The first nine calves arrived on the Thrive dairy calf-to-beef demonstration farm in Cashel, Co Tipperary, on Thursday 24 February.

The calves are sired by Angus bull Intelagri Maverick (AA4088). Looking at his diary beef index (DBI), he has an overall value of €110, which is made up of €49 on the calving sub-index and €62 on the beef sub-index, with a carcase weight figure of +7.2kg.

All the calves on the Thrive programme are AI-sired, with a team of bulls selected based on the DBI and, more importantly, the beef sub-index figures within this.

The minimum requirement for sires used on the programme is a beef sub-index of €50 and a minimum carcase weight figure of +5kg.

The calves came from a dairy farm around 40 minutes away from the demo farm and upon arrival they were checked to ensure card details such as sex and breed were correct.

They will be allowed to settle into their new environment for the next 24 hours prior to receiving their pneumonia vaccination.