Making the Winter Gains

The Beef Edge

Aidan Maguire, DairyBeef 500 farmer from Navan, Co. Meath, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss management on his farm and his upcoming National Beef open day taking place on September 5th at 6pm.

Aidan, alongside his son Luke, runs a dairy calf to beef enterprise on their farm, in conjunction with a contracting business. The farm stretches to over 70ha, with 54ha in grass and the remainder in forestry.

Up until 1999, Aidan operated tillage and suckler cow enterprises. Having initially changed to a calf to store system, Aidan then moved to a dairy calf to beef system through which approximately 100 calves were purchased and finished each year.

The predominant breeds purchased were Aberdeen Angus, Hereford and Friesian animals. Annual calf purchases have now increased to 150-170, a mixture of autumn and spring-born. Even though the number of calves has increased, there has been no increase in health issues associated with the rearing of these extra calves.

Since joining the Teagasc DairyBeef 500 Campaign, the Maguires source all their calves from four local dairy farmers and finish their heifers at around 18-19 months and bullocks at less than 24 months of age. The target is to have heifers at over 550kgs live weight at the end of the finishing period and for bullocks to be 600kg, leaving a minimum carcass weight of 270kg for heifers and 300kg for bullocks.

On Thursday, September 5th at 6pm, Aidan Maguire will host a DairyBeef 500 farm walk and live forum on his farm. All are welcome to come along and see his dairy calf to beef system in action. On display on the evening will be his 2023 autumn born and 2024 spring born calves, yearling steers and heifers and his finishing animals.

The theme of the event is ‘Making the winter gains‘, which will be of great interest to both dairy farmers and those interested in rearing dairy bred stock.

Topics on the day will include: Aidan’s current farming system and his financial performance; grassland management tips, including red clover swards; animal health; and winter feeding options for finishing and weanling animals.

The DairyBeef 500 Farm Walk and Live Forum will take place on Aidan Maguire’s farm, Antylstown, Co. Meath, Eircode: C15 W4C2 on September 5th at 6pm and further details on the event are available at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/national-events/events/db500farmwalkliveforum.php

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

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