We are about halfway through the 2020-born bull kill on Tullamore Farm.

Average date of birth of bulls is around the first week of March and we finished calving at the end of April, so the next six weeks will see the remainder killed.

Price has improved on last year, with the average base price this year working off €4.10/kg.

When you add in the 12c/kg in-spec payment and the fact that we are killing bulls on the grid, it means that the average price we have received this year is €4.28/kg, with the top prices received so far for our U= grading bulls coming in at €4.40/kg.

Good grading

Grading has been good, with 10 U grading bulls so far and the remainder grading R, with the majority of those at R+. The average grade of the group so far has been R+.

We are also pretty happy with fat score, with the average fat score for the group coming in at 2+.

Carcase weight is coming in a little lighter than expected. We had hoped this year to cross the 380kg carcase weight barrier, but, so far, we have just been able to do this with nine of the 23 bulls.

Heaviest bull

The heaviest bull we have killed so far in 2021 has been a 441kg QCD Simmental bull at 14 months.

Bulls have gained 1.47kg/day since birth and have been gaining 1.72kg/day while on the ad-lib feeding phase.

The average price of our bulls so far this year has been €1,580/head at just over 14 months of age.

Table 1 outlines the details on all of the 23 bulls killed so far off Tullamore Farm.

Tables 2 to 5 break down the performance by breed.

While numbers are too small for any statistical analysis, they do make for interesting reading.

Our Simmental bulls have come in with the heaviest carcase weight, while our Aberdeen Angus bulls have come in at the lightest.

The best-grading breed has been our Limousin bulls coming in with a U- grade.

The Limousin breed is also top for kill-out percent, coming in at 59% kill-out for 2021 so far.

A full analysis of the 2020-born bulls will be carried out when all bulls have been slaughtered in the next six weeks.