2 days ago
Watch: ABP marks 10 years of research at demo farm
ABP Food Group hosted a special event today (Tuesday, June 10) to mark a decade of research on the ABP Demo Farm in Co. Carlow.
Attended by agri-industry personnel from across Ireland, the event highlighted progress made to date on reducing climate emissions and improving on-farm efficiency.
The Sheppard family-owned, 280ac dairy-beef farm, has partnered with ABP since 2015.
The partnership was established to test and validate practical on-farm solutions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from beef production, whilst also increasing efficiency.
The ABP Demo Farm research is in collaboration with, and independently verified by, Teagasc and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).
The key findings and achievements from the ABP Demo Farm to date include:
The farm's carbon footprint is 32% lower than the average beef farm in Ireland, based on Bord Bia data, with steers finished 180 days earlier (ABP Beef Benchmark Report);
The research findings indicate that high genetic merit beef sires, compared to lower-merit sires, produce cattle that are on average 38kg heavier and worth €301/head more at the same slaughter age. The gap between the best and worst sires reached 62kg in carcass weight and €511 in carcass value;
Hereford cattle ranked in the top third of the Commercial Beef Value (CBV) and delivered €220 more in returns than those in the bottom third;
Over 5,500 cattle have gone through the trial programme to date with more than 80,000 live-weights recorded from the trial farm alone;
150,000 doses of semen have been distributed through the Gene Ireland Programme;
Progeny from 279 AI beef bulls have been tested, with these sires going on to produce 885,000 calves on Irish farms.
The establishment of the ABP Demo Farm followed findings from ABP's work with the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), which revealed that over 90% of emissions across its supply chain occur at farm level.
Ongoing and future research initiatives at the ABP Demo Farm include:
Working with the ICBF, Teagasc, and Meat Technology Ireland (MTI) to develop genetic strategies for earlier finishing and lower daily methane emissions;
Participation in the Water EIP Programme with Teagasc and the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) to enhance water quality without compromising productivity, with three ABP team members currently training to support farmers through this scheme;
Being the first beef farm in Ireland to adopt the Glasport Bio GasAbate slurry inoculation system, which Teagasc has shown reduces methane emissions by 80% and ammonia by 50%;
Running a second-year grazing study in partnership with University College Dublin and BiOrbic, comparing multi-species swards and perennial ryegrass in terms of animal performance, grass growth, fertiliser use, and environmental impact;
Measuring soil carbon stocks through 273 soil samples across different depths to track future gains in carbon sequestration.
The research findings from the ABP Demo Farm have directly contributed to the creation of ABP Beef Benchmark Report and support the ICBF Gene Ireland Beef programme which aims to identify the most suitable beef bulls for use on the dairy herd.
Advantage Beef Programme
The success of the ABP Demonstration Farm has also led to the creation of the ABP Advantage Beef Programme, an enterprise partnership that assists farmers to build a more-sustainable beef business.
The programme now includes over 1,000 participating suppliers and is a key element in expanding the research findings of the ABP Demonstration Farm across the family farm supply chain.
In 2024, the 35,000 cattle produced as part of the ABP Advantage Beef Programme were on average 85 days younger at finish, with just a 4kg lighter carcass weight.
ABP is currently working with Teagasc, ICBF and MTI on new projects focused on genetic selection for earlier finishing and animals that emit less methane per day, as well as projects focused on improving water and soil quality.
Agri-sustainability manager at ABP, Stephen Connolly, said: 'The ABP Demonstration Farm is a long-term investment in the future of sustainable beef production in Ireland.
'Our objective is to develop systems and share solutions that support farmers and allow their businesses to grow. The key focus of our projects is economic and environmental sustainability and in this, our key areas are animal breeding and grassland management.
'Although this farm is focused on dairy beef, many of the practices developed here can be transferred to suckler-beef systems, which remain an integral part of Ireland's beef sector,' Connolly added.
