Teagasc’s head of livestock systems has said beef produced from the dairy herd is more environmentally and economically efficient than beef from the suckler herd.

Speaking at an IFA calf welfare seminar in Claremorris, Co Mayo, last week, Padraig French said the beef industry is depressed at the moment, adding: “I think we have probably added to the confusion around the value of these dairy calves in how we have communicated the message about the value of dairy calves.

“We must remember that dairy beef production is more environmentally, more economically and more biologically efficient than suckler beef production and to produce 1kg of beef from the dairy herd costs somewhere between €3 and €3.30/kg,” he said.

“Now that’s probably close enough to the price being paid for a kilo of beef from those animals at the moment, but to produce a kilo of beef from the suckler herd costs about €4.20/kg and farmers involved in dairy beef production have that buffer that when beef price falls, some of that loss in income is passed back to the dairy farmer.

“That option isn’t there for suckler farmers, so dairy beef production is still a viable enterprise despite all the talk that is being said about it, ‘that we shouldn’t touch these calves, or that these calves need €100 with them’, it is still a viable enterprise for a lot of farmers in Ireland and I think we need to get back to that message,” French said.

In September, Teagasc’s head of drystock Pearse Kelly said that to leave a net margin of €200/head at a beef price of €3.50/kg, dairy-bred Angus and Hereford calves are valued at €2/head.

Friesian bulls would need to be free and accompanied by a payment of €128 to the buyer to make the same margin.

A Jersey-cross calf would need to be offered free and come with a higher payment of €214/head to make the €200 margin.