Welcome to the Irish Farmers Journal Thrive dairy calf-to-beef demonstration farm open day 2022.

While the Thrive programme has been running since 2019, this is the first opportunity we have had to welcome farmers to the demonstration farm for a national open day due to the pandemic.

Despite this, the information from the demonstration farm and indeed the programme farmers right across the country continued to flow through the pages of the paper and online.

It is clear the appetite for technical information on dairy-beef systems has continued to grow over the years as more farmers incorporate dairy-beef systems into their own farm business.

One of the key objectives of the programme is to demonstrate best practice and showcase what can be achieved on farms with a high level of technical efficiency.

Combined with this, there is a strong emphasis on genetics within the programme, focusing on stock sired by high beef merit AI bulls identified through the dairy beef index.

Dairy beef farmers are at a distinct disadvantage to suckler farms in that they are completely dependent on a breeding policy beyond their own farm gate to provide them with the genetics they need.

There are therefore clear challenges within the industry around the beef merit and calf quality coming from the dairy herd with year-on-year declines in the average carcase weight and conformation grade being achieved by dairy beef cattle.

The DBI has helped to slow and somewhat turn that trend in recent years but there remains work to be done. With the beef merit of the dairy herd decreasing by €1 every three years, the strides being made in improving beef sires are being eroded on the dam’s side.

The introduction of the commercial beef value (CBV) will be a benefit to dairy beef farms but only when we combine it with accurate data in the form of genomic tagging of every calf at birth.

Demonstration farm performance

This programme has always been about showcasing what can be achieved with dairy-beef systems but also about highlighting challenges within the industry.

As can be seen, where the genetics are right and technical performance is good, there is a decent level of profitability to be realised from these systems with up to €500/ha net margin, excluding all support payments being achieved.

However, we must remember that the demonstration farm is working with the top third of animals in terms of genetics and grew nearly 12tDM/ha grass last year, well above the average drystock farm in Ireland.

I would like to acknowledge the support of the stakeholders in making this project possible and to sincerely thank John Hally and his family for opening their gates to the public today and for John’s continued hard work and attention to detail in order to maximise the performance of the farm.