May 2, 2021, 6:00 am
In many of the commercial suckler herds in Ireland, there can be many breeds mixed through the cows when examining their recent ancestry.
However, in the suckler herd belonging to Jim Parkinson from Cahir in Co. Tipperary, the prominence of Limousin genetics is easily identified once you glance through the first few paddocks upon entering the farm.
For this week’s Beef Focus,
Agriland made the trip down to speak with Jim about how he manages his herd of cows across a 70ha farm.
Video of Jim’s farm
Farm overview
As previously mentioned, there is a 50-cow commercial suckler herd, mainly comprising Limousin breeding. The farm also hosts a 40 head herd of pedigree Limousin cows – under the
April 30, 2021, 6:10 am
As the weeks progress in 2021, we are almost entering the month of May and the calf trade is seeing an ease back in the number of calves coming onto the scene this week it marts.
It will be interesting to see over the coming weeks if the rule of supply and demand will come into play and maintain the strong floor under calf prices which has been seen for a good proportion of the season.
In terms of the trade this week, managers are reporting very few setbacks in the prices of beef-sired calves – with only the beef calves coming from jersey cross-bred genetics and showing their true colours, stated to be back in price at some marts.
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April 3, 2021, 2:00 pm
The trade for store cattle was ‘getting hotter’ at Monday’s (March 29) sale at Mid-Tipp Mart in Thurles according to the manager Martin Ryan, who
Agriland spoke to get get a mart manager’s view this week.
Speaking to
Agriland about the sale of cattle this week, Martin said:
“The trade in general is definitely getting hotter over the past few weeks and farmers were very anxious for cattle over the past week.
“It may have been slightly artificially manipulated by the end of the tax year – a lot of farmers were trying to have their cattle bought by April 1.
Jersey: €1,280.
On Monday (January 11), the mart hosted its second sale of the new year, with the return of its weekly cattle sale. The sale consisted of bullocks, heifers and dry cows.
Speaking on the numbers entered and trade, Martin stated: “Numbers were back on this time last year but they were met with a strong trade.
“Due to Covid-19 restrictions, and to prevent gatherings, we opted to move our calf sale to a Wednesday.”
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In the bullock ring, there were plenty of Hereford and Friesian store bullocks to choose from – with Friesian stores under 400kg selling from €1.68/kg up to €1.86/kg. Meanwhile, Hereford bullocks weighing 400-500kg were a strong trade, selling at €1.93-2.06/kg.