Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon and Minister of State Noel Grealish have launched a new Teagasc-led European dairy-beef innovation project.

Dairy-beef accounts for over 60% of all cattle finished in Ireland and Teagasc has developed detailed blueprints to support finishing these animals in an efficient and profitable system.

Many EU countries show interest in developing grass-based dairy-beef systems, due to the ethical concerns associated with more intensive indoor finishing systems and the opportunity to make better use of grasslands.

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Better-Calf

Teagasc is leading the “Better-Calf” project, funded by Interreg North-West Europe, which aims to support family farms by providing them with tools to optimise grass-fed dairy-beef systems.

Dairy-beef research farm studies will be carried out in Ireland, France and Belgium with a focus on maximising access to pasture and promoting animal welfare. In addition, a network of 40 commercial farms across Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg and Switzerland will be created.

Minister Heydon said the project reflects Ireland’s agri-food sector’s strategy set out in Food Vision 2030 to promote greater integration of dairy and beef sectors and develop and support dairy-beef systems.

“By championing grass-based production, Ireland along with our EU partners are demonstrating how livestock farming can deliver on high climate and welfare ambitions while actively safeguarding the economic future of our family farms,” he concluded.

Lead applicant on the Better-Calf project and beef enterprise leader at Teagasc Grange, Dr. Paul Crosson highlighted the importance of this research project.

“In Ireland we view grass-based beef cattle production as the norm; in fact, this is quite unusual with most cattle production systems globally involving long indoor feeding periods. We aim to refine these systems and build farmer networks to ensure rapid implementation on beef farms in Ireland and across north-west Europe,” he said.

Communication manager for the project, Pauline Madrange from the French Livestock Institute noted that family farms in Europe are under increasing financial pressure with 51% of farmers who retire in France having no successor.