The Derrypatrick herd is a suckler beef-systems research farm established at Teagasc, Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath in 2009.

The trial herd was established as a marker of the performance that can be achieved on the typical Irish suckler farm.

Teagasc expected Derrypatrick’s gross margin to reach €1,300/ha in 2015, when all costs are considered the net margin was expected to exceed €600/ha.

If this predicted level of performance was achieved, the Derrypatrick herd will post margins that are 24% higher than the top 33% of Teagasc eProfit Monitor farms.

The predicted higher levels of financial performance are as a result of a higher level of output achieved by the Derrypatrick herd, Teagasc reports.

The cows in the Derrypatrick herd are bred to Charolais, Aberdeen Angus and Limousin sires, with the herd divided evenly between early-maturing and late maturing sires.

Figures from the Teagasc Derrypatrick herd show that late maturing or the Limousin and Charolais cattle outperformed the Aberdeen Angus cattle in 2015 on the basis of carcass value.

The higher carcass values of the Limousin and Charolais cattle were achieved due to higher kill-out rates, which resulted in heavier carcasses at slaughter.

However, despite the late-maturing cattle making more at slaughter time, the Aberdeen Angus cattle were slaughtered at considerable younger ages.

Teagasc figures show that there was a considerable difference in the amount of time these cattle spent on the farm.

Overall Aberdeen Angus steers reached slaughter weight 78 days earlier than the Charolais and Limousin cattle.

Heifers were slaughtered 57 days earlier and young bulls reached slaughter weight five days before the late maturing bulls.

The trial herd was established for the purposes of research demonstration to Irish beef producers.

The farm size is 65 hectares and all of the land is situated in one block with a good network of roadways servicing 79 grazing divisions or paddocks.

In 2013, a decision was taken to change the breeding programme from the original cow breed type comparison study to a study comparing early and late-maturing breed sires.

During 2013, the replacement policy also changed with half of the replacements being sourced from the dairy herd, with Limousin cross Holstein-Friesian the selected cow type.

The other 50% of heifers are sourced from suckler herds as heifers that are ranked high on the Replacement Index – they are predominantly Limousin- and Simmental-crossbred heifers.

All heifers are served to either an easy-calving Aberdeen Angus or Limousin bull and all replacements calve at 24 months of age.

All replacements are purchased at 8-12 months of age with no replacements bred on the farm in order to maximise the number of animals finished, thereby providing more carcass data for the breed comparison.

An objective for the Derrypatrick herd over the next four years is that all cows will be 4 or 5 star on the Replacement Index scale.