In January 2017, during the first few months of setting up Tullamore Farm, it was decided to purchase 61 dairy-cross heifer calves, rear them on the farm and finish off grass at 19 months of age.

There were a number of reasons for this. No sheep fencing completed on the farm meant sheep were not purchased until October 2017. With a high proportion of the farm being reseeded, a grass surplus was envisaged for year one, so the dairy calves were seen as an option to increase stocking rate and graze the new reseeds on the farm.

As housing is one of the limiting factors on Tullamore Farm, heifer calves were purchased as no housing would be required for the second winter. Sixty Aberdeen Angus, Hereford cross heifers and one Belgian Blue heifer were purchased over a period of four weeks. They were sourced from four different farms during March and April 2017.

Calves were reared in a loose shed on Tullamore Farm and fed using a typical 10 unit calf feeder twice daily during the rearing phase. Calves were also offered hay while concentrates were fed once daily. Once weaned, heifers were grazed on reseeded paddocks during their first grazing season. Weight gains are detailed in the chart above and weight targets were set at 105kg at weaning, 230kg at housing, 300kg at turnout and 500kg at slaughter.

Table 1 outlines the sires of the heifers purchased on the farm. Many of the calves are sired by bulls which have negative carcase weight figures. This is an issue not just confined to Tullamore Farm but a much wider issue as dairy farmers look to use shorter gestation easier calving sires. This coupled with samller cow selection means achieveing dairy x animals with the right genetics for finishing is proving harder to find.

Carcase weight is a key driver of the output of the dairy calf to beef system and killing very light animals won’t make money at current prices.

First season grazing

Calves were grazed on reseeded paddocks during their first grazing season and fed 1kg/day of a 16% protein ration. They were fed 1.5 bags of milk replacer during the rearing phase. Calves were vaccinated against blackleg and pneumonia and dosed three times during their first grazing season.

As winter housing is limited on Tullamore Farm, kale was planted in June 2017 and grazed from November until the end of February. The plan was that these heifers would go straight to grass off the kale in late February or early March. Storm Emma ended these plans and heifers spent most of March on the kale field and adjoining paddocks on silage and meal. This was to allow grass growth get ahead of demand. Cows and calves were treated as priority in terms of keeping them out at grass during March and April to ensure minimum body condition loss in the cows. This meant heifers were held back for four to six weeks in spring before being turned out to grass in early April. Weight gain on the kale crop was 0.35kg/liveweight/day where 0.5kg/day liveweight gain was the target. The six-week period of silage and meal feeding in spring added €30/head costs over and above the cost of grazing grass during this period.

Second season grazing

Heifers were grazed over a 9ha area for the 2018 grazing season. Stocking rate on this grazing area was just over 2,100kg/liveweight/ha during the grazing period from April to October. Heifers were grazed in one group and given access to two- to three-day paddocks via a temporary electric fence. Pre-grazing covers were kept below 1,300 kg/DM/Ha during grazing and any surpluses were taken out as round baled silage during the year. Heifers received a mineral bolus in May due to a history of the farm being low in copper and this was evident in the coats of some of the heifers.

Drought conditions hit the farm in late June and this meant silage and meal had to be introduced to supplement heifers during this period of very low grass growth. Heifers were fed 3-4kg of meal at grass along with ad-lib round bale silage during this time.

This added a further €50/head in costs over and above the cost of grazed grass during this time. Meal feeding continued after this period until housing in October.

Slaughter details

So far, 35 of the 60 heifers have been slaughtered with the remainder due to be slaughtered over the Christmas period. Average carcase weight is currently 255kg. Average slaughter age is 19.8 months. Killout % is a little disappointing at 48.6%. Lowest killout % was 46% while the highest was 51.5%. Angus and Hereford heifers were sold as part of a bonus scheme and average sale price came in at €3.96/kg. Farm manager Shaun Diver said you need to be very careful with these animals in terms of going over fat. Losing QA or the breed bonus isn’t an option for these animals and regular drafting and assessment is a must. It doesn’t go on weight with some heifers killing into 4- at 490kg.

Comment

Industry and farmers need to work on a solution

At the outset, a target was set to achieve a €200 margin per head excluding fixed costs and labour on these heifers. They have fallen a long way short and, even if everything had gone to plan with no storm Emma and no drought, it still would have been very tight to hit the €200 margin.

What would we do differently? At the beginning, I think we would try and source calves from sires that were positive for carcase weight. It is very hard to hit targets with the current genetics being used. On calf price, at €233/head, we were probably high. To achieve our target we would need to be buying calves at no more than €100/head.

We were very happy with the calves, there were no health issues and that was what the market was paying at the time.

Kale

The heifers gained 0.35kg/day while grazing kale and took a while to get going again once turned out to grass in April. If they were housed and had gained 0.7kg/day it may have reduced meal feeding during the finishing phase. I think there is potential in the system if the genetics are right. Achieving high levels of grazed grass in the diet is fundamental to its success. It is a relatively simple system to manage, but caution should be exercised before there is an exodus from suckling.

Storm Emma and the drought added about €80/head in costs to the system but it was important to keep animals gaining weight during these periods.

Demonstration farm

With 200 ewes now grazing on the farm, no dairy calves were purchased in 2018. Teagasc has recently set up a dairy calf to beef demonstration farm in Grange and I think there will be huge interest in this unit as to what can be achieved from these systems.

I think all industry stakeholders have a responsibility to work together on this one to try and achieve the best possible outcome for dairy and beef farmers. We have been working on a pilot project with a farmer in Tipperary and we have reared 103 calves on this farm in 2018.

Calves are a 50:50 mix steers and heifers and are all by AI sires. All measurements and weights have been recorded and details of this Irish Farmers Journal project will be announced in early 2019.