Beef Newsletter – October 2025

By Teagasc Beef

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In this month’s edition:

• Grassland management
  Challenging weather conditions in September have led to difficult grazing conditions in parts of the country. This has been overcome by allocating grass every day to minimise damage. October is the most important month in the grassland calendar; it is also the trickiest.
• Maximise weanling performance and housing checklist
  • Weaning: have calves weaned a month pre housing to reduce stress levels and therefore illness.
  • Pre-housing dose: dose weanlings four weeks pre housing to ensure their lungs are healed from any infection when housed.
  • Vaccinations: ensure that weanlings are vaccinated against respiratory diseases such as pneumonia (IBR, RSV, and PI3).
  • Silage testing: the results will determine the quality, energy levels, protein levels, dry matter, and stability of the silage.
  • Ventilation: ensure housing is well ventilated but not draughty.
  • Clean and dry bedding: provide clean, dry bedding (straw or alternative materials) to maintain comfort and reduce the risk of infection.
  • Space: ensure there is adequate space for each weanling to lie down (1.5-2.0m²/head) and eat (400-500mm) comfortably.
  • Clean and disinfect: thoroughly clean and disinfect the housing area before bringing in the weanlings to reduce the risk of infection from previous livestock.
  • Complete maintenance works on sheds: ensure barriers, gates, pens, plugs, etc., are all working.
  • Water: check water drinkers are working correctly and detect any leaks.
  • Tidy your yard: winter is coming, and with it are dark evenings.
• Key Deadlines
  • Beef Welfare Scheme
    • October 13: Faecal sample/silage testing kits must be purchased if you selected action 3.
  • Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme
    • October 31: At least 65% of the yearly reference number are eligible females that are genotyped four or five stars on the replacement index.
    • November 1: Weights must be submitted.
  • Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme
    • November 1: Weights must be submitted.
• Health & Safety – Call for stories about cows at calving
  Teagasc and UCD master’s student Kirsty Sweet would like to talk to farmers who have stories about accidents or near misses with cows at calving. Discussions are anonymous, with no contact details linked to the information shared. These stories are vital to Kirsty’s research and understanding of cow attacks around calving. To share your story, please contact Kirsty on 090-663 3226 or at kirsty.sweet@teagasc.ie