Latest news with #SeanMaher
Agriland
3 days ago
- Health
- Agriland
Watch: ABP Demo Farm manager talks all things dairy calf-to-beef
Farm manager Sean Maher explained that of the 419 calves bought-in on the farm this spring, only three were lost in the rearing period and attributed this low mortality rate to both the kinder weather conditions this spring as well as good calf care and management. There are currently 411 calves at grass with five smaller reared calves housed. In previous years, summer scour was an issue on the farm but a new post-weaning strategy was implemented last year which to date has thankfully eliminated cases in calves during their first season at grass. Maher attributes the elimination of summer scour cases to calves spending longer times in the shed post weaning. He said: "We looked back to calves that were getting summer scour syndrome and it was the last calves to go to grass every year. "So when we looked back on the figures, our first batch of calves were spending about 35-40 days in the shed after coming off milk, that was largely down to the time of year and weather conditions. "Every calf is now spending 35-40 days in the shed post weaning." The system on the ABP Demo farm is a 19-month-heifer beef and a 20-month-steer beef system. Achieving peak performance at all stages is essential on the ABP Demo Farm. On average daily live weight gain, Maher said for the milk feeding period, the farm is averaging 0.65kg/day. He said: "Calves come in at around 55-60kg, being weaned at about 90-95kg and turned out to grass at 120kg." On carcass performance, the farm manager said: "Over the last few years, the good with the bad, we have been averaging 275kg carcass weight for our heifers at 19 months-of-age and our steers, about 325kg carcass weight at 20 months." 50 of the spring 2023-born heifers went to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) progeny test centre in Tully, Co. Kildare last month for performance recording during their finishing stage. The remaining spring 2023-born heifers on the farm were housed for finishing earlier this week. 100 steers will go to Tully in September for performance recording and the remaining steers will be housed on the ABP Demo Farm for finishing. Commenting on the Commercial Beef Value (CBV), the farm manager said it is "a relatively new tool available to dairy calf-to-beef farmers and we are recommending our farmers to keep it in mind when buying calves". A 10ac paddock was reseeded last week on the farm. This had been growing lower yields of grass despite having optimum soil fertility and so was sprayed off, disked, sowed, and rolled. It was reseeded with a grass-clover mix and a further 20ac will be reseeded on the farm in the coming weeks. The ABP Demo Farm is currently involved in a trial with University College Dublin (UCD) where a 32ac plot of ground has two different sward types. 16ac is grown in a multi-species sward (MSS) and 16ac is grown in a perennial ryegrass (PRG) sward. There are a batch of Angus and Hereford steers with thee same weight at turnout allocated to each sward type. Maher said: "Both batches of cattle look good but there is a big fertiliser saving on the MSS sward. It has only got two fertiliser applications this year versus the PRG sward that has got six fertiliser applications. Approximately 600 store lambs will be bought in this autumn as when the older cattle are housed for finishing, the grass demand falls off significantly. These store lambs are then finished the following March and "fit in well to the system on the demo farm". If farmers want to learn more on calf rearing, are looking for advice on getting started or if the ABP farm liaison team can help with any issues, farmers can contact Maher by e-mail at Stay tuned to Agriland for further updates from the ABP Demo Farm and the Advantage Beef Programme.
Agriland
10-06-2025
- Business
- Agriland
ABP Demo Farm reports 32% lower emissions while producing ‘heavier cattle'
New research released by ABP Food Group today (Tuesday, June 10 ) shows that producing 'younger, heavier animals' leads to earlier finishing times, which in turn can potentially significantly reduce emissions. ABP Food Group today hosted a special event on its Demonstration Farm in Co. Carlow to celebrate a decade of on-farm climate research. Over the last 10 years, 5,500 cattle have gone through the demonstration farm. The latest research published today shows the farm's carbon footprint is lower than the average beef farm in Ireland, based on Bord Bia data. The farm reported 32% lower emissions while producing 'more profitable cattle'. ABP Demonstration Farm The ABP Demo Farm was established in 2015, when ABP Food Group joined a partnership with two beef farmers based in Co. Carlow. The farm manager is Sean Maher. The farm size is 280ac and it is laid out in two separate blocks. The farm operates a dairy calf-to-beef system where approximately 400 calves are purchased every year and are reared to finishing. The enterprise also runs a store lamb operation finishing 600-700 store lambs/year. While the farm is operated independently, support in gathering data is provided by way of the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) and Teagasc. Why was the farm established? In the post-quota era of Irish dairy expansion, an increase in the supply of beef cattle from the dairy herd was forecast. ABP Demonstration Farm In 2014, there were 1.25 million dairy cows in Ireland and 416,000 dairy-beef calves were born in Ireland that year. In 2024, there were 1.67 million dairy cows and 885,000 dairy-beef calves born in the country -showing the scale of the increase in dairy breeding in the overall Irish cattle herd. At the time the farm was being established, there was no index available for selecting or breeding dairy-beef bulls, and beef-breed sires were selected predominantly for calving ease and gestation on Irish dairy farms. ABP Demo Farm achievements The ABP Demo Farm has compiled data on progeny performance from different beef sires used on dairy cows to identify the most suitable beef bull genetics for crossing on dairy herds. The demo farm has also come a long way in understanding the impact of sire genetic merit on progeny with a focus on performance and environmental sustainability. Through its collaborations with the Gene Ireland Dairy Beef Programme, the ABP Demo Farm has also managed to: Support the progeny testing of new beef breeding bulls; Gather data on key livestock performance traits; Collect on-farm data such as live weight gain and methane emissions; Collect and disseminate carcass data; Collaborate with ICBF, Teagasc and leading AI companies to help improve the beef merit of calves bred from the dairy herd. The farm is also working to identify what works 'at farm level' in relation to proactive animal health as well as good soil health, grassland management, biodiversity, and water quality. In addition to this it is exploring ways to increase the level of high-protein feed that can be grown on farm to reduced the need for more-expensive soya-based imports. While more work has still to be done, the ABP Demo Farm has played no small part in delivering genetic gain in pedigree AI beef bulls as well as improving the quality of beef cattle from the dairy herd while combining calf ease, short gestation and improved carcase merit. All this work is being delivered with a central focus on improving the economical and environmental sustainability of these cattle. A key part of the ABP Demo Farm is knowledge transfer and the farm is committed to sharing its learnings with ABP suppliers to be implemented across its family-farm supplier base. Supported by the ABP Demo Farm, the Gene Ireland Dairy Beef Programme has distributed 279 test AI sires to date to 600 participating dairy farmers. Sires to come through the Gene Ireland Dairy Beef Programme have went on to sire over 885,000 calves to date. Over 1,400 of the progeny of these bulls have gone through the ICBF Progeny Test Centre at Tully, Co. Kildare. In the Gene Ireland programme, over 150,000 AI straws have been distributed. Economic and environmental value Research from the ABP Demo Farm has shown that there is a €301/animal difference in carcass value between dairy-beef cattle sired by the top 25% of high beef index bulls and the bottom 25% of beef index bulls, based on current beef prices and using sires available in AI within breed. For a calf-to-beef farmer finishing 50 cattle/year, this equates to €15,050/year. Looking solely at the Commercial Beef Value (CBV), data from the ABP Demo Farm shows that the top third of Angus sires on CBV would leave a farmer €240 more money for the farm than the bottom 33% of Angus sires for CBV. This figure is similar for Hereford sires at €220. Water quality The farm, which is in derogation, is conducting research to demonstrate that highly efficient and productive farming can work hand-in-hand with high water quality standards. ABP Food Group has three trained water quality advisors on-hand to assist farmer suppliers in best practice in this area. ABP's agri-sustainability manager, Stephen Connolly said: 'Irish beef has a carbon footprint which is half the global average and is among the most sustainable in the world. 'Working with the Science-Based Targets Initiative, ABP mapped out the emissions across its full supply chain and found that 90% of emissions occur at farm level. 'In response, ABP established the ABP Demo Farm to carry out research into more sustainable farming practices.' Connolly said the Demo Farm acts as a testbed and monitoring station for ways in which these emissions can be reduced. 'There has been significant progress made which has been shared with the wider farming community, with the hope that they will be adopted on a larger scale,' he said. 'When the ABP Demo farm is compared to the national average carbon footprint for beef farms, the figure comes in at 32% lower. 'Our dairy-beef steers have an average slaughter age 180 days younger than the national average. 'Our research is implemented in the sector with our farmer-suppliers through the Advantage Beef Programme and we are continuing to invest in this sustainability initiative,' Connolly added.
Agriland
13-05-2025
- General
- Agriland
ABP Demo Farm: Silage, calf weaning and cattle weights
ABP Demo farm manager Sean Maher has outlined the latest progress on the Co. Carlow-based calf-to-beef demonstration farm, along with what has been happening recently on site. In the latest update from the farm on Friday (May 9, 2025), the farm manager said: 'Spring 2025 has been very kind. 'Grass growth has been steady whilst not setting the world alight. We've started our first-cut silage with 25ac of ground cut on Wednesday, May 7.' He said that it is an early cutting date for first-cut silage on the farm but noted that surplus grazing paddocks would have often been taken out for bale silage in previous years by now – but this is not the case this year. Commenting on grass-growth rates, Maher said: 'Growth has been good at 70kg DM/ha/day which is well exceeding the current demand on the farm and may give us the opportunity to harvest some surpluses in the future.' 'Night-time temperatures are still low, regardless of how warm it is during the day.' Maher noted that these temperatures are having an impact on grass-growth rates. Calf weaning on the ABP Demo Farm There have been 290 of the 400 head of 2025-born calves on the farm weaned off milk. Maher said: 'Weights have been steady like all other batches. These calves have an average weaning weight of 90kg and spent a total of 40 days on milk on the ABP Demo Farm. 'We are very happy with the calf weights and performance is well on target for turnout to grass at approximately 120kg in mid-May to June. 'We have no calf turned out to grass as of yet. Night-time temperatures are still too low. We feel this could lead to calves going backwards and potentially cause some sickness. 'Weaned calves are eating 2.5kg concentrates/head/day with access to ad-lib straw as a source of roughage. The weaning strategy has not changed this year.' In 2024, a new protocol was trialled in the calf-rearing strategy on the ABP Demo Farm to tackle incidents of summer-scour syndrome. Calves remained housed for an average of 46 days post-weaning with the aim that the stronger calves going to grass would be more capable of adapting to their new grass diets. The move has added cost to the system, but has been effective in significantly reducing incidents of summer-scour syndrome. This year, Maher explained that the plan is 'to keep all weaned calves indoors for at least 30 days post weaning before turning them out'. All calves will be infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) vaccinated and weighed at turnout and the plan is to graze calves in bundles of 80 for the year. Yearling cattle at grass The spring 2024-born cattle are currently out at grass and are performing well. The farm manager said: 'These cattle were all weighed on April 22 and came in at an average weight of 360kg. 'The steers had an average weight of 370kg and heifers had an average weight of 345kg. 'These cattle are paddock grazing in batches ranging in size from 40-50, with an emphasis on offering cattle fresh grass every three days.'
Agriland
28-04-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Sowing red clover on beef farms to grow high-protein feed
Having a supply of high-protein feed available to feed growing cattle is essential to ensure good growth rates over the winter-housing period. Where protein is purchased in through concentrate feed, it adds expense to cattle production systems for farmers. However, there is huge scope to improve the crude protein percentage of the silage fed to cattle during their first winter on most Irish beef farms. Red clover silage is one option to increase the crude protein content of silage produced on beef farms, while reducing the need for bought-in chemical nitrogen (N) and bought-in protein through concentrate feed. As part of the Red Clover Silage Measure, farmers can avail of a €300/Ha support payment to reseed paddocks with red clover. The ABP Demo Farm in Co. Carlow reseeded a 9ac bloc of land with a red clover mixture on Friday, April 11. The field selected is predominantly used for silage. ABP Demo Farm manager Sean Maher told Agriland that the field was prepared for reseeding, tilled to create a fine, firm seedbed, and sown with the seed mixture and an application of 10:10:20 fertiliser before being rolled. The field also received a lime application. The seed mix used was as follows: 4kg Aberclyde Lolium; 4kg Aberwolf Lolium; 2kg Ferga Trifolium Pratense. Once the crop is established, the field will be cut and baled before receiving a slurry application and closed for a subsequent cut of silage. A growing sward of red clover In the past, up to five cuts of silage/year have been taken off red clover paddocks on the ABP Demo Farm. Maher said red clover is a great crop to have in the silage inventory for the farm. How red clover silage looks coming out of the bale He said: 'Red clover silage is a great feed for growing cattle; it's a very palatable protein source, it reduces the need for chemical N on the farm, cattle love eating it and thrive well on it.' First cut (April 26) Second cut (June 14) Third cut (July 19) Fourth cut (August 26) Dry matter (%) 42.9 38.3 34.7 29.7 Protein (%) 17 15.6 20.1 20.5 Sugar (%) 5.1 1.3 1 1 Intake Potential (%) 130 110 123 117 Silage analysis results of the red clover silage on the ABP Demo Farm in 2022 The farm manager highlighted that extra care and attention is needed when harvesting red clover silage and good weather and ground conditions at harvesting are important. Attention is also needed on avoiding field compaction and ensuring a consistent sward cutting height.
