The Thrive programme aims to demonstrate best practice for dairy calf-to-beef systems through the use of higher-genetic merit AI-sired beef calves, combined with a high level of technical efficiency in terms of nutrition and animal health.

The Irish Farmers Journal Thrive demonstration farm, located on the farm of John Hally in Cashel, Co Tipperary, sees 140 calves reared each year and brought through to slaughter at between 18 and 21 months of age.

The aim on the farm is to draft as many animals off grass at the end of the second grazing season as possible, in order to eliminate what can be a costly indoor winter finishing period. Currently, 2019-born stock are being drafted for slaughter. The target for the heifers is to achieve an average carcase weight of 275kg at 19 months, while a target of 300kg at the same age has been set for the bullocks.

To date, 64 animals have been slaughtered off grass this back end. However, the majority of the remaining animals have now been housed for a short finishing period.

Table 1 outlines the slaughter performance of the animals drafted so far from the farm. While the project is more focused on what individual sires can deliver rather than simply a breed average, with relatively small numbers slaughtered to-date it is too soon to draw any conclusions on individual sire performance.

What is interesting to note is that although there are 14 Belgian Blue heifers and 17 Belgian Blue bullocks on the farm, none have been drafted for slaughter as of yet. Compared to almost 80% of the Angus and Hereford heifers and 60% of Limousin heifers drafted off grass, it does indicate that the Belgian Blue-sired animals are not suited to a grass-based finishing system at such a young age.

When we look at the bullocks, 0% of Belgian Blue, just 23% of the Limousins, 31% of Angus and an impressive 64% of Herefords have been drafted for slaughter off grass.

We are paying around €100/head more for Belgian Blues as calves, compared to Angus and Hereford-sired calves

In fact, the Blue bullocks were that far away from being drafted off grass, they were housed earlier than the rest of the cattle to try to get them finished.

We are paying around €100/head more for Belgian Blues as calves, compared to Angus and Hereford-sired calves. This means to overcome the higher purchase price and greater finishing costs, they will need to achieve a much heavier carcase weight. Time will tell if this is the case.

Finishing period

Meal was introduced to finishing stock at grass from 1 August. However, only heifers over 470kg (37 animals) and bullocks over 490kg (43 animals) had meal introduced at this stage. The rest started meal feeding on 9 September.

A simple four-way mix of barley, maize, soya hulls and distillers has been used this year. The ration has an energy value of 0.95 UFL (1kg of air-dried barley has a UFL of 1) and is 12% protein.

Looking at the breed averages, meal intake during the finishing period is lowest for the Hereford heifers at an average of 171kg

Energy is the main component we should focus on for a finishing ration, especially when finishing at pasture, as protein levels are more than plentiful in grass during autumn. Heifers have been offered 3kg/day, while bullocks were fed 4kg/day at grass.

Looking at the breed averages, meal intake during the finishing period is lowest for the Hereford heifers at an average of 171kg, closely followed by the Angus heifers at 174kg, with the Limousin heifers averaging 199kg. The story is mirrored for the bullocks, with Hereford slightly lower than Angus (233kg and 235kg) and Limousin the higher at 247kg.

Carcase performance

Looking at the heifers, the average slaughter weight has been greatest for Limousin heifers at 549kg, compared to 531kg and 532kg for Angus and Hereford heifers respectively. This, alongside a greater killout percentage, results in a carcase weight of 288kg for the Limousin heifers – 19kg heavier than the Angus and 16kg heavier than the Hereford heifers.

All heifers have been slaughtered at a base price of €3.65/kg. In most cases, the full quality assurance payment of 20c/kg was paid, apart from a small number of cattle that graded O- or 4+ where there is an 8c/kg deduction. When we take into account the Quality Price System (QPS) adjustment, based on the average carcase conformation grade and fat score, Angus heifers are back 16c/kg, Limousin are -6c/kg, and Hereford are -13c/kg. Also, both Angus and Hereford-sired cattle are receiving a 10c/kg breed bonus.

This brought the average price/kg paid for heifers to €3.78 for Angus, €3.79 for Limousin and €3.82 for Hereford. This translates to a carcase value of €1,018 for Angus, €1,038 for Hereford and €1,090 for Limousin.

Bullocks

Looking at the bullocks, the average carcase weight is quite similar across the three breeds, with Limousin at 313kg, Hereford at 316kg and Angus at 317kg. It is interesting to note that the Limousin cattle had the lowest liveweight by 27kg, however due to a higher killout percentage, it resulted in just 3kg and 4kg lighter carcase weight compared to Hereford and Angus bullocks.

All the bullocks have been slaughtered at a base price of €3.60/kg

The Limousin bullocks also averaged a grade higher conformation at R- compared to O+ for the other breeds.

All the bullocks have been slaughtered at a base price of €3.60/kg. The average adjustment to the QPS for Angus was -12c/kg, for Hereford was -14c/kg and for Limousin was -4c/kg.

Again, the breed bonus applied for Angus and Hereford cattle, resulting in an average price/kg of €3.74 for Hereford, €3.76 for Limousin and €3.78 for Angus, leaving an average carcase value of €1,182, €1,178 and €1,199 respectively.

Tips for finishing indoors

The remainder of cattle will be finished out of the shed over the coming weeks. Housing stock and changing the diet is not ideal, as it takes the animal time to adjust to the new environment and nutrition.

It can delay slaughter by a week to 10 days. In saying that, assessing the level of finish currently on stock, the majority of animals will be slaughtered in the next four to six weeks.

They are currently on first-cut silage, which is 76 DMD, and meal feeding has been maintained at the same level as at grass for all stock apart from the Belgian Blue bullocks, who have moved up to 5kg concentrate/day.

  • Knowing the feed value of your silage is critical in order to know what level of supplementation is required to maintain performance. Get a representative sample of your silage analysed immediately if you have not yet done so.
  • Animals need a good environment to be able to thrive. When feeding meal, ensure you have sufficient head space for all stock so they can feed at the same time. Keep silage fresh and clean out old or stale feed at least twice a week.
  • Access to fresh, clean water is critical, especially when feeding concentrates and dry silage. Monitor cattle drinking over the next few days to assess if your supply and infrastructure is satisfactory. If you see animals queueing up at the drinker, waiting for drinkers to fill or pushing each other out of the way to get access to the trough, then there is an issue.
  • Finally, weigh and handle cattle regularly. Early-maturing dairy-cross animals especially can go over fat in a very short period of time. Regular handling and drafting of animals is important to avoid getting penalised for fat cover in the factory.