The first group of 2021-born cattle has been sent for processing at the ABP Demo Farm.
Of the 2021-born heifers, 49 were selected based on fat cover and sent to ABP-Slaney, Bunclody, Co. Wexford, for processing.
The heifers were all bought as calves from dairy farms in spring 2021 and were primarily Angus and Hereford-sired with a few Aubrac and Stabiliser-sired heifers in the group too.
The average age of the heifers finished this week was 18.5 months, and the heifers had an average carcass weight of 269kg. All the heifers selected had fat scores ranging from a 2+ to a 4- with the majority scoring a 3 in flesh.
The group of heifers had a total of 15 R-grades with 33 of the heifers coming into the O+ and O= categories and one heifer falling under the O- grade.
The heifers had been been receiving concentrates for three weeks prior to slaughter and the aim was for a finished heifer with a fat score of 3.
The heifers were selected by the Advantage Beef Programme staff based on fat cover. Speaking to Agriland, ABP Food Group’s sustainability manager Stephen Connolly said: “We are finishing all of our 2021-born cattle as they come fit. We draft for processing based on fat cover, not weight.”
The heifers in the group were all of similar ages and received the same inputs with the only factor differentiating the heifers being genetics.
The best heifer in the batch had a carcass weight of 332kg and graded an R-4-. The five best heifers in the group had an average weight 311kg.
The bottom-five heifers in the batch had an average carcass weight of 221kg and the heifer that scored an O- was the lightest heifer, with a carcass weight of 201kg.
The decision was made to send the O- grade heifer to the factory because it was sufficiently fleshed and further feeding would only result in the animal being too fat, which would be unsustainable from both an economic and environmental perspective.
“We will be looking at the sire data of these animals and the impact it has on how these animals performed,” Connolly said.
“It’s the poorer-genetic heifers that are finishing at smaller weights. There’s a huge difference in the carcass weights when the data is assembled.”
The second batch
The second batch of cattle will be selected for processing within the next four weeks.
All 2021-born heifers and steers have been housed for finishing and are currently being fed ad-lib silage with a minimum dry matter (DM) digestibility of 72% along with 0.5kg/head/day of straw. The heifers were started on concentrates at 2kg/head/day and have been built up to 5kg/head/day.
The 2021-born bullocks have an average weight of 510kg with the heaviest animal weighing 594kg and the lightest steer weighing 432kg. This shows the level of variation in weights.
The cattle in the shed for finishing had dung sampled and the results showed that dosing treatment was not necessary. They had the hair on their tails clipped for cleanliness and were also given a lice treatment.
The average daily liveweight gain (ADG) of the first batch of heifers from housing to finish was 1.6kg/day. The average last year for all the cattle finished was 1.4kg/day in the finishing phase.
ABP Demo Farm grass
Cattle are housed with access to a straw-bedded lieback area and are fed on a slatted area.
Grass growth is starting to recover since the rain returned after the prolonged dry spell on the ABP Demo Farm. Grass growth is currently at 35kg/DM/ha/day.
A total of 420 of the 2022-born cattle are still at grass and are receiving concentrates.
Also on grass are the 570-odd store lambs which the farm has recently bought. These will be finished after Christmas.
The 2022-born cattle have been vaccinated for bovine respiratory disease (BRD) and will receive their booster shot later next week.
The plan is to monitor calves closely for the remainder of the grazing season and ensure performance is maintained.