Visitors to the Tipperary dairy calf-to-beef farm open day on Wednesday were told that the farm aims to make a net profit of close to €100,000/year, or €50 for each hour worked. The 112ha farm is leased by Teagasc, with 95ha fully reseeded with grass and white clover and 10ha of cereals. The farm is operated by Ballyvadin Beef Farm Ltd, a joint venture between Dawn Meats and Shinagh Estates, owned by the four west Cork co-ops.
Visitors to the Tipperary dairy calf-to-beef farm open day on Wednesday were told that the farm aims to make a net profit of close to €100,000/year, or €50 for each hour worked.
The 112ha farm is leased by Teagasc, with 95ha fully reseeded with grass and white clover and 10ha of cereals. The farm is operated by Ballyvadin Beef Farm Ltd, a joint venture between Dawn Meats and Shinagh Estates, owned by the four west Cork co-ops.
Padraig French from Teagasc said that there are currently 335 calves on the farm and 320 yearlings. He said that the profit targets include full labour, along with full depreciation costs on the €560,000 spent by the company when setting up the farm.
Importantly, land lease costs and BISS payments are not included in the profit figures, with Teagasc covering the lease and retaining the BISS.
For 2024, French said he expects the company to make a profit of €44,742 and said that to achieve the target of €1,000/ha of profit, genetics and animal performance will need to improve. The farm is budgeting on a beef price of €4.70/kg for this autumn/winter.
With €70,000 of a labour cost, he said that the profit per hour worked will be €30/hr in 2024. The farm is located near Fethard, south Tipperary, and is leased for 15 years.
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