Breeding
Cathal has been analysing his ICBF Beef Calving Report for 2026. This year’s calving season started on 14th February and finished on 21st of April, lasting 9 weeks and 3 days in total. 14 cows and 5 heifers calved during that time (19 in total) and resulted in 20 live calves at birth, thanks to one set of twins.
The calving interval for the herd was 382 days, which is above the target of 365 days, due to 3 later calving cows. Mortality at birth and at 28 days was 0% which Cathal was delighted with. The calves per cow per year amounted to 1.01 which is ahead of the target 0.95, and the spring 6 weeks calving rate was 84% which was very good. One out of the five heifers calved at 22-26 months of age; she was the only home bred heifer in the group.
Cathal was very happy with the easy-born Charolais calves this year but notices a variation in the quality. The scanning results have been excellent with 7 heifers and 16 cows in calf. Two cows are to be re-scanned as they slipped embryos and were bred to the Charolais bull again.
Figure 1: In calf heifers on the out block
Cathal decided to cull the current Charolais stock bull and the Limousin bull that was running with heifers, to buy in a maternal Simmental bull and a more terminal Limousin bull for the heifers for next year. While the Limousin bull has not arrived on farm yet, the Simmental bull has arrived and has settled well with the cows.
He is bred by Curaheen Gunshot (SI4147) and has strong maternal figures (see below). He also carries a single polled gene which means that approximately 50% of his progeny will be born with no horns.
- Replacement index: €185
- Cow calving difficulty: 1% at 68% reliability
- Daughter milk: 8kg
- Carcass weight:1kg
- Daughter calving interval: -0.92 days
- Age at finish: -3.14 days
Figure 2: The new Simmental stock bull
Grassland
Grass growth has returned to normal on the farm. Cathal has good covers built up for the autumn and pre-grazing yields are approximately 1400 kg DM/ha. Due to the land type and rainfall, he generally houses in late September/early October depending on ground conditions, so the cows and calves are on their last rotation around the farm paddocks.
His biggest debate is whether to graze the new reseed. The rushes in the paddock were sprayed back in April and mulched a few weeks later. The field was disc harrowed and lime was spread at 2t/acre. Two bags of 18-6-12 were spread per acre to help establishment of a heavy soil mix grass seed containing 3kg Bowie, 2kg Anurad, 2kg Astonking, 3kg Oakpark, 1.25kg Timothy and 0.50kg Clover. He had initially planned to spread farmyard manure on the paddock but opted not to and to spread it on grazing paddocks instead. He is waiting to get the paddock fenced before grazing it, and while the cover is suitable at ~900 kg DM/ha, the ‘pull test’ shows that the roots are coming up with the grass plant when pulled due to the soft nature of the ground. If weather conditions are suitable, he will do his best to get it grazed before the herd is housed.
Figure 3: Reseeded field
Performance
The last of the finishing bulls were sold on 10th July. 20 were sold in total this year at an average age of 15.5 months. They averaged 421kg carcass weight and graded U-3-, making €2931. This was in comparison to 2025 when 22 bulls were sold at 421kg carcass weight on average. They graded higher at U=2+ but were older at 15.7 months and made a higher price of €3191.
However this year’s bulls ate less ration for finishing at 1.45t/head (max. 8-10 kg/head/day) in comparison to 1.8t/head (ad lib ration). The bulls finished this year had a lifetime gain per day ranging from €5.08 (lame bull) to €7.24.
This winter Cathal has no plans to buy in any bulls for finishing and will have 11 of his own to sell under 16 months of age.
Figure 4: A selection of this year’s calves