ABP Demo Farm manager, Sean Maher gave details on the kill out performance of the spring 2023 born dairy-beef cattle on the farm and provides an update on the 2024 born weanlings and the store lambs.
A total of 227 of the spring 2023-born cattle have been slaughtered from the ABP Demo Farm to date this autumn.
Of these, 177 were finished on the ABP Demo Farm and 50 heifers were finished at the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) progeny test centre at Tully in Co. Kildare, where data such as feed intake and methane emissions were measured from these animals.
Maher said: “122 cattle have been slaughtered on the demo farm in the last couple of weeks. there were 74 heifers and 48 bullocks.
“The first of the bullocks were slaughtered on November 11 and fat scores have been trickier to achieve the last couple of weeks as we move to slaughter the more continental-type heifers and the first of the bullocks.
“All animals finished have been in spec and we now have 64 cattle left to finish from the farm and 100 bullocks in Tully. These will be all slaughtered in the next month.”
Of the 122 cattle most recently processed:
- 23 were fat scores 4;
- 91 were fat score 3;
- 8 were fat score 2+ (A lot of these are blue heifers);
- 1 graded R+;
- 19 graded R=;
- 31 graded R-;
- 42 graded O+;
- 22 graded O=;
- 7 graded O-.
The heifers slaughtered to date this autumn have had an average carcass weight of 276kg and the bullocks averaged 314kg.
Maher said: “Limousin heifers performed very well in the last number of weeks, averaging 295kg carcass weight with the Angus averaging 261kg carcass weight, however, a lot of the Angus heifers have been slaughtered already.
“There has only been 15 heifers below 250kg carcass weight, with 18 heifers above 300kg.
“The top Angus heifer was sired by AA7821 and graded an O+4= and had a carcass weight of 307kg. The poorest Angus heifer was sired by AA7818 and graded an O=3= with a carcass weight of 226kg. Financially that was a difference of over €450 in carcass value.
The table below details the average heifer carcass weights by breed:
Breed Carcass weight AAX 270kg AUX 279kg BBX 306kg HEX 270kg LMX 289kg SHX 294kg Average: 276kg
“There is now only 10 of the 2023 born heifers left on the farm currently.”
The first of the bullocks slaughtered were a mixture of Angus, Hereford and Shorthorn. The highlight being an Angus bullock sired by AA7821 that graded an R-3= with a carcass weight of 376kg.
These bullocks have been housed since September 12 and Maher explained: “The 48 that were slaughtered have consumed just over 500kg concentrates/head in the finishing period. We will be drafting bullocks for slaughter every coming week.”
Spring 2024 born dairy-beef weanlings
There are still 120 of the 400 dairy-beef weanlings at grass and the remainder have been housed for the winter.
The weanlings still at grass are being fed 2kg/head/day of concentrates also.
Commenting on the grass situation, Maher said: “Grass is beginning to get scarce and ground conditions are starting to deteriorate. While we haven’t had much rain in the last couple of weeks, dense fogs and mild days are not doing anything to dry ground.” “
50 weanlings were housed in place of the cattle that were processed this week. These were one of the stronger groups and had an average weight of 268kg at housing. The weanlings were averaging 0.7kg Average Daily Gain (ADG) in their last month pre-housing.
Maher said: “This is a weight we’re very happy with. Housing weanlings was tricky the last number of weeks with the mild weather. The last thing anyone wants is a pneumonia outbreak.
“Housing dry cattle and avoiding mixing stock are two measures we implement on farm. The pasturella booster vaccine back in September is a great help also.”
The remaining weanlings will be housed as the pens of factory-fit cattle leave the farm.
Store lambs
There are currently approximately 600 store lambs out on grass that were bought earlier in the autumn.
These have been weighed monthly and have been given two worm doses (clear and white). Lambs were also double vaccinated for pasturella and receive a cobalt drench monthly.
Maher said: “A recent dung sample indicated high levels of worm burden and so we intervened with a white wormer.
“These lambs were also fluke dosed two weeks ago. Lamb thrive has been steady at 0.1kg/day.”
The average weight of the lambs was 39kg when weighed on October 23.
“We hope to keep these lambs on a grass only diet for another six weeks and from then on will begin supplementation with concentrates,” he added.