Yearling heifers at grass in early spring on the demonstration farm.\ Philip Doyle
While measuring the physical performance of animals is important and gives farmers a good indication that production targets are being constantly met, these systems need to stack up financially if they are to have a sustainable future on Irish farms.
Diet proportions
Figures 1 and 2 show the makeup of each proportion of the diet on a dry matter (DM) basis for heifers and steers. This shows that grazed grass is making up two-thirds of the heifers’ lifetime diet on farm while the bullocks are just slightly behind this at 62%.
Finishing cattle at grass in August last year. These heifers were receiving 3kg/d concentrates.
It is often said that there is as much variation within a breed as there is across breeds, and looking at the production data from the Thrive demonstration farm for the 2019-born stock this certainly holds true.
With all the 2019-born animals now slaughtered, we are able to look at some of the facts and figures from the group.
We must remember that this is a relatively small sample size and therefore we must be careful with any extrapolation of the data to a national scale.
SHARING OPTIONS:
Holding off concentrate supplementation until early- to mid-September resulted in fewer cattle being slaughtered off grass.
In the previous pages we have outlined what needs to be done to remain on target up to the final phase. Here we outline finishing targets for stock
19-month system
For cattle on target to be slaughtered at the end of the second grazing season, concentrate supplementation will more than likely need to be introduced from early August.
In recent years on the demonstration farm, introducing concentrates a fortnight earlier in the season increased the proportion of cattle slaughtered off grass and reduced the overall concentrate input compared to cattle housed for finishing.
SHARING OPTIONS:
Calves are penned in groups of six or seven on arrival to the Thrive demo farm. \ Philip Doyle
When it comes to calf rearing, it really comes down to attention to detail and getting the basics right. Ensuring a good start to life for the calf will set them up for the rest of the production system. Here we take a look at some of the main points to consider when starting out with a dairy-beef system.
1 Sourcing calves
One thing that has really become apparent throughout the Thrive programme is knowing about where your calves come from and how well they have been looked after in terms of colostrum and housing hygiene is priceless. Building good relationships between dairy farmer and beef farmer is a critical piece in the puzzle.
SHARING OPTIONS:
There are over 40 paddocks on the demo farm and each of these can be sub-divided to help increase the grazing pressure when required. \ Philip Doyle
Top-quality grassland management is a must on dairy-calf-to-beef farms. Grazing these animals is very different to grazing suckler cows. They are unforgiving if grass is not kept correct in front of them at all times.
From looking at the performance of the programme farmers, it is clear to see that the biggest difference between those excelling at grassland management and those that can do better, is that the best performers are consistently measuring grass. We keep alluding to the fine margins that these systems operate on. Gaining an extra 0.1kg/day of liveweight at grass may not seem like much, but over a grazing season this could mean an additional 20kg of liveweight, or at current beef prices an additional €42 of carcase output.