Aidan Murray, Teagasc Beef Specialist, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss what beef price you can afford to pay for stock, what impact costs have on the bottom line and what price will be needed to cover these costs.

Aidan first compares the figures to date to show that the national kill has decreased from the same time last year. 

While beef prices for purchasing are increasing, the variable costs have decreased since last year. 

Aidan then outlines a number of different beef systems and the expected prices.

For a full breakdown of the beef budgets launched this week at the National Ploughing Championships visit Teagasc.ie.

Contact your local Teagasc advisor to discuss further:

https://www.teagasc.ie/about/farm-advisory/advisory-regions/

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

As the grazing of the last rotation approaches, on this week’s Beef Edge podcast, Catherine Egan is joined by the Grass10 team, John Maher, Joseph Dunphy and John Douglas, with tips and advice.

Grazing has been difficult nationwide however recent weather conditions have made a huge difference and John Maher says don’t be tempted to graze paddocks that are closed first in the rotation. 

Meanwhile, John Douglas and Joseph Dunphy advise on multispecies and clover swards.

For further details visit: 

https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/grassland/grass10/

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

DairyBeef 500 farmer, Pat Collins, from Castlemarter Co. Cork, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give his personal experiences of his dairy calf to beef system, management on the farm and his upcoming open day.

This year there were 300 calves reared on the farm. Pat discusses how his beef system has changed over the years.

It’s been a difficult few months weather wise and Pat describes how he is managing grass on the farm and red clover swards.  He also outlines how the bulls are being managed at their finishing stage.

Pat will host an open day on September 12th at 5pm with a live forum in which Chris Daly, from ICBF, will discuss the new Commercial Breeding Value; Martin Kavanagh, from Munster Bovine, will discuss animal health issues; while Laurence Shalloo, Teagasc, will give his views on the future of the dairy industry and the outlook/options for dairy calves being produced in the future.

The forum will be chaired by Doreen Corridan, Munster Bovine.

Further details available at: 

https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/dairybeef500-patcollins.php

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Future Beef suckler farmer, Ger McSweeney, from Millstreet Co.Cork, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast  to give an update on his beef system, plus he discusses how AI on his farm is increasing performance and reducing age to slaughter and previews his upcoming open day. 

Ger operates a spring calving suckler system with bulls finished U16 months and heifers U21 months. 

There is 100% AI used on the farm which has allowed Ger increase his replacement index and match each cows to a particular sire. 

Ger discusses how he has managed grass on the farm and the performance of the heifers and the calves. 

With weaning around the corner, he also discusses how he reduces stress on his farm at weaning time and how he implements the herd health plan.

Ger will host an open day on his farm on September 7th @ 2pm.
For further details go to:
https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/futurebeefwalk-mcsweeney.php

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

On the latest Beef Edge podcast, John O’Connor from Kildalton Agricultural College gives an update on the suckler farm, and Joe Day teacher in Kildalton, discusses the upcoming open day. 

John describes how it’s been a difficult summer and how grass is being managed at the moment in Kilkenny.

He highlights the breeding performance of the herd this year and how the finished cattle have performed and John also reflects on his career and we wish him every health and happiness on his retirement.

Joe Day then discusses the upcoming open day on the farm on 8th September 2023 @ 2:30pm with further details here:

https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/autumn-beef-event.php

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge 

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Michael Cunniffe from Co. Roscommon joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss his in-calf heifer system and grassland management.

Michael buys in approximately 150 each year, all of different types and breeds to meet his customers’ demands. The heifers are vaccinated and dosed when purchased. They are fed on a grass only diet on a paddock grazing system and silage only over the winter. 

The heifers are selected based on their characteristics to run with a Limousin stock bull. The heifers are then sold to farmers across the country operating different farm systems.

Michael discusses his paddock system and efforts he has made to increase soil fertility on the farm. In recent years clover and multi-species are being incorporated on the farm to help reduce nitrogen input on the farm .

Charlie Devaney local Teagasc advisor also outlines the farm walk being held on Michael’s farm at Mount Prospect, Co. Roscommon on Thursday, 31st August at 6:30pm which will discuss his heifer system and management of grass on the farm. 

For further details:

https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/cunniffefarmwalk.php

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge  

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Teagasc researcher Peter Doyle joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give an update on the Derrypatrick herd in Grange.   

Peter discusses how calving went this spring and how breeding season went on the farm. The pre-breeding scan was well worthwhile this year, Peter explained, and helped resolve any issues before they arose. Perter discussed the traits that sires were selected on and which sires were used.

Being the wettest July on record Peter also discusses the impact this has had on performance and getting second cut of silage harvested.

With a lot of clover sown this year Peter explains how he went about over-sowing it. He also outlined all the areas of focus for the coming month in advance of weaning and the herd health protocol.

We also wish Michael McManus well in his new post and wish Niamh Doyle all the best in Derrypatrick.

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge  

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

With the launch of the new National Beef Welfare Scheme by the Department of Agriculture Food & the Marine, which replaces Beep-S, on this week’s Beef Edge podcast, Catherine Egan is joined by Teagasc Beef specialist Aidan Murray to get all the details.

The new scheme which is funded by the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) is a one year programme and it essentially replaces the old BEEP-S scheme where applicants had to weigh the unweaned cow and calf, with the option of either meal feed pre & post weaning or vaccinate calves and optional faecal sampling. 

For the new scheme the weighing component no longer features as it now part of the Suckler Cow Efficiency Programme (SCEP) while the faecal sampling and the calf vaccination have also been dropped.

There are no optional components this time around, both required measures are mandatory:

1. IBR Testing - Each participant must commit to participate in the IBR testing action managed by ICBF on behalf of DAFM. They are required to engage a PVP who will blood sample and test up to twenty bovine animals per herd, ideally 9 months old (if feasible) or above if present in the herd, or all ages if there is less than 20 in the herd for IBR gE antibodies.

Where a herd has twenty or more bovines, a minimum of twenty must be tested. Where a

herd has less than twenty bovines, ALL must be tested.

No. of bovines tested Payment per herd

Between 2 to 6 animals (inclusive)​€120

Between 7 to 10 animals (inclusive) ​€180

Between 11 to 15 animals (inclusive)​€250

Between 16 to 20 animals (inclusive) ​€300

2. Meal Feeding – Participants must introduce meal feeding for a period of 4 weeks pre-weaning and 2 weeks post-weaning to reduce the stress on calves at weaning time. Eligible suckler calves are those born between 1stJuly 2022 and 30th June 2023. 

The rate of payment is €35 per calf for a maximum of 40 calves.

Applications 

Applications are open online at www.agfood.ie and will remain open until midnight on 12th September. Applicants may apply themselves online or they can get their approved FAS adviser to apply. It is important to note that there is no late application facility with this scheme so 12th September will be the final date for applications

Once you make an application it will be up to you to make contact with the vet (PVP) to arrange the IBR blood testing. The vet will then send the samples to one of the DAFM approved labs.

Because DAFM hope to make payments for the scheme before the end of 2023, both actions of meal feeding and IBR testing will have to be undertaken by 1st November.

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge  

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

The Certified Irish Angus Schools competition challenges students to rear five Irish Angus calves over 18 months while completing a research project, and is organised in partnership with ABP Ireland and Kepak Group. 

On this week’s Beef Edge podcast, the students from Mercy Secondary School Kilbeggan Co. Westmeath discuss their involvement in the competition and their journey to date. The team comprises of fours students Chloe McDermott, Mary Ellen Colton, Trása Bracken and Sinéad Bracken.

With the theme of ‘Exploring the opportunities of low carbon beef’ in mind, the students have developed a five-point plan to support sustainability in the Irish Angus breed of cattle.

Trása and Sinéad discuss their experience of the calves being reared on the farm and highly recommend the competition to other students thinking of participating. Mary discusses her experience and the skills she developed by participating in the competition. Mary highlights that being from a non-farming background, it has given her a better understanding of beef production systems in Ireland.   

The students will have the cattle on display on Sunday 13th August at the Tullamore show at the Teagasc stand. Call in to the stand to discuss the competition and their progress in more detail

Further details of their journey is available on the link below:

https://padlet.com/irishangusbreedtosucceed/certified-irish-angus-competition-by5dxwyw7lbwjm0r 

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge  

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Teagasc Director of Knowledge Transfer, Stan Lalor, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with an update on the recent launch of the Signpost Advisory Programme and details on how you can take part.

This public programme is available to all farmers and it will build on the network of Signpost Demonstration Farms by providing enhanced advisory and training support to farmers to commit to, select and implement climate and sustainability actions that will be appropriate and impactful on their farms. Participating farmers will be given the opportunity to commit to taking action for their farms.

A ‘Know My Number – Make My Plan ‘component of the programme, supported by the Sustainability Digital Platform, will allow farmers to see and understand their carbon emissions and sequestration profile as a baseline from which to act. A team of advisors are available in each advisory region.

With advisory support, farmers will make a plan to improve by adopting positive changes and technologies, and advisors will help them with the implementation of the plan, and tracking of progress.

This will also create trust and build capacity for supporting the adoption of new technologies as they emerge. 

The ambition of the programme is to engage with 50,000 farmers between now and 2030.

For further details, you can sign up to the Signpost Advisory Programme at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/environment/climate-action/signpost-advisory-programme/expression-of-interest/

Or contact your local Signpost advisor at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/environment/climate-change--air-quality/signpost-programme/signpost-advisory-programme/advisors/

Or via the Teagasc website:

https://www.teagasc.ie/about/farm-advisory/signpost-advisory-programme/

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge  

Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com