Cathal Irwin January/February Update 2026

Breeding

Preparation for calving is going well for Cathal with 18 cows expected to calve down this spring. He is feeding 0.5kg of soya bean meal, 100-120 g of pre-calving minerals and 0.5kg of oats to each of the cows and in calf heifers per day. However he has decided to cut out the oats as the cows are in good body condition and eating the minerals and soya without the oats.

Figure 1: Cows are in good body condition in the leadup to calving

The cows and heifers were scanned last autumn so Cathal has expected calving dates for them and will be monitoring these over the calving period. They were all vaccinated against rotavirus, coronavirus an e.coli to help precent scours in the calves after birth. Cathal has the calving cameras and equipment ready near the calving pens and the head gate and calving gate is also in place if needed. Disinfectant for navals, calving gloves, lube and calving ropes are all key items that Cathal will need on hand. He also has a portable calf crate in the calving shed which is useful for tagging calves after birth and disbudding them.

Figure 2: The calf crate can be used for tagging and disbudding calves

Cathal plans to sell the Limousin bull this year after the heifers are bred. He is also looking for a replacement Charolais bull as he finds him quite narrow at the back and is concerned that it might affect the grading of the bulls going forward.

The breeding heifers and cows will be vaccinated against leptospirosis after calving.

Animal Health

Cathal had an outbreak of rumen fluke in his finishing bulls last year and was adamant not to have a repeat of the same issue this year. At housing, all the weanlings were given a levacide dose which treated them for lung worms and stomach worms. They were then dosed for rumen fluke 1 week later and this was followed by a liver fluke dose to cover all stages. All were vaccinated against IBR, RSV, Pi3 and mannheimia to prevent respiratory disease over the winter.

Figure 3: Weanling heifers have performed well over winter

Performance

Cathal is currently feeding 9 home bred bulls and 14 bought in bulls for finishing under 16 months of age. This year Cathal has made changes on his farm and the lifetime average daily gains of the bulls are averaging 1.31kg/day for his home bred bulls and 1.44kg/day for the bought in bulls, which is 0.2kg/day ahead of last year. He has done the following to achieve this:

• Diet: Creep fed weanling bulls before housing.
• Parasites: All bulls were dosed for stomach worms, lung worms, lice, rumen fluke and liver fluke at housing.
• Vaccines: All bulls were vaccinated against IBR, RSV, Pi3 and mannheimia.
• Nutrition: The bulls were gradually built up on ration from 2-3kg/head/day to 8-9kg/head/day. They are getting this in 2 splits, i.e. 4-4.5kg in the morning and 4-4.5kg in the evening, along with ad lib access to good quality silage.
• Shed environment: Cathal replaced the mats in the slatted shed for extra comfort for the bulls. There is also stock board between them and the heifer pen to help separate them. Sheeting has been adjusted in the straw bedded area to allow for better ventilation.
• Lying space: The bulls have 2.96m² lying space on the slats (2.7m² recommended) and 5.95m2 lying space on the straw area (4m2 recommended) which is more than adequate.
• Feeding space: The minimum feed space required for finishing cattle getting ration is 0.65m/head and this is also available for all bulls.
• Water: Cathal is in the process of upgrading the water troughs in the shed to keep water cleaner and more accessible.
• Monitoring weights: The bulls are weighed very 4-6 weeks to monitor weight gains and ensure they are still performing well. This will help Cathal to draft cattle as they come fit for the factory and with weights raging from 294kg to 648kg on 27^th December, he expects to be selling the first few over the coming weeks.

Figure 4: Finishing bulls in the slatted shed

The weanling heifers (10) were also weighed on 27^th December and averaged 352kg. They gained 0.77 kg/day on average since 20^th September.

Two empty R grade cows were sold to the factory on 20^th January. Their average carcass weight was 448kg.