Throughout the year, Teagasc hosted a number of beef events, compiled publications and issued various technical updates. In the first of a series of articles, Teagasc Beef Specialist, Catherine Egan takes a look back at some of the main highlights.
National Beef Conference 2025
The year’s Teagasc National Beef Conference theme was “Beef Farming 2025: Value, Profit and Renewal”, with a strong focus on producing high-value weanlings, managing farm profitability, and supporting generational renewal. It took place on Tuesday, 18th November in the Raheen Woods Hotel, Athenry, Co. Galway
- Comprising of two key sessions, the first centred on the topic of ‘High-Value Weanlings – From Breeding to the Market’ and featured presentations on;
- Managing the suckler cow pre and post calving for better fertility and performance
- Understanding the myostatin gene and finding the right balance between muscling and calving ease
- John Barry Future Beef programme participant shared his approach to breeding weanlings in demand at home and for export
- Brendan Egan, Manager, Castlerea Mart discussed what the market wants and how to meet that demand
The second session moved to the topic of ‘Beef 2025 and Beyond – Prices, Profits & Passing on the Farm’. On the night there were two presentations
- Rupert Claxton, Meat Director at GIRA – Global beef market trends, what’s driving prices, and where the market is going
- Trevor Boland, Beef Farmer & IFAC Accountant – Farm profits in 2025 and beyond: practical advice on tax planning and staying profitable
Followed by a panel discussion on Generational Renewal – tackling the challenges and solutions of succession on Irish beef farms. Panelists included:
- Dr. Emma Dillon, Teagasc National Farm Survey Economist
- Ruth Fennell, Collaborative Farming Specialist, Teagasc
- Trevor Boland, Beef farmers & IFAC Accountant
- Eamonn & Donnchadh McCarthy, Suckler farmers from Youghal
For more information and to recap on the Teagasc National Beef Conference, click here.
Teagasc FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards
The Teagasc FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards to promote environmentally sustainable farming took place. The awards highlighted the progress farmers are making to lighten the load of farming on the environment, while continuing to produce high-quality, nutritious food, in a profitable manner.
The awards recognised farmers who are operating sustainable, profitable farming systems, whilst incorporating the latest scientific developments and technologies on their farms. These actions are reducing their gaseous emissions (greenhouse gases and ammonia), improving water quality, enhancing biodiversity, and improving soil health and carbon. A number of beef farmers received awards on the night.
Emer O’Keeffe is an organic sheep & beef farmer from Cork and was awarded the Diversification Category Winner. Find out more in the below video:
Kay O’Sullivan was crowned the Organic Production Category Winner of the Teagasc FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards. Learn more about his organic beef farming enterprise in the below video:
Patrick and Margaret Dollard were the Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Category Winners. Patrick & Margaret are dairy beef farmers from Kilkenny. Find out more in the below video:
National Ploughing Championships 2025
Visitors to Teagasc’s beef exhibit at the National Ploughing Championships will see first-hand how to breed a balanced suckler cow. Featuring a display of two heifers of varying genetic merit, Teagasc Specialists and Advisors advised what to look for within the Replacement Index to breed your next generation of suckler cows. The Teagasc Beef Budgets were launched afterwards.
Save Tax & Plan Smart Webinar for Drystock Farmers
A Save Tax & Plan Smart webinar for Drystock farmers took place on Monday, 22 September, which was chaired by Pearse Kelly, Head of Drystock KT, Teagasc and featured Kevin Connolly, Teagasc Farm Management Specialist. The webinar provided an overview as to how to reduce your tax bill and keep more of your hard-earned income! A questions and answers session took place at the end of the webinar, which was chaired by Martina Harrington, FutureBeef Programme Manager, Teagasc.
A webinar titled TAMS 3 Grants: Make the Most of Your Investment took place on Thursday, 25 September, which was aimed at drystock farmers. The webinar provided expert guidance on applying, maximising your grant & avoiding common mistakes! Host Alan Dillon, DairyBeef 500 Programme Manager was joined by Seamus Nolan, Scheme Support Specialist.
Beef Farming Insights: Reflecting on 2025 – Preparing for 2026
Teagasc hosted a webinar on Wednesday, 3 December which reflected on the beef farming sector for 2025 and what to prepare for in 2026. The panel comprised of Pearse Kelly, Head of Drystock Knowledge Transfer, Teagasc; Paul Crosson, Beef Enterprise Leader, Teagasc; and Suckler Beef Farmer and Future Beef Programme participant John Pringle, Co. Wicklow.
The Beef Edge Podcast
This year marked the sixth anniversary of the Teagasc ‘Beef Edge’ podcast, which recently celebrated the release of its 300th episode. The podcast has garnered over 300,000 listens, making it a popular source of information for beef farmers. The podcast provides the latest news, insights and expert advice to help improve beef farm performance. You can listen to all episodes on the Beef Edge podcast show page, or through popular platforms like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
Listen back to the 300th Episode below:
Teagasc Monthly Beef Newsletter
Each month, Teagasc issues a monthly newsletter that is delivered by post to clients with relevant time-critical information, advice, upcoming events and research included. Previous issues of the newsletter are available here.
Today’s Farm
Today’s Farm is Teagasc’s own magazine. The magazine is posted every two months exclusively to 44,000 Teagasc clients, customers, selected industry leaders and opinion formers. Launched in 1990, Today’s Farm includes advice and information on business, production, environment, and countryside issues. The most recent issues of Today’s Farm is available here.
Over the coming days, Catherine Egan will also recap on some of the key dairy beef and suckler beef events from the outgoing year.