The Beef Edge

On this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast we are going to hear the four presentations that were given at the Teagasc National Beef Conference panel discussion in December 2022 which was entitled, ‘Key enablers to improving profitability on beef farms’. 

The panel was facilitated by Trevor Boland, Teagasc Future Beef Programme participant, and the speakers and topics were:

-       Assessing the potential to improve key profit drivers on beef farms
 Dr Paul Crosson, Beef Enterprise Leader, Teagasc Grange

-       Abattoir lesions in cattle are associated with an increased age at slaughter
 Dr Natascha Meunier, Programme Manager Beef Health Check, Animal Health Ireland

-       Reducing the age at first calving for suckler cows – a key profit driver for beef farms
 Dr Colin Byrne, Beef Researcher, Teagasc Grange

-       Has red clover a role in your beef production system?

Dr Nicky Byrne Beef Researcher, Teagasc Grange

The conference and speakers can also be viewed on the Teagasc YouTube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK3bFy7peTw&ab_channel=Teagasc

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

In the final episode of the Beef Edge podcast for 2022, Catherine Egan is joined by Teagasc Drystock advisor Christy Watson, who is based in Naas, Co. Kildare. 

As Christy retires this year, he gives his insights into the changes and challenges that he has seen over the past four decades. 

Christy talks through his time in Teagasc in Leitrim, Kildalton College, Wicklow and Kildare and he discusses the fodder and financial challenges farmers have experienced over the years. 

There have also been major improvements in grassland management and breeding on beef farms over the years and looking to the future he offers tips and advice for farmers from his lifetime of experience.

On behalf of all in Teagasc and the farmers he has worked with, thank you Christy for everything and wishing you a very happy retirement. 

Thanks to everyone for listening and wishing you all a very happy, peaceful and safe New Year.

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

This week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast is a recording of the Teagasc National Beef Conference panel discussion titled ‘Delivering sustainability at farm level’ which took place on the 13th December in the Shearwater hotel, Ballinasloe. 

It was Facilitated by Matt O’Keeffe, from the Irish Farmers Monthly and the panel participants were Professor Sinead Waters, Teagasc, Dr Dominika Krol, Teagasc, Ross Evans from ICBF & Pearse Kelly Teagasc Head of Drystock.

The topics for discussion included:

·      Current research and the potential of feed additives to reduce methane emissions
 Professor Sinead Waters, Teagasc

·      Protected Urea/ LESS/ Anaerobic Digestion research results
 Dr Dominika Krol, Teagasc

·      How improved breeding can help to reduce emissions from the Irish beef herd
 Dr Andrew Cromie, ICBF

·      What measures are Irish beef farmers taking up to make them more sustainable, and what more can they do?
 Pearse Kelly, Teagasc

The Teagasc National Beef conference panel discussion recording can also be viewed at:

https://youtu.be/TK3bFy7peTw?t=7965

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 Environment specialist, Catherine Keena, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give an update on the new Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme also known as ACRES. 

This new €1.5 billion flagship agri-environment scheme closed last week for applications of which there were 47,000 applications. 

There were 27,000 in the general scheme comprising of Tier 1, 2 and 3. The farmers that are successfully accepted into the scheme will receive a letter from the DAFM. Once the letter is received farmers will also receive a detailed copy of their ACRES plan. 

While Catherine advises farmers to make preparations now, it’s also important not to carry out any actions before hearing back from the DAFM.

Farmers that were unable to apply in this tranche or are unsuccessful, will have an opportunity to apply again next autumn.

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, Nicky Byrne, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss if red clover has a role on beef farms as well as previewing the upcoming National Beef Conference taking place on the 13th December in the Shearwater Hotel, Ballinasloe at 6pm. 

Nicky outlines the benefits and barriers to red clover and discusses how the red clover swards performed this year at Teagasc Grange in comparison to grass swards.

Nicky will be covering this in more detail next week at the National Beef Conference and for further details go to: 

https://www.teagasc.ie/beefcon

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 advisor, Sean Cummins, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with interesting insights into the recent DairyBeef 500 farmer study trip to Spain.

Over the course of the trip they visited a number of farms in the Catalonia region in the north-east of Spain, with the two main enterprises being calf to beef and suckler to beef. 

The key differences between both systems were that farmers were focused on producing a product for the domestic market which is generally a paler meat, produced from younger animals. 

One noticeable difference was the target carcass weights. In the Spanish system, lighter carcass weights are generally preferred, with premium prices available for animals producing carcasses between 220-240kg - carcasses that are often penalised here.

Unlike Ireland, all animals are housed for the duration of their stay on-farm. Typical lifetime concentrate input per animal is 1.8-2t.

Substantial numbers can be handled with very little labour input, typically you were seeing 1-1.5 labour units per 1,000 head on the farms visited.

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

Joe Patton, Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer at Teagasc joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss what beef farmers should be looking out for next spring when it comes to sourcing quality calves for their beef system. 

There have been big changes in dairy herd  numbers in the past few years, with 1.6  million dairy cows expected to calve down in 2023. While 30% will be retained as replacements, 70% of them will be split between exports and reared on Irish farms to beef.  

There are many aspects to be considered when sourcing calves. Up until now the visual assessment was one of the few tools a beef farmer had.  But the new Commercial Beef Value (CBV) will be a help to farmers next spring in sourcing calves. 

There can be huge genetic variation with the breed of calves not to mention comparison across the breeds. Since 2010 there has been a 10% increase in the proportion of cattle slaughtered of dairy origin from 47% in 2010 to 57% in 2020.

The Teagasc Dairy conference will take place on Tuesday, 6th December in the Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork and on Thursday, 8th December in the Mullingar Park Hotel, Westmeath.  Both conferences begin at 10am.

Further details can be found here: 

https://www.teagasc.ie/corporate-events/dairy-conference/

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 Colin Byrne joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with an update on the Maternal Herd in Teagasc Grange Co. Meath. 

Colin give a background to the herd and outlines the future research being carried out, plus he discusses this year’s weanling performance and the management over the coming winter.

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 Beef Specialist Aidan Murray joins Catherine Egan on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast with some top tips on managing nutrition with high feed costs this winter. 

Aidan outlines the current position with feed availability this winter and discusses the various options.

This year, he explains, it’s very important for farmers to test silage in order to reduce costs as much as possible.  

Aidan also describes how to take a silage a sample from a pit or bales and he discusses the target weight gains to be achieved this winter.

Taking a sample:

https://fb.watch/gG4BuzU5qp/

Understanding your sample results:

https://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2020/understanding-the-silage-test-results.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

With heavy rainfall across the country, a lot of cattle were housed over the past fortnight. 

Natascha Meunier from Animal Health Ireland, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the key parasites farmers should keep in mind this winter, what you should be treating for, when to dose and which product to use.

Natascha also discusses fluke, worm and lice treatments and she outlines the Beef Health Check report analysis findings and how farmers can access their report.

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