Brian’s cow type is made up predominantly of first- and second-cross from the dairy herd, with a few continental breeds making up the remainder of the herd.

Brian's focus now has to turn to tightening his calving spread.

The average maternal index is €93, just shy of the five-star value range. Excellent figures of +7.9kg for milk production potential and -0.58 days for calving interval contribute strongly to the high maternal index rating.

As expected with the strong dairy influence, carcase weight index is slightly lower at +9kg. To counteract the low carcase weight, a very high-terminal index Limousine bull by Haltcliffe Dancer is used. The bull carries a five-star terminal index of €153, an impressive carcase weight figure of 38kg and carcase conformation figure of 2.62.

Replacements are generally sourced in the local marts, usually by purchasing a cow with a calf at foot or an in-calf heifer.

In future, as cow numbers climb towards the 50 mark, it will be too much for one bull to handle, so the plan will be to serve 15 to 20 cows and heifers to maternal AI sires and hold on to the heifers for replacements.

Producing a weaned calf per cow per year is a target that every suckler farmer aspires to achieve.

This year, Brian’s cows performed reasonably well, producing 0.94 calves per cow.

Other key performance indicators on the ICBF beef calving report for Brian’s herd for 2018 were also impressive and well above average figures at national level.

The report showed the herd achieved a calving interval of 372 days, mortality figures at birth and at 28 days were 2.3% and 4.3% respectively and 24% of his heifers calved at 24 months.

The big focus for this year is tightening the calving pattern of the herd. Last year, calving lasted just over six months and this year the plan is to cut that back to less than three months. A spread-out calving pattern drives production costs up, reduces farm output and increases labour demand.

This year, a defined breeding period was set; the bull joined the herd on 10 April and remained with the group of cows until 30 June – which was just short of 12 weeks.