Tullamore Farm is the Irish Farmers Journal’s mixed grazing demonstration farm located just a mile from the national livestock show site. The farm was set up in 2017 to demonstrate best-practice principles in relation to beef and sheep production.

One-hundred suckler cows and 170 ewes are being grazed under the supervision of farm manager Shaun Diver. The farm held a national open day in July 2017 and will open its doors to discussion groups on a number of dates between August and November 2018, the first of which takes place on 17 August 2018.

A number of stock from the farm will be on display at the show including cows and calves, maiden heifers, dairy-cross heifers and a selection of ewes and lambs from the farm’s sheep flock. Live demonstrations will take place during the day at 11am, 1pm and 3pm and will last about an hour. The livestock team will be on the Irish Farmers Journal stand during the day so pop in at any stage for a chat with some of the team. Topics to be discussed by the livestock specialist team are listed here.

Tullamore Farm update

We will go through what’s been happening on the farm over the past 12 months including the high points and low points of the year. We will profile grass growth figures and what is currently happening on the farm. We will also go through the plans for the rest of the year.

Feed/fodder

The last two months have been a real challenge on the farm. Grass growth has dropped to very low levels and silage and meal are currently being fed as a result. Five bales of silage are being used and this is eating into winter feed requirements. We’ll have a detailed fodder budget for Tullamore Farm and information on how feed deficits can be made up using other feeds.

Animal performance

We will have up-to-date weights of all 2018 calves on the farm, along with a full breakdown of the 2017 male progeny slaughtered off the farm over the past few months. We will also have weights for the 60 dairy calf to beef heifers on the farm and what the management requirements for this group of stock is for the rest of 2018.

Breeding

We have completed one pregnancy scan and will have the results on the day. We will review the 2018 calving performance and outline the bulls used during the 2018 breeding season. The herd is built around a high replacement index animal and details around the herd’s genetics and performance figures will be discussed.

Sheep system

Some 170 ewes were lambed down on Tullamore Farm in 2018 and we will have performance figures from breeding to lambing and what the issues have been with setting up the new flock. Lamb slaughtering has started and we will have the details on carcase weights, grades and prices.