The Beef Edge

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

Ruaraidh Petre, Executive Director, Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast.

Ruaraidh discusses the work of the Global Roundtable that is carried out across 24 countries working together to produce sustainable beef. 

Originally from Ireland, but now living in New Zealand, Ruaraidh discusses comparison between the countries’ beef systems.

Further details are available at:

https://grsbeef.org/

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

DairyBeef500 advisor, Tommy Cox, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with an update on the programme, as well as discussing grassland management and the upcoming National Open Day on the farm of Austin & Jarlath Ruane in county Mayo on Thursday 13th July at 6pm.

For further details of the event go to:

https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/jarlath-and-austin-ruane-dairybeef500-farm-walk-tickets-637952331597

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 

Gearóid Slattery from ICBF joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the National Genotyping Programme.  

The National Genotyping Programme is a collaborative initiative enabling Ireland to take the first step in achieving a fully genotyped national herd. The scale of the programme is a world first and sees Ireland placed firmly at the forefront when it comes to national sustainability efforts.

The NGP has been developed based on a cost-sharing model between the programme partners, consisting of the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine (DAFM), Dairy Industry Ireland (DII), Meat Industry Ireland (MII) and participating farmers. 

The first year of the programme will be funded by the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR).  For the remaining four years, the genotyping costs of €18 per sample will be divided equally between the three Programme Partners; 1. DAFM, 2. DII & MII and 3. Participating farmers (i.e. €6 contribution per programme partners).

Genotyping the national herd will provide a huge opportunity for both the dairy and beef industry to increase its sustainability credentials on a global scale. Ireland will become the first country in the world to provide a DNA-verified traceability system. 

It will lead to an acceleration in the rates of gain of our national breeding indexes (e.g. EBI, Eurostar & DBI), which will enhance farm sustainability and reduce carbon emissions.

The closing date for applications for dairy herds is 14th July 2023. The closing date for beef herds is yet to be announced.

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 

DairyBeef500 Manager, Alan Dillon, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast with an update on how farmers in the programme are recovering from the drought conditions, grassland management in the coming weeks and information on the upcoming national open day in Co. Limerick.

Alan outlines fertiliser programmes and closing for second cut silage and he advises farmers to continue feeding until growth increases on farms. 

Join the Teagasc DairyBeef500 team on Thursday, 29th June at 6pm on the farm of Ciaran Bartley, Boher, Co. Limerick. Eircode: V94 AWT0. 

Further details can be found at:

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

Niall Kilrane from the ICBF Tully Test Performance Centre is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give an update from the research centre which is the national commercial progeny test centre located on the edge of Kildare town. 

Historically, pedigree bull breeders used to bring their young bulls to the centre for performance testing. However, following a review in 2011, ICBF then began to purchase the commercial progeny of new AI sires that have been progeny tested through the Gene Ireland breeding programme. 

At any one time there are approximately 200 animals on site and to date almost 5,000 commercial animals have been through the centre. These animals are a mix of bulls, steers and heifers from both suckler and dairy dams. 

The data captured is growth rate, feed efficiency, methane emissions and even meat-eating quality. 

They are currently in the early stages of setting up a system that will capture the water intakes of the animals. Some of these traits have a direct impact on the genetic evaluation of the AI sire concerned whilst some of the data is in its infancy but could be extremely useful in the future. 

All of work is only possible through collaboration with industry partners including herd owners, AI companies, breed societies and the DAFM.

For further details go to: 

https://www.icbf.com/tully-bull-centre/

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 

Natascha Meunier from Animal Health Ireland is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss parasite control, managing resistance on farms and the Targeted Advisory Service on Animal Health (TASAH).

As part of the TASAH, a Parasite Control TASAH consult, between trained veterinary practitioners and their clients will continue to be available for 2023.  This is a free and voluntary programme supported as part of the Rural Development Plan 2014-2022, co-funded by the Irish government and the EU. All Irish herds and flocks are eligible to take part in the programme for 2023.

Farmers nominate a trained Private Veterinary Practitioner (PVP) to carry out a herd or flock visit to look at various aspects of parasite control management on-farm. 

The PVP will make recommendations and will conduct two faecal egg count tests for roundworms (stomach or gut worms). There is no cost to the herd or flock owner, as this is fully funded by DAFM.

All herd and flock owners who were registered in 2022 will be automatically re-enrolled for 2023 and be eligible for a visit. 

New registrations are welcome for further details go to: 

https://animalhealthireland.ie/training/targeted-advisory-service-on-animal-health-tasah/

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 

Roscommon Future Beef Farmer, Shane Keaveney, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast  to discuss the breeding season to date and to give an update on the farm. 

Breeding season is underway and Shane discusses using AI. He outlines the sires used on the farm and as Shane is finishing bulls at under 16 months, he talks through how they are managed from once they were housed and performance to date.

With a lot of silage has been cut around the country in the past fortnight, Shanes discusses his plan this year. 

He is trying red clover also and he discusses how he went about reseeding it and its management to date.

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