Insights

The Newford Demonstration Farm was established in 2015 as a joint initiative between Teagasc and Dawn Meats, with support from the Irish Farmers Journal and McDonald’s. Its primary objective is to operate as a stand-alone suckler herd under commercial conditions, demonstrating best-practice technologies to the wider beef industry. A key focus is placed on maximizing […]

The Future Beef Programme is Teagasc’s flagship suckler beef demonstration farm network, comprising 22 farms representing typical Irish beef systems across geographical regions, diverse soil types, and contrasting stocking rates.  The programme demonstrates practical, adoptable technologies under three core objectives: Profitability Environmental sustainability Work-life balance A central principle of the programme is that profitability and […]

What is the Commercial Beef Value? Every spring, beef farmers across Ireland purchase dairy-beef calves and face a simple question: which calves will perform best in my system? Knowing which calf is likely to exhibit good performance traits over its lifetime can be difficult when purchasing at three to four weeks of age, but the […]

Calf health and nutrition strongly influence an animal’s lifetime growth potential. The calf-rearing phase provides an important opportunity for efficient live weight gain due to calves’ high feed conversion efficiency in early life, which has been shown to be 2–3 times greater than that of comparable finishing cattle. Efficient calf-rearing protocols aim to maximise health, […]

Summer scour syndrome (SSS) is a relatively novel digestive disorder affecting recently-weaned dairy-bred calves during their first grazing season in Ireland and in other countries with pasture-based systems, such as the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. This syndrome typically occurs within two to six weeks following turnout to pasture and often affects groups of calves. […]

Beef production from the dairy herd has increased in recent years due to increasing dairy cow numbers and now contributes approximately 60% of beef output in Ireland. Typically, dairy-bred calves are sourced at approximately three weeks of age and are vulnerable to several infectious diseases, particularly during the calf-rearing phase. The most common diseases of […]

Ballyvadin Beef Farm Ltd. was established in 2022 to function as an independent, standalone commercial entity providing Irish beef farmers with a realistic financial, operational and genetic baseline for integrated dairy-beef production. The enterprise acts as a blueprint for high-efficiency spring-born steer and heifer calf-to-beef finishing systems. Farm footprint and expansion Total land area: 134 […]

The Irish beef sector has undergone significant structural and economic changes in recent years, particularly dairy-beef systems. The Teagasc DairyBeef 500 Programme, established to promote sustainable and profitable dairy calf-to-beef systems, provides a valuable dataset through its annual Profit Monitor analysis. This programme aims to demonstrate best practice in technical and financial performance, targeting a […]

In beef production systems, feed provision is the single largest direct cost incurred, accounting for approximately 75% of total costs of production; therefore, focusing on feed (cost) efficiency enhances farm profitability. Of the predominant feedstuffs available, grazed grass is lowest cost, purchased concentrate is the most expensive and grass silage and other conserved forages are […]

In 2025, the national average finishing age of prime beef cattle was 26.5 months. To improve environmental sustainability of Irish beef production systems a goal, embodied in the national Climate Action Plan, is to reduce mean age at finish by ~three months by 2030 relative to 2018. This can be achieved by improving animal nutrition, […]