Large-scale pedigree farms are not plentiful around Ireland – there seems to be fewer herds exceeding the 100 cow head year-on-year.
However, this is not the case for the Gigginstown Angus herd, owned by the well-known business man Michael O’Leary. The large-scale Gigginstown house farm, based in the heartland of Co. Westmeath, plays host to a 180 pedigree Angus herd of cows.
Agriland visited the eye-opening herd and facilities this week and spoke with the farm’s manager Joe O’ Mahony about the current operations and about preparations for their upcoming annual on-farm sale.
Gigginstown Angus herd overview and history
The herd was established back in 1997 and was founded after Michael O’Leary developed a desire to start breeding pedigree Angus cattle at his farm at Gigginstown House.
The foundation stock were based around genetics sourced from Canadian show champions from Edmonton and Regina – with some of this achieved through embryo transfer.
Over the following years the herd increased by retaining home-bred animals and some purchased across Ireland and the UK.
The farm stretches over a number of land parcels and consists of separate farm yards which spread around the local area and are in close proximity to the main home yards at Gigginstown House and Fennor.
There are separate enterprises on the farm which run alongside the pedigree stock, such as a store-to-beef enterprise which sees the farm buying in Angus steers, a tillage enterprise, and the very successful equine enterprise which has produced numerous horse racing legends over the years.
Speaking about the day-to-day management of the farm, manager Joe O’Mahony explained:
“The pedigree cattle are ran alongside the bloodstock [horses] enterprise on the farm. They graze behind the bloodstock in a lot of cases but the pedigree cattle stand in their own right in terms of pedigree sales.
“We sell around 80-85% of the stock as pedigree and the rest will be sold to the factory if they are not up to standard.”
The ages of the animals at sale will vary from 14-24 months-of-age and older depending on the time of year. Along with their annual on-farm sale, private sales also take place on-farm throughout the year.
Split calving pattern
The herd currently consists of a 50:50 split between autumn and spring-calving cows – with Joe explaining that the reasoning behind this is partially due to the facilities available at calving.
When it comes to the ages at mating for heifers on the farm, Joe stated:
“We try to breed the heifers at ages of 15-20 months-old, but preferably closer to 15 months because it fits in better with the ICBF [Irish Cattle Breeding Federation] and it can give these females better stars.
“Sometimes when you are breeding pedigree animals you would like to have a better grown heifer, but the aim is to calve them down at 24-months-old.
“For our September / October-born heifers we split them 50:50 – so we pick half of them for breeding while the other half will be chosen for the sale, with the bottom end of the females being exported.
“The spring-born heifers are mated in the autumn time and then we have them calving down around two-and-a-half-years-old.”
Selecting a pedigree female for breeding
One thing you will notice from the herd is that they have some tremendously sized Angus cows that would put some continental cows to shame.
In saying that, there are plenty of cows through the mix that match the image of the traditional-sized Angus female.
As there is a wide selection each year of potential breeding heifers to choose from, Joe has be strict on the criteria he sets out when selecting heifers for breeding and when selecting females that are suitable for selling as pedigree.
“When we pick our replacement heifers, we look at the dam and see if they have good function and if she has previously bred well for us.
“In terms of the characteristics of the heifer, you will always look for a nice Angus head and it should be the first thing that will catch your eye – however, it unfortunately won’t help you in the factory,” Joe jokingly remarked.
“She will need a bit of length to match and she will have to have a good milking ability and you will obviously look at her mother for that. She needs to be well-grown and have four good legs under her as well.
“Finally, she will need to have a good temperament if she is going to be bred.”
Breeding bulls at Gigginstown Angus
There have been a number of stock bulls that have passed through the gates of Gigginstown fields over the past number of years and each has made their mark in one way or another.
In most recent years, the bulls used within the herd include Tara Bobbie; Aughnamona Nando; Liss Maxy; Luddenmore King Kong; Birches Lord Jacob; Carrigroe Nelson; Corbetstown Red Evan; and Liss Bobby.
Some of the older bulls that have run with the herd include Friarstown Lord Big; Friarstown Empire; Idvies Euxand; Rosemead Corna; and Cashelane Marty, just to name a few.
When sourcing new animals for the Gigginstown Angus herd, Joe explained:
“We generally source our bulls at sales; if we see a good bull at a show we generally follow him up and purchase directly off the breeder.
“With females, we always try to pick up a nice heifer that is out at the shows and then we supplement our own bloodlines with her then.”
One of the herd’s most recent additions includes Bunlahy Rihanna, who was purchased at the Irish Angus Elite Sale in Carrick-on-Shannon in December 2020 from Aidan and David Reynolds of the Bunlahy herd.
Expanding the red Angus genetics within the herd
The increasing popularity of pedigree red Angus cattle is something Gigginstown has been aiming to take advantage of.
As the ‘red gene’ can be found as a recessive trait within some of the cows in the herd, the farm decided to purchased the red Angus sire, Corbetstown Red Evan, from the late Angus breeder Niall O’Keefe to try and carry through the red gene.
Joe states that every year, the red Gigginstown Angus cattle entered in their sale catch a lot of attraction and lots of enquires from existing pedigree Angus breeders.
Weaning and feeding pedigree bulls for breeding
In order to reduce the threat of mastitis during the summer months, the autumn-born calves are left suckling their dams until they reach 10 months-old. The bulls are weaned at weights achieving 400-450kg.
Once the calves are weaned they are introduced to a diet of concentrates which will include 2kg of meal/head/day until the end of December.
At this stage the pedigree bulls are moved to being outwintered onto a diet of fodder rape until February, which Joe finds is a good technique of keeping their hair in good condition. He added:
“After a few month of feeding on the rape, we start to house the bulls for the sales. Once we are happy that they have a good frame and a good growth rate, we will push on the feeding until they are at an acceptable size to sell.”
Once the bulls are housed for the sale, they are fed on a diet consisting of haylage, whole-crop silage mixed with 4-5kg/head of concentrates to aid the bulls in gaining 2kg of daily live weight gain.
The whole-crop is harvested on the farm to coincide with the grass silage harvest.
When talking about using the whole-crop on the farm, Joe stated:
“One of the major advantages of the whole-crop is that it keeps the bull’s stomach in good condition and the bulls thrive quite well on it. Plus, it’s all home-grown source of feed.
“The autumn-calving cows are also fed the whole-crop during the winter months and it boosts their diet and their milk. If anything, it leaves the cows in nearly too good of order once they hit the grass at turnout.”
Turn-out this spring
With silage supplies being plentiful on the farm, the main turn-out of cows has been taking place during the first and second week of April.
Joe mentioned how the farm operates a grazing rotation of three weeks on their paddocks which must also balance the grazing needs of the horses.
The farm’s grazing infrastructure allows an ease of access to the majority of the paddocks – as there is a mixture of tarmacadam, concrete and gravel roadways mapped throughout the farm.
Sales of Gigginstown Angus pedigree cattle and upcoming on-farm auction
Gigginstown completes all of its sales directly off-farm through routes of both private sales and an annual public auction.
The farm does not attend any society sales with their animals. Joe explained that the time to attend a sale off-farm with their bulls or heifers is just not available as the Gigginstown farm is always a busy place throughout the year.
Commenting on the sales this year he states:
“Due to Covid-19 restrictions we were unable to host our annual pedigree sale on-farm last year but this year we are planning to host an online auction on-farm for 20 females, including maidens and first-time calving females with calves at foot.
“The online sale will be taking place on MartEye on Saturday [April 24] and bidders will have to register through Ballyjamesduff Mart.
“There are pre-sale viewings by appointment going on this week, but no customers will be allowed to attend the auction on the day unfortunately.
“It’s going to be a unique experience selling the cattle online but we have just had an unprecedented demand for heifers so we decided to host the sale.
“The bulls will continue to be sold privately and the demand is strong for these too. I think the demand is a lot stronger from dairy farmers this year because obviously the calf prices are up greatly on last year.
“Plus, factory price is good at the minute and we are seeing farmers are deciding to slaughter stock bulls and buy in younger bulls this spring.”
Delighted with repeat custom
Over the past number of years there has been quite a number of commercial and pedigree farmers anxious to get their hands on Gigginstown Angus genetics.
One thing that Joe notices year-on-year for their bulls and heifers, is that repeat customers from across the country return to source new animals.
“We are always happy to see our customers returning each year; it’s usually a sign that the bulls have gone well for the farmer.
“At this stage, it is a testament to the genetics used throughout the herd over the past 20 years and we hope this will continue,” Joe concluded.