29 May 2025
A breeding season update from Future Beef farmer, Michael McGuigan
Still transitioning from an autumn-calving system and after a successful calving season, Future Beef Programme Advisor, Aisling Molloy recently visited Michael McGuigan’s farm in Co. Meath to hear how the breeding season is progressing.
Calving performance
Lasting 13 weeks in total, calving finished on Michael’s farm on April 27. Some 26 cows calved and despite one caesarean section, all calves are alive and healthy leading to a 0% mortality rate.
However, as Michael has changed from autumn to spring calving, the calving interval for the herd is now at 453 days, but he expects to be closer to the target 365 days for 2026. The calves per cow per year has also dropped to 0.81 as a result, but Michael was fully aware that it would happen.
43% of the heifers calved at 22 to 26 months of age; some of these were his own autumn born ones which would have been over 36 months at the time of calving with the change in system. 71% of the herd calved within the first six weeks, which Michael was very happy with.
Table 1: Top 6 key performance indicators from Michael McGuigan’s farm (Source: ICBF)
| Michael McGuigan’s herd | National Average | Bottom 10% | Top 10% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calving interval | 453 days | 397 days | 443 days | 361 days |
| Mortality – dead at birth | 0% | 0.93% | 3.8% | 0% |
| Mortality – dead at 28 days | 0% | 2.37% | 7.7% | 0% |
| Calves per cow per year | 0.81 | 0.84 | 0.64 | 1 |
| Percentage of heifers calved at 22-26 months of age | 43% | 22% | 0% | 75% |
| Spring 6-week calving rate | 73% | 57% | 15% | 100% |
Breeding
Breeding began on April 11 and 27 out of 35 eligible females were served in the first five weeks. A further two only calved in April, so Michael is very happy with the submission rates to date.
Despite being on good quality grass since calving and suckling being restricted, cows were slow to start showing heats. As a result, Michael scanned a batch of cows in mid-April. Consequently, two were given prostaglandin injections to come cycling and seven were put on a 10-day synchronisation programme. Michael plans to synchronise the later calving cows after they are 35 days calved, if they have not started cycling before then. Only three cows have repeated so far.
Michael plans to finish breeding within nine weeks (i.e. 13th of June) so he will be monitoring them closely during this time. He also plans to use short gestation bulls on the latest calving cows to help shorten the calving spread next spring.
To learn more about the Teagasc Future Beef Programme, visit here.