The farm is one of the ABP Monitor Farms located across the country that are involved in the ABP Advantage Beef Programme and are finishing cattle in a variety of different systems and on different land types.

Spring 2026-born suckler-bred calves have all been weaned and housed and these calves are weaned from their cows at housing time.

Weanlings were vaccinated and weighed in advance of housing.

When it comes to weight performance, interestingly, Browne looks at average daily liveweight gain per day since birth rather than simply an average weight at housing figure.

He explained: "I'd be more focused on liveweight gain per day.

"My target for bulls on liveweight weight gain would be a lifetime liveweight gain of 1.5kg/head/day if I can get it - it's not easy."

This year, the spring-2026-born bull calves achieved an average daily liveweight gain of 1.3kg/head/day and the heifers reached 1.1kg head/day, which is a level of performance Browne says he is happy with.

Bulls on the farm are slaughtered as under-16-month bull beef, while heifers are either retained as replacements or sold on as replacement heifers.

As the plane of nutrition increases for the bulls in the lead-up to slaughter, so too does the average daily liveweight gains/day.

Bulls are now on 3kg concentrates/head/day and will be pushed on in the next week to 4-5kg concentrates/head/day.

Browne said that at the next weighing of the bulls, he would be aiming for a daily liveweight gain of 1.5kg/head/day since the previous weighing.

Overall, he is happy with how his weanlings have performed this year.

The farm is 100% spring calving from late February to April.

Weaning strategy on the farm

Approximately 6-8 weeks before the estimated weaning date, creep feed is introduced to the calves to reduce their dependency on the cow.

This year, calves were eating 0.5kg/head/day concentrates at weaning.

Browne said: "Calves weren't that keen on meal this year - the supply of grass was good and there wasn't the same demand on creep."

At housing, the reared calves are separated from the in-calf cows.

By then, calves are confidently eating meal and are not overly concerned and the cows generally settle in 1-2 days.

Once housed, calves start on 2kg meal/head/day and 73% dry matter digestibility (DMD) silage.

Cows are placed on a diet of restricted silage for 7-10 days post-weaning.

Pre-calver minerals will be introduced to cows from mid-January onwards.

Browne plans to start increasing concentrate feeding to bulls earlier this year to see if he can increase daily gain earlier with the plan of having bulls factory fit by June 2027.

Cull cow replacement

Browne plans to cull close to 30% of his cows this year. These will be replaced by younger breeding heifers from the herd.

Generally the cull rate is 15-20% on the farm but is higher this year as high demand in recent years for his replacement heifers saw him retaining fewer for himself.

Browne has brushes in the cattle pens which he says are very useful for helping to control lice but chemical control is also needed sometimes.

Fodder supply is in a good position on the farm thankfully and all shed doors are currently being kept open trying to get as much airflow as possible into the shed.

He insists this is very important at this time of year for the weanlings.