More than 300 farmers attended the Teagasc National Beef Conference in the Tullamore Court Hotel on Tuesday, which comprised a mix of research and industry presentations. Adam Woods reports

Using AI on a 100-cow suckler farm

Matthew Murphy, Newford suckler demonstration farm

The Newford herd, established in 2015, is making steady progress. Its aim is to demonstrate a profitable 100-cow suckler to beef enterprise from a system finishing as many steers and heifers from grass as possible.

Up to this year, AI has been used for six weeks, with stock bulls cleaning up for four to five weeks. Next year, the decision has been made to go 100% AI.

Matthew admitted he was sceptical about AI in the beginning but having been through two seasons he is comfortable to go 100% next year. AI was carried out once daily and this greatly reduced labour needed to bring stock in and out of the yard. This year’s breeding season was exceptionally good, with 93/99 of the cows bred scanning in calf on 1 August and 64 cows holding to first service.

Matthew attributes much of this success to the vasectomised bulls on the farm, which make heat detection easier.

“Our AI calves this year tell the story. If we have the genetics right to start with, we can manage the rest.”

Male calves born in 2017 weighed 303kg on 11 September and gained 1.3kg since birth.

Female calves weighed 276kg on 11 September and gained 1.23kg/day since birth.

All heifers and half of the steers have been getting 5kg/day of concentrates since 28 July and have been gaining just under 1kg day since turnout.

The lighter steers that are not eceiving concentrates and to be finished indoors are gaining 0.88kg/day since turnout.

The effect of breed type and post-weaning plane of nutrition on age at puberty and pregnancy rate in beef heifers

John Heslin, Teagasc, Grange

John Heslin is looking at factors affecting onset of puberty in beef heifers and barriers to calving heifers at 24 months in the beef herd.

Less than 20% of beef heifers calve at 24 months, with the average age of first calving at 31.5 months according to ICBF. This represents a major loss in profitability on Irish beef farms. John undertook a two-year study involving 320 beef heifers of different origin (beef and dairy herd), different breeds (early maturing and late maturing) and fed differently over winter months (moderate v high feeding level).

Heifers from dairy-bred dams had a higher daily gain of 0.84kg/day than calves from beef bred dams at 0.70kg/day over winter months. Overall dam origin had no effect on age at puberty. Pregnancy rate at 12 weeks was higher for dairy-bred heifers (93%) than beef-bred heifers (83%). John outlined some recommendations on weight targets for breeding heifers at 15 months to calve at two years old.

Table 1 is based on a 135-day winter, six weeks at grass in spring before breeding, gaining 1kg/day and breeding on 1 May.

John Heslin

How can genetics play a role in a profitable dairy beef system

Stephen Connolly, ABP

The dairy beef sector in Ireland is an important and growing sector and due to the growth in the dairy herd from 1.08m in 2002 to 1.33m in 2016, there has been a proportional increase in the number of dairy calves available for beef production. Dairy farmers are focused on using bulls which are easy-calving and short-gestation. However, the growth and carcase characteristics may be questionable in terms of operating a profitable beef enterprise.

The Teagasc ABP Dairy Calf to Beef Programme began in 2014 and involves purchasing 600 calves on an annual basis and rearing them through to slaughter to determine growth and carcase characteristics of different early maturing AI Hereford and Aberdeen Angus sires. The results to date have shown large variations in progeny performance between individual sires for key economic traits.

For example, the Angus progeny from FPI had 53kg heavier carcases, with a 1% higher killout percentage than JYK.

Similarly, progeny from the Hereford bull DPS had 52kg heavier carcases than TGB.

Stephen said it was important for beef farmers to start paying attention to the genetic merit of calves rather than purchasing on looks alone at two to three weeks of age.

The introduction of a dairy beef index and combined industry support are all required to improve the value of calves from the dairy herd and the profitability of dairy beef production.

Brexit update – Possible impacts on the Irish beef Industry

Dr Kevin Hanrahan, Teagasc

Dr Kevin Hanrahan outlined the position in relation to Brexit and what its implications were for Irish beef farmers.

If the UK opts for a free-trade arrangement, Ireland will be competing on the UK market at word prices. To put this in context, the Brazilian R3 cattle (equivalent) price so far in 2017 is 36% lower than the Irish price.

Getting another market for 52%of our beef exports is an unrealistic option and much work is needed to penetrate Asian and African countries with fresh boneless beef.

The average value of our beef exports to the UK In 2016 was €643.33/100kg.

With a tariff of 12.8% plus a fixed tariff of €303.40/100kg, this beef would take on a 60% tax to get into the UK market. The average beef farm is at the highest risk from Brexit for a number of reasons:

  • 1. High levels of current tariff protection.
  • 2. High dependence on UK market.
  • 3. High dependence on CAP subsidies from EU budget which will come under pressure.
  • In relation to farm level response to Brexit, Kevin outlined that there is very little a farmer can do in the face of Brexit and this is one of the issues with being a price taker, as all beef farmers are. Maintaining and improving the competitiveness of Irish beef production is key to new markets and holding onto existing markets.

    He said: “Implementing technologies that improve the productivity of Irish beef production are now more important than ever. Standing still is not an option. Getting better at what we do is the only way the industry can survive.”

    Key quotes from the conference

  • "A lot of farmers are not achieving targets being achieved on Teagasc demonstration farms and we have to seriously ask ourselves the question, why?" – Dr Tom Kelly, director of knowledge transfer, Teagasc
  • "€60m is being lost on an annual basis in the livestock sector through increased mortality, reduced weight gains and reduced conception rates due to incorrect or no fluke control" – Theo de Waal, School of Veterinary Medicine, UCD
  • "In 2006, 5.3% of samples submitted to regional veterinary laboratories in Ireland tested positive for rumen fluke. This has risen to 42.5% in 2013" – Theo de Waal
  • "Getting in 100 cows for AI is a lot easier than it sounds – roadways, a good electric fence and having quiet cows are all very important" – Matthew Murphy, farm manager, Newford Herd
  • "65% of Irish soils are deficient in lime, 62% are deficient in phosphorus and 57% are deficient in potassium. We are losing the soil fertility battle in this country." – John Maher, Teagasc
  • "Delaying age at first calving to 36 months instead of 24 months will reduce net margin/ha on farms by 50%" – John Heslin, Teagasc
  • "Dairy cow numbers are predicted to increase from 1.25m in 2015 to 1.61m in 2021 leaving a lot more dairy calves available for beef finishing in the future" – Stephen Connolly, ABP
  • "In a trial with continental bulls finished on ad-lib silage and concentrates, when maize was included at 43% instead of barley in the ration, there was no improvement in carcase fat deposition" – Dr Mark Magee, Teagasc
  • "There is no version of Brexit, soft or hard that presents an upside for Irish beef production, it’s about damage limitation from here on in" – Dr Kevin Hanrahan, Teagasc
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