Future Beef update: From AI success to finishing decisions
Farming 29ha in Ballynevin, Co. Clare, James Skehan operates a 27-cow suckler to store/beef herd on a part-time basis. A spring-calving enterprise, 60% of this year’s calves were sired by AI, with the remainder sired by his Limousin stock bull.
Calving on this Future Beef farm started on February 18 and finished on April 5, with 81% of the herd calved in six weeks. A synchronisation protocol has been used for the last few years for both cows and heifers and, to further facilitate this tight calving spread, James opted to synchronise both cows and heifers for this year’s breeding season.
Good conception rates were achieved, with eight of nine heifers and 15 of 25 cows holding to the first AI service. Repeat cows ran with a Limousin stock bull, while one repeat heifer received a second AI service.
Replacement heifers were bred to easy-calving Angus (AA4089, AA9607) AI sires. James places a huge emphasis on getting these heifers in calf and getting them calved down at 24 months. Mature cows were inseminated to Limousin (LM6172, LM3713), Charolais (CH5980), Simmental (SI8520) and Aubrac (AU1515) sires.
The synchronisation plan cost €30 per cow and the heifer plan cost €33 per heifer. James will scan everything in August to confirm how the breeding season went. Two cows were marked for culling, so they were not bred.
Animal performance
The 2026-born calves remain at grass with their dams, with creep feeding scheduled to begin in August before weaning.
In 2025, James opted to sell his steers live in September, given the exceptionally good live trade at the time.
Steers would traditionally be finished off the farm at 22-24 months old. This year, James has begun feeding some of the 2025-born steers with the aim of increasing liveweight gain as grass quality begins to naturally decline.
Steers that weighed 450kg or greater when weighed on July 22 were separated from the lighter steers in the group. They are now being fed 2kg daily of a finishing ration, and this will be increased to 3kg for the month of August. The steers will remain at grass and follow the rotation while being offered concentrates daily.
In September, James will decide whether to house these cattle and finish them or choose to sell them live in the local mart, similar to last year.
At the farm walk on September 4 (further details below), these steers will be on display. At the event, they will be reweighed during a live demonstration and assessed to see how much liveweight they gained. A discussion will be facilitated with attendees on the best option for this group of steers.
Upcoming event
James Skehan will host a National Farm Walk on September 4, 2026, at 6.30pm. Attendees will learn about the farm financials, the suckler herd, details of bulls used, grazing infrastructure and soil fertility, this year’s breeding heifers, red clover, herd health and participate in a live finishing demonstration.
The event will also provide farmers with an opportunity to speak with beef industry staff on the night to discuss rations, feed ingredients, herd health, breeding decisions and water quality actions for their own farms.
For more information on this National Farm Walk, visit here.
For more information on James Skehan’s farm, visit here.
The above first appeared in the Future Beef Programme E-Newsletter. For more information and to keep up to date with the latest happenings from the Future Beef Programme, visit here.