20 in-calf heifers up for grabs at Tullamore Farm heifer sale

When the Irish Farmers Journal demonstration farm, Tullamore Farm was set up in 2017, there was a lot of debate around the breeding programme to be chosen.

The breeding programme has a massive effect on the day-to-day management of the farm and the bottom line. We wanted a functional cow, with lots of milk, high fertility and the ability to breed a good R/U grade animal.

The initial herd purchased had a high percentage of Limousin crosses from the dairy herd. Since then, some replacements have been kept from the foundation herd and a number of replacement heifers have been bought in each year.

The policy has been to use high-replacement-index AI sires on high-replacement-index cows to generate high-replacement-index replacement heifers.

While milk and fertility are central to profitable suckler cows, a close eye is being kept on the carcase weight figure of sires used to keep balance in the progeny for terminal characteristics as well as maternal characteristics. This is important as 50% of the progeny are male and are slaughtered as 16-month-old bulls so good beef traits are crucial.

Sires

At the beginning of every breeding season, a list of bulls is picked to use on the cows for that year. Criteria haven’t changed since the sires of these heifers were chosen in 2017.

Table 1 outlines the sires used in 2017 to breed the heifers at the sale.

Table 2 outlines the sires used on the heifers. Proven easy-calving bulls are used on heifers at Tullamore Farm.

Indices

The average replacement index of the herd is €120, which puts it in the top 10% of suckler herds in the country in terms of this index. In terms of sub-indices, the herd is running at +10.4kg for milk, +12kg for carcase weight and +0.25 for daughter calving interval. There is a big focus on improving these figures on an annual basis by using proven high-replacement-index AI sires.

It’s not all about figures and, while genetic gain is at the top of the list, visual appraisal is also carried out and any poorer-quality heifers have been culled out of the breeding group for finishing.

Eighteen of the twenty heifers presented for the sale are genotyped. The average date of birth of the 20 heifers is 16/03/2018.

The average replacement index is €122 (5 stars), while they are +18.6kg for carcase weight and +7.17kg for milk. The average weight of the group on 7 October was 577kg, meaning their daily liveweight gain since birth has been 0.95/kg/day.

Management

The heifers were all born between February and April 2018 and reared on their mothers until weaning in October 2018. The heifers were then grazed at grass until November when they were put on to a crop of forage rape for the winter months. This crop was grazed in situ, with access to silage bales and no meal. Heifers were then turned out grass in February and grazed on grass for the rest of 2019.

These heifers are grass-fed, not pushed on meal; they were fed meal for just five to six weeks around weaning and drought conditions in summer/autumn 2018. Heifers were bred in May and June 2019 to easy-calving AI sires and our Salers stock bull. All heifers presented for sale have been scanned in calf, with dates printed in the catalogue. Heifers will all calve at 23 to 24 months for the first time. All heifers have been vaccinated for Leptospirosis and BVD.

The sale offers an opportunity to purchase genuine heifers reared off grass, not pushed on meal. It is also an opportunity for farmers to purchase from proven genetics. The majority of the heifers are by AI sires and in calf to AI sires. We have a strict culling policy on the farm and any cows that have docility problems are culled so this will hopefully come through in the heifers.

The proof in the animals is their conformation and weight gains and we have consistently hit our weaning weight targets for the last three years. We believe that we need a good R grade cow to produce that real good weanling or finishing animal. Too much muscle and you lose out on calving ability and milk. The sale takes place in Tullamore Mart on Monday 28 October at 5.30pm. For enquiries contact Tullamore Mart on 057-932 1196.