for 52% of variable costs at €901/ha, which is not surprising, with bulls consuming upwards of 1.6t of concentrates per head. Fertiliser is next up at 16% or €276/ha, while spending on health accounted for 10% of variable costs in 2025 at €177/ha. Contractor costs were €100/ha (6%), while lime and straw came in at 5%.

Spending on lime is viewed as one of the best investments on the farm with a spotlight on soil fertility. Likewise, straw costs are significant, but having a source of organic matter is viewed as highly beneficial to apply on soils low in phosphorus or potassium.

Suckler system

Every animal on the farm has to work, with no room for passengers on the suckler or sheep side. The focus in the suckler herd is on fertile cows with a good milk yield and possessing a reasonable balance of beef characteristics to pass on to progeny. The average replacement index value of cows based on the March 2026 evaluation is €107. Predicted transmitting ability (PTA) for daughter milk is first rate at 8kg with the PTA for carcase weight also at a high level at 20kg.

Table 2 details key performance indicators for reproductive performance and 200-day weights. The herd is consistently achieving upwards of 0.95 calves/cow/year, with 100% of heifers calving at 22 to 26 months of age, while the spring six-week calving rate is over 75%.

Calf performance peaked in 2025 on the back of an early spring. This is reflected in the performance of cows, with liveweight at its highest level of 730kg. The breeding programme has traditionally incorporated only Simmental genetics, with generations of top genetics in the back breeding of cows.

In recent years the farm has incorporated some Limousin genetics, with an easy-calving Limousin stock bull, Galbally Timmy – LM1788, mated with first- and second-calvers. Two stock bulls, Dermotstown Lionheart – SI626 and Dermotstown Superstar – SI738 are run with mature cows. Limousin genetics are also used in the breeding programme for maiden heifers, with two relatively easy-calving sires, Grenache – LM4351 and Powerful Proper – LM7416, with high reliability figures, selected for this year’s breeding season.

Two-year calving

The farm is in the fortunate position of being able to practically select every heifer born as potential replacements. John comments that in the current crop of heifers there were only two not suitable for breeding, as they were a twin to a male calf.

As mentioned already, 100% of heifers calve down at two years of age and Teagasc estimates that this is reducing the carbon footprint of suckler systems by 7%, while increasing net profit per livestock unit by 33% based on 2024 figures. The farm is proof that calving at 24 months of age can be successfully practiced, but also highlights the importance of hitting key performance targets.

Table 2 details the performance targets on the farm for replacement heifers. There is no issue with performance up to weaning, with cow milk yield driving performance. Therefore, the first critical challenge is to achieve an average daily gain over the winter period of 0.6kg/head daily.

John comments that the volume of meal supplemented over the first winter depends on forage quality, with typical supplementation at 1.5kg to 2kg. He says that he would have no problem raising supplementation levels to 3kg if required, adding that it is a small cost at a critical timeframe to hit performance targets.

Heifers are prioritised for early turnout and a synchronisation programme has been adopted in the last few years for ease of management. This costs about €35/head and is seen as a worthwhile investment at a busy time of the year.

Grassland management

The focus on the evening was on the suckler beef system, but John told farmers that the efficiency of the system is built upon beef and sheep enterprises complementing each other. This is especially the case when it comes to grassland management.

Cattle and sheep graze together with a batch of 25 cows and their calves grazing with a batch of 100 to 120 ewes and their lambs. The aim is for a maximum residency in any paddock of about three days, with animals typically entering paddocks of approximately 1.5ha (four acres) in size.

There are 29 grazing divisions on the farm with potential to subdivide many of these during peak growth. The farm works on the basis of low-cost fencing with many semi-permanent divisions made up of four strands of electric wire. Three of these are generally polywire, with John preferring one strand of metal electric wire.

Strategic infrastructure

Water troughs are strategically placed to allow paddocks to be subdivided quickly, while grass measuring takes place to match grass growth to demand. In this manner, John is also quickly able to take surplus grass out of the rotation.

The farm witnessed a spike in grass growth in the last fortnight, which resulted in a couple of paddocks where animals were targeted for grazing on the farm walk route exceeding pre-grazing target heights (9cm to 11cm). John explains that if he was not holding a farm walk these paddocks would have been skipped and taken out of the rotation as high-quality winter forage.

About 10 to 12 acres of ground is sown each year as a multispecies sward or swedes. The aim with the multispecies sward is to select suitable high-performing grass varieties of the Department of Agriculture’s recommended list, so that there will still be a good grass-clover sward left after herbs have died away.

Bull beef

As mentioned already, bulls are finished at approximately 15 months of age. The batch of 29 bulls finished in 2025 graded U=3= on average and killed at 395kg carcase weight. At a price of €7.77/kg, the average sale value was €3,071.

The same bulls if killed today would receive a price in the region of €6.82/kg, including ABP’s Advantage scheme sustainability bonus of 20c/kg. This equates to the sales value falling by approximately €11,400 year-on-year, while the price is trending above the average received in 2023 and 2024.

The system in place on the farm is introducing concentrates to calves as per the NBWS in the period from August to October, with feeding levels built up to 3kg post-weaning. Housing occurs once weather deteriorates and grass quality declines, with the focus on ensuring performance does not slip. Bulls are fed on 72+ dry matter digestibility silage and built from 3kg to 5kg concentrates.

Bulls are then transferred to ad-lib concentrates in February and slaughtered in June at a target liveweight of 680kg to 700kg and fat class 3. Bulls are slaughtered in ABP, which is a stakeholder in the Future Beef Programme and supported last Friday’s national event.

Advantage Beef Programme

Speaking at the event, John Kelly explained the group’s Advantage Beef Programme. It pays a sustainability bonus of 20c/kg on in-spec animals delivered at a carcase weight ranging from 280kg to 420kg and fat class 2+ to 4+.

On the Pringle farm, John Kelly estimated that it is worth approximately €80 per finished animal. Animals sourced from the dairy herd are also eligible, with the exception of Jersey-sired animals or beef cattle with 12.5% or more Jersey breeding. Animals must be reared in a Bord Bia quality assured herd for all of their life and there is a maximum of one movement (two residencies). Animals must be present on the finishing farm for six months for steers and heifers.