Father-and-son duo Cathal and Peter Breen farm 74ha of heavy clay-type land near Gorey, Co Wexford. Limousin constitutes the majority of the genetics in their suckler herd, though there are Angus and Simmental bloodlines evident too.

Cathal and some of the BETTER management team surveying his cattle.

Limousin and Angus stock bulls work the herd. The Limousin is out of the famed Ronick Hawk with a calving difficulty figure of 4% (84% reliability). The Breens are on the lookout for a new Angus bull, having culled their old one last autumn. He had become too aggressive to keep.

Cows calve down early in the spring on the Breen farm.

To date in 2018, 34 out of 60 cows have calved. There has been one loss and one set of twins.

"They're coming nice and easy so far with just two assisted. We have a 3G calving camera in place and I find it particularly good after calving in determining whether the calf gets their colostrum in," Cathal said.

All progeny are finished on the farm, with a steer beef system in place to utilise the 74ha available. In 2017, 32 of their own steers were slaughtered. The age at slaughter was 22 months and average carcase weight was 377kg, grading R=, 3=. In terms of beef heifers, 21 were killed in the same period, averaging 296kg, R=, 4-. The age at slaughter was approximately 20 months.

Breed comparison

Comparing breeds, the Limousin steer carcases were approximately 14kg heavier at the same slaughter age. The also graded better (R+ v R=), but were leaner (3= v 3+).

Steers feeding for slaughter during the winter. The average steer carcase weight was 377kg in 2017.

As both have off-farm commitments, the Breens have capped the suckler herd at 60 cows. In a bid to boost output, however, they have introduced a calf-rearing system on to the farm.

“We reared 30 last year, only losing one that showed no symptoms and just dropped in the field,” Cathal told me.

Last year’s batch were mostly whiteheads. The average date of birth of the 2017 batch was 16 March and in January of this year they had grown at a daily rate of 0.82kg from birth and weighed 293kg.

Cathal is looking to bring in 50 to 60 this spring and has already begun sourcing.

These calves arrived on the farm for rearing on Tuesday of this week.

“I collected 11 today [Tuesday, as pictured] and nine last week. So far, we have 11 Limousin-crosses and nine pure Friesians. They come from two farms, within a 10-minute drive,” he said.

The dairy farmers that the Breens deal with keep the calves until they are three to four weeks of age. Cathal collects the calves early in the afternoon, and they will have got their morning feed.

Evening feed

“I don’t give them electrolytes as the distance they travel is so small. Then they get their evening feed as normal on the day they arrive here – 375g of milk powder (three litres). After one week, they get a Vecoxan (coccidiosis) dose and then after 10 days we dehorn them. We don’t vaccinate for pneumonia here but they will get one against clostridial disease going to grass,” Cathal told me.

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