Beef
Growing Organics: Navigating a difficult spring in Kerry
Growing Organics: Navigating a difficult spring in Kerry Thomas Kavanagh, a participant in the Growing Organics Monitor Farm Programme, operates a suckler to weanling system outside Dingle, Co. Kerry. Like so many farms across the country, a wet spring has brought challenges in terms of grazing and readying silage crops. Farming 36ha […]
22 April 2024

Beef farm actions for the coming weeks
Beef farm actions for the coming weeks On the back of the current weather challenges, this week’s Beef Edge podcast features Gabriel Trayers, Future Beef Programme Advisor, and Alan Dillion, Manager of the DairyBeef 500 Campaign, who provide an update from around the country and offer tips and advice for beef farms […]
17 April 2024
Getting your cow back in calf – the key factors to consider
Getting your cow back in calf – the key factors to consider The Teagasc Future Beef team hosted a webinar recently, which focused on the challenge of ‘getting your cow back in calf’, Aisling Molloy summarises the key points in this article. The average gestation length of a beef cow is 288 […]
17 April 2024

Making a start at grazing – small numbers, large areas
Making a start at grazing – small numbers, large areas Turnout has been delayed on many beef farms across the country. With a turnaround in the weather forecast, Martina Harrington, Future Beef Programme Manager, provides some key tips on managing the transition back to grass. Martina explained: “A wet spring has limited […]
16 April 2024

Treating scour challenges after an extended housing period
Treating scour challenges after an extended housing period A wet start to 2024 has delayed the turnout of spring-born calves and their dams to grass – heightening the risk of health issues developing. As the indoor period extends, rain continues to fall and straw supplies diminish or exhaust, the risk of a […]
13 April 2024

Challenging year curtails profitability on DairyBeef 500 farms
Challenging year curtails profitability on DairyBeef 500 farms Profitability levels recorded on farms enrolled in Teagasc’s DairyBeef 500 Campaign were curtailed by challenging weather conditions and somewhat lower levels of animal performance over the course of 2023, Alan Dillion, Co-ordinator of the Campaign, tells us more. Like the first quarter of this […]
11 April 2024

Tips and advice for closing silage ground
Tips and advice for closing silage ground With the difficult weather conditions, Gordon Peppard, DairyBeef 500 Advisor, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with some timely tips in relation to closing ground for silage. Gordon highlights that on many farms silage ground won’t be grazed. However, this could provide an opportunity […]
10 April 2024

Getting your head around what bulls and females are now eligible for SCEP
Getting your head around what bulls and females are now eligible for SCEP The recent changes to EuroStar indices, where the economic value of the traits were updated and a cost for carbon incorporated, has caused bull, heifer and cow EuroStar values to move. Aidan Murray, Teagasc Beef Specialist, explains how farmers […]
10 April 2024
Breeding the key to suckler success
0 Breeding the key to suckler success With the breeding season just around the corner, Kilkenny farmer Ruairí Cummins talks about his farming system, and a breeding strategy for improving his suckler herd’s performance while also meeting SCEP targets, writes Aisling Molloy, Teagasc FutureBeef Programme. Ruairí Cummins farms 37.9ha in Rossenarra, Kilmoganny, Co […]
7 April 2024
Calving coming to a close and preparing for breeding at Derrypatrick
0 Calving coming to a close and preparing for breeding at Derrypatrick Two key aims of Derrypatrick herd are to achieve a nine week breeding season and to have over 80% of the cows calving in the first six weeks. Peter Doyle, Research Officer at Teagasc Grange, tells us how this is achieved. […]
6 April 2024