13 June 2025
Quality silage saved in Youghal
Participants in the Teagasc Signpost and Future Beef Programmes, father and son team, Eamon and Donnchadh McCarthy carry a suckler beef enterprise, split 60:40 spring and autumn calving. As part of this Signpost Programme update, Eamon McCarthy fills us in on the latest happenings from the farm.
Grassland management
No two years are the same and after a tough and wet start to 2024, 2025 has been the opposite. Looking at the rainfall for our region, we have received 139mm of rain since February until now. For the same period last year, we received 314mm of rainfall.
The silage season commenced early and, although yields have been slightly down (7-8 bales per acre), quality has been excellent. As we have a buffer of over 100 bales of silage in stock, we decided to prioritise quality. The silage ground received 2,500 gallons of cattle slurry per acre using a dribble bar. The nitrogen was topped up to 72 units per acre using protected urea.
The weather conditions made silage harvesting a pleasure this year for all involved. The only downside to the dry weather conditions was the slowdown in grass growth. Since my last update, we’ve also completed the reseeding and the broken weather conditions since will benefit the newly emerging seedlings.
Breeding
We commenced breeding on the 1st of May and, so far, all cows which will be retained for 2026 have been submitted for AI. We are now seeing the repeats from the first week of breeding and the non-return rate so far is close to 80%. The bulls used so far are CH4321, CH8571, LM9379, SI1434 and AA9860. The Angus bull, AA9860 was used on maiden heifers. We will continue to breed until the end of the second week of June, which will result in a calving spread of just slightly over six weeks.
Cows that were not identified as cycling using the automated heat detection system were put on a synchronisation protocol to induce heat. We find that the conception rates to the synch. programme can be slightly lower than natural heats, however, it brings the cow into heat and gives her a chance to be served again within the 6-week breeding season.
Bulls and autumn calves
The first bulls were drafted for slaughter on the 19th of May. The bulls were 15months of age and killed out at 420kg carcass with a fat score of U-3=. We are very pleased with how the bulls have improved since January.
The autumn calvers are all weaned off and the cows have been moved to the out farm for more marginal type grazing. We find the cows do not become over conditioned on this type of grazing. We have treated the cows with a pour-on solution to help guard against flies and summer mastitis. These cows will return to the home block for calving in July
Eamon and Donnchadh McCarthy are participants in the Teagasc Signpost Programme and the Teagasc Future Beef Programme.
Find out more information about the McCarthys’ farm here.
The above article first appeared in the Farming Examiner as part of a regular Signpost Programme update.