Many farmers around the country have been reporting a drop in the average weight gain of heifers and steers at grass this year.
On the ABP Demo Farm in Co. Carlow, a drop in the average live weight gain of dairy-beef cattle during their second season at grass has been recorded for the past two consecutive years.
ABP Food Group’s Advantage Beef Programme farm liaison team leader Amie Coonan, explained that 138 of the 2023-born heifers on the ABP Demo Farm were housed for finishing on Thursday, August 22.
A further 50 of the 2023-born heifers on the farm were sent to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation’s (ICBF’s) Tully Progeny Test Centre in Co. Kildare on July 12, for performance trials.
100 steers from the Demo Farm will also be sent to Tully over the coming two weeks.
The heifers housed for finishing on the Demo Farm this year had an average weight of 438kg. This is 12kg below the average weight for the heifers housed for finishing around the same time last year. This batch had an average weight of 450kg.
The demo farm heifers housed for finishing at the same time of 2022 had an average weight of 460kg, which is 22kg above the average weight of this year’s batch of heifers.
The table below shows the average weight of heifers at housing for finishing in late August over the past three years on the ABP Demo Farm:
Year Average heifer weight at housing for finishing (late August) 2022 438kg 2023 450kg 2024 460kg
Coonan explained some of the factors which reduced the performance of cattle at grass this year.
She said: “Weather was hard on animals at grass last summer. These same cattle had a longer than usual winter and now a second summer of slow growth and poor-quality stemmy grass for much of the first half of this ‘summer’.”
She advised farmers: “Now is the time to weigh cattle, assess your current situation and put a plan in place for the next six months.
“If the group average weight is back compared to previous years, this does not mean all animals in the group are too light to finish off grass at 19-21 months.”
She advised farmers to group cattle according to weight and suggested a strategy for finishing each batch according to weight.
Heifers 400-500kg: If fed concentrates at grass for 60 days (assuming an ADG of 1.1kg/head/day) an estimated carcass weight ranging from 237-288kg would be achieved.
She continued:
“In an ideal world, we would be aiming for dairy-beef heifers to be above 250kg carcass weight at 19-21 months but depending on the farm system, land type and shed facilities, feeding these heifers may be the best option – even at a slightly lighter carcass weight.”
Heifers below 400kg: If finished at grass, these animals would achieve an estimated carcass weight of less than 230kg which is undesirable for both farmer and the processor.
What to do with these lighter heifers weighing 400kg and lower?
Option 1: Allow these heifers to grow at grass until mid-October, house and finish before Christmas.
Option 2: Allow these heifers to grow at grass, house and finish in February/March or when the heifers reach adequate fat covers (of 3- or above).
The Advantage Beef Programme farm liaison team leader said:
“With a bale of silage currently costing over €25/bale to make (not including land charge or drawing) it is important to ensure the value of the extra carcass weight achieved is not being cancelled out by the extra silage/meal costs.”
Steers
Coonan said: “At this point (mid/late August) unless steers are forward/warm or have been getting concentrates, it will be hard to get these animals finished off grass.
“75 days from now will bring us into November. Again, this will depend on land type and grass quality.”
Another option farmers could consider is to house the strongest of these steers on September 1, and aim to slaughter in November or December.
A steer weighing 500kg on September 1 should achieve a carcass weight over 300kg if fed a finishing diet for 100 days.
“Housing these heavier animals earlier will also facilitate keeping weanlings at grass for longer.
“The lighter steers could be best to receive similar treatment as the lighter heifers and finished in February/March,” Coonan added.
Coonan suggested that farmers who would like more specific advice on a feeding/finishing plan for their farm, can contact a member of the Advantage Beef Programme Farm liaison team.
“We can visit your farm, look at the stock, create a fodder and feed budget, estimate a cost for each feeding system and help put a plan in place,” she said.