05 January 2024

An update on drafting from the Tipperary Dairy Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm

The main focus for the Tipperary Dairy Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm for the coming weeks, writes Chloe Millar, is the finishing of the remaining 2022-born animals and preparing for the arrival of 340 dairy-beef calves this spring.

As of December 20^th, all animals were housed, leaving an average farm cover of 466kg DM/ha at closing. At housing, the farm’s 2023-born steers weighed 259kg on average, while the heifers averaged 240kg. These animals are on ad-lib silage and 1.5kg of meal/head/day.

2022-born animals

There are 41 steers and 18 heifers in the shed left to be drafted in the New Year. The remaining steers are averaging 503kg and have gained 0.97kg/head/day over 46 days; the heifers average 409kg and have gained 0.98kg/head/day over 47 days. These animals remain on ad-lib silage and 4kg of meal/head/day, split over two feeds of 2kg in the morning and 2kg in the evening.

Some 29 steers and 9 heifers were slaughtered on the 20^th of December in Dawn Meats Charleville. The average liveweight of the steers slaughtered was 572kg and the heifers were 516kg.

Table 1: Performance from the fifth draft of steers and heifers

This brings the total number of animals slaughtered to 174 (83 steers and 91 heifers). Slaughter performance to date is available in table 2 below.

Table 2: Performance of 2022-born steers and heifers drafted thus far

The Tipperary Dairy Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm is a joint venture between Teagasc, Dawn Meats and Shinagh Estates Ltd. For more information, click here.