Performance
- Slaughter report for 40 bullocks
- 2022 born heifers are housed and have achieved 1.1kgs/day since birth
- Weanling performance summary 2022
Newford farm November/December 2022 update
Performance
Slaughter performance of the Newford beef bullocks
- To-date 40 beef bullocks have being drafted off the farm with 36 of them meeting the QPS spec, and the other four bullocks had inadequate fat cover.
- The average grade for the 40 bullocks was R = 3 –
- The average liveweight going up the ramp of the lorry was 653 kg
- Their average carcase weight was 358 kg and their kill-out percentage was 55 %
- There was five “O +” grades, seven “R -” grades , twenty “R =” grades , seven “R +” and one “ U -“ grading animals
- The average sale price per kilo of carcase weight was €96 per Kg
- The average sale price per head was € 1,776
- The 40 bullocks were on average 5 months of age at slaughter (622 days)
- The finishing diet was ad lib silage and 6.5 kg concentrates
- On average each bullock drafted consumed roughly 250 Kgs of a high energy, 12% crude protein ration before slaughter. This cost on average €103 per bullock (€411 per ton)
- Meal feeding started at grass on the 1st of September for some of the bullocks and the rest received their meal feeding when they were housed.
- There is three bullocks left to be drafted on the farm. These are currently receiving 6.5 kg of a high energy, 12% protein ration along with ad lib 74 DMD silage.
- The female weanlings (26) were housed on the 10th of December at an average weight of 370 kg
- Their average daily gain (ADG) from birth to housing was 1.10 kg liveweight.
- All 2022-born cattle (male and females) are receiving 1.5 kg of a high-energy, 18% protein ration and good-quality silage offered ad lib (DMD 74%). There are no health issues to report.
- The male weanlings were housed on the 28th of November at 394 Kg and achieved an average daily gain from birth to housing of 1.23 Kg per day.
o The heifer weanlings achieved an ADG from weaning (20th Sept) to housing (81 days) of 0.52 kg per day.
o Like this year Newford Farm is intending to finish these heifers next August/ September off grass with no meal at a target of 18 months of age.
o The plan is to get them back out to grass as soon as possible and we are aiming, weather permitting, to turn out these heifers mid-January 2023.
Newford weanlings heifers at grass on the 9th December
Overall Weanling Performance 2022
Biodiversity
Newford Farm is working to enhance the level of biodiversity on the farm. The farm has been selected as a demonstration farm as part of the Teagasc Signpost Programme.This will see a suite of measures introduced over the lifetime of the programme that will serve to reduce the volume of gaseous emissions the farm produces, protect water quality, enhance biodiversity and ultimately reduce cost and create more profitable and sustainable farming. A number of these initiatives have already commenced.
- Under the Climate Act 2021, Ireland has to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 51% by 2030, which requires a 22-30% reduction from the Irish agricultural sector.
- The three main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane and each differ in their ability to trap heat and reside in the atmosphere.
- Newford Suckler Beef Farm is leading the way and has received a “ Eddy Covariance Flux Tower” which will play a major role in measuring greenhouse gas fluxes in the agricultural catchment in the west of Ireland
The Eddy Covariance Flux Tower will help Newford Farm and the surrounding areas to see how much carbon can be stored in agricultural soils and how soil carbon storage capacity varies by land use and soil type.
