Breeding
- New LM bull purchased
- Good terminal figures, suitable for heifers
- €500 contribution from ABP Bull Improvement Initiative
September/October Update 2026
Breeding
Cathal purchased a new Limousin bull to join the herd for mating with the heifers next spring. He is bred by EBY and was born in January 2022. His Eurostar figures are as follows:
- Replacement index: €105
- Terminal index: €145
- Heifer calving difficulty: 6.1% at 71% reliability
- Daughter milk: -1.2kg
- Carcass weight: 22.5kg
- Carcass conformation: 2.37
- Daughter calving interval: 0.8 days
- Age at finish: -3.12 days
He is not a maternal bull due to his low daughter milk figure, but is good on terminal traits such as carcass weight and carcass conformation. Most important, he is 6.1% for heifer calving difficulty at 71% reliability which will be important for calving heifers at 24 months. Cathal does not plan to keep replacements from him – his main priority is getting a live calf.
Cathal is receiving a €500 contribution from ABP as part of their Bull Improvement Initiative to support high genetic merit sires.
Figure 1: New Limousin bull
Animal Health
The weanlings have been given 2 shots of Bovipast 4 weeks apart to prevent respiratory disease before weaning. Bovipast protects against the strains RSV, Pi3 and Mannheimia. Cathal does not vaccinate for IBR on the farm as it is generally not an issue.
Due to the main grazing ground being away from the farmyard, Cathal plans to wean the calves at housing in the shed. The calves have ad-lib access to a creep feeder in the field since the summer.
One calf developed pneumonia and was treated, with all calves since treated for lungworms with Levacide. Another calf was treated for coccidiosis so Cathal is carefully monitoring the rest of the calves for symptoms of it too.
He expects to be housing the herd by mid-October.
Performance
Two bull weanlings were purchased on 22nd September to join Cathal’s bulls. They averaged 335kg and cost €4.37/kg.
The 2026 born heifers (9) were weighed on 5th September. They averaged 250kg and gained 1.17 kg/day since birth.
Figure 2: Heifers #445 & #448 that have averaged 1.3 kg/day since birth
The 2026 born bulls (11) averaged 291kg on the same day and they gained 1.38kg/day since birth.
Cathal has been analysing his ICBF Beef Benchmarking Report. It runs from July 2025 to June 2026 and summarised the finishing performance of 21 young bulls that were sold during that time.
It showed the following data:
- Carcass weight: 422kg (national average 406kg)
- Carcass conformation: U= (national average U-)
- Carcass fat: 3- (national average 3-)
- Age: 480 days (national average 569 days)
- Lifetime ADG: 1.45 kg/day (national average 1.16 kg/day)
- GHG output per kg carcass weight: 8.66 (national average 10.2)
It also compared the finishing performance across the commercial beef value (CBV). The top third of the CBV animals (€515) had a higher lifetime ADG at 1.45 kg/day vs. 1.34 kg/day than the bottom third (€407) when finished. They also had a heavier carcass weight of 441kg vs. 408kg, graded better at U= vs. U- and were finished 10 days younger at 480 days vs. 490 days of age.
Figure 4: CBV vales of beef x beef bulls finished April 2025- March 2026 (Source: ICBF)