12 October 2022
Why do only 24% of Irish suckler farmers calve their heifers at 24 months?
We know a heifer calving at three will have eaten 65% more grass, 96% more silage and 33% more concentrate before she has had a calf compared to a heifer calving at 24 months. Martina Harrington, Teagasc Drystock Specialist asks, does this shock you?
The bigger shock may be how much all of this costs, from Teagasc work in Grange based on a 50-cow herd with a 20% replacement rate, each additional month that calving is delayed costs €490 or €50 per heifer per month. These figures are based on 2018 input costs, so we can add at least another 20% to these costs in 2022.
If that was not bad enough, this heifer calving at three years of age is massively increasing your carbon footprint as she is in existence for a whole year producing nothing.
Most of us know that agriculture was given a target to reduce its carbon emissions by 25%. If we took a very simplistic view of this, based on Teagasc modelling work, if I can reduce the age at first calving within my herd from 3 years to 2 years, this could cut the carbon footprint on my farm by 12%. The reduced footprint comes from the cow calving at 24 months producing more product (beef) than the heifer calving at 36 months, over her lifetime. This is by far the greatest saving any one measure can make on a suckler farm to reduce its carbon footprint.
When groups are asked why they don’t calve at 24 months, the top four reasons are listed below. I will use Table 1 to dispel some of these “myths”. Table 1 shows performance statistics from approximately 137,000 suckler heifers born in 2011. We can see they first calved down between 23 and 40 months. Their performance up to 2018 is recorded and I want to use this table to challenge the top four reasons.
1. Sure, you will stunt her and she will be no good for anything!
– Table 1 shows from BEEP-S records, the heifers that calved at 2 years of age were 16Kgs heavier at maturity than those heifers calved at 31 – 35 months.
2. She will go in calf the first time, but she won’t go back in calf again!
– From the same set of heifers, it can be seen that 82% of the heifers that calved between 23 -26 months went back in calf the second time, in comparison to 86% of the heifers that calved at 36 – 40 months.
3. She will be too small and be too hard to calve.
– All first time calvers need some level of assistance at calving. From the same sample of 137,000 heifers, we can see 43% of the 3 year old heifers needed assistance, this went to 50% when the heifer was 24 months old.
– Bull selection is critical in calving any heifer for the first time. You need easy calving with high reliability; this is where using AI really comes into its own, they have plenty of bulls with > 80% reliability for heifer calving ease. It also allows for sexed semen to be used. It is very hard to have a good bull for use on your mature cows that you can also use on your maiden heifers.
4. Survivability
– Possibly the biggest surprise in the system is that 39% of the heifers that calved at two reached their 5th parity in comparison to only 4% of the heifers calved at 31 -35 months and 0% of those calved at 3 years +.
| Age at 1st calving (months) | Average subsequent calving interval (days) | % calving for a second time | Average calving difficulty of bulls used (%) | Heifer calving unassisted (%) | Mortality at first calving (%) |
Heifers reaching 5th parity | Mature cow weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23-26 | 383 days | 82% | 47% | 50% | 3.2% | 39% | 708Kg |
| 27-30 | 394 days | 83% | 5.1% | 53% | 2.8% | 20% | |
| 31-35 | 392 days | 87% | 5.2% | 58% | 2.6% | 4% | 692Kg |
| 36-40 | 386 days | 86% | 5.2% | 57% | 2.0% | 0% |
Table 1: ICBF data – Replacement heifers born in 2011 (131,077)
Workshops
The good news is we have several farmers successfully calving heifers at 24 months and we would like to share their experiences with you. Management is key and that is why on these farms to discuss, in detail, how you can calve your heifers at 24 months, save money and reduce your carbon footprint. All of these free to attend workshops are listed below. To sign up, please contact the number listed beside your local event or logon to clr.ie/133072.
Calving Heifers at 24 months Workshops
Morning and afternoon sessions will be held at each location. The workshops are free.
Information & booking
THUR 20TH OCT
KEN GILL, EDENDERRY, CO. OFFALY
TEAGASC TULLAMORE (057) – 9321405
FRI 28TH OCT
MICHAEL & NIALL BIGGINS, HEADFORD, CO. MAYO
TEAGASC BALLINROBE (094) – 9541125
WED 2ND NOV
GURTEEN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, CO. TIPPERARY
TEAGASC THURLES (0504) – 21777
WED 2ND NOV
BALLYHAISE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, CO. CAVAN
TEAGASC BALLYHAISE (049) – 4338300
THUR 10TH NOV
JOHN PRINGLE, AUGHRIM, CO. WICKLOW
TEAGASC TINAHELY (0402)- 38171
FRI 11TH NOV
KILDALTON COLLEGE , PILTOWN, CO. KILKENNY
TEAGASC KILKENNY (056) – 7721153
TUE 22ND NOV
CLONAKILTY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, CLONAKILTY, CO. CORK
TEAGASC CLONAKILTY (023) – 8863130
Calving a 24 months workshops pdf advert
Spaces are limited and will be on a first come first served basis
Teagasc Beef Specialists issue an article on a topic of interest to Suckler and Beef farmers every Wednesday here on Teagasc Daily. Find more on Teagasc Beef here