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Brian Geraghty, Dysart, Co Roscommon
Brian operates a dairy-calf-to-beef system on a 52ha leased farm in Dysart in south Co Roscommon. Of this, about 20ha of it would be rough grazing, with the remainder good grass growing ground.
In 2020, Brian reared 92 Angus heifers. Taking advantage of the good weather conditions last spring, Brian reared most of the calves at grass and achieved a daily liveweight gain of 0.9kg/day over the rearing phase. This spring, high calf prices have meant Brian has stayed out of the market as he struggled to see a return on investment at the current calf price.
Thrive dairy-beef calf purchases
As Declan Marren reported online over the weekend, calf purchasing for the Thrive programme has been halted due to the high calf prices over the last few weeks. We have had a lot of reaction to this, with many farmers expressing their concerns over high dairy-beef calf prices this spring.
Calf price plays a huge role in the economics of the system. If we pay too much for the calf on day one, it is nearly impossible to claw that expenditure back over its lifetime.
While dairy beef systems can seem small money to get into, it takes a lot of money to get out. Looking at figures from the
SHARING OPTIONS:
A batch of 25 Aberdeen Angus and Hereford bulls and heifers arrived on farm on Monday.
A sure sign that spring is on the way is marked with the arrival of the first dairy-beef calves of the year.
Twenty-five Angus and Hereford, bulls and heifers made up the first batch of calves on the
Irish Farmers Journal Thrive demonstration farm at John Hally’s outside Cashel in Co Tipperary.
Calf price, which has been quite high this spring compared with last year, meant the bulls averaged €220/head and heifers were €200 at around three weeks of age.
First feed
The calves, which are all AI-sired, came directly from two farms less than an hour away.