Summer management practices for calf-to-beef systems will be discussed in the new Summer Beef Series, brought to you by Agriland and Teagasc, which will begin this week.
The series, which will run until early July, will cover best practice and recommended targets for calves at grass; grazing management; parasite treatment; paddock setup; and nutrition.
It will also outline the latest research on how performance targets associated with dairy calf-to-beef production, in particular the Teagasc programme DairyBeef 500, can be reached.
Ensuring livestock are performing well has never been more important, from both an economical and environmental perspective.
A balancing act between animal performance and cost management is required to ensure cattle are performing to an acceptable level, but also to ensure that the management system is economically sustainable, and the advice offered in this series aims to reflect this.
Summer Beef Series
The Summer Beef Series will outline how farmers can maintain good calf performance at grass through concentrate feeding, grazing management and preventing summer scour in their calves.
Target average daily liveweight gains will be outlined for calves, as well as store heifers and steers, and cost-effective ways of meeting these targets will also be discussed in detail throughout the series.
Management plans for cattle in each weight band will be outlined and analysed and opportunities where costs can be saved will be identified and discussed in detail too.
With prolonged spells of wet weather in March and April of this year, silage reserves have been depleted on many calf-to-beef farms across the country and the race is now on to commence building fodder reserves for winter 2023/24.
Following on from the Winter Beef series, this series will examine best practice for cutting silage that is of a high feed value and will also demonstrate the costs associated with making poor-quality silage.