At a recent calf rearing information night in Horse and Jockey, Co. Tipperary on Wednesday (November 30) farmers in attendance were advised on the best fibre source to feed calves.

Some farmers have a preference to feed calves hay, while other farmers have a preference to feed calves straw as a source of fibre.

Speaking at the ABP calf rearing info event, ABP’s Advantage Beef Programme farm liaison team leader Amie Coonan explained which is the best, and why.

“Straw is preferred over hay,” she said.

“A lot of research has been done to say the overall calf weight gain is better on straw.

“The reason for this is if you give a calf lovely green hay, they will eat loads of it, but they’re not eating enough ration and that’s when you see the calves end up with a pot belly.”

Coonan emphasised that it is the calf ration that will help the calf grow and develop the rumen to build an overall healthier calf. She added that fibre should always be fed from a rack to keep it clean and avoid contamination.

She continued: “A study done by Teagasc on the difference between hay and straw showed that at weaning, the final body weight of the calves on straw was 93kg vs. 86kg for the calves on hay.

“The calves eating the barley straw were also eating 1.2kg of ration but the calves eating hay were only eating 0.9kg/day of ration.”

ABP calf rearing events

The last of these events will take place at 7:30p.m on Tuesday (December 6) at the Springhill Court Hotel in Co. Kilkenny.

Speaking at the event will be veterinary consultant Tommy Heffernan, or ‘Tommy the Vet’ as he is better known.

The vet will deliver a presentation to farmers on best practice when rearing calves for beef production, and will also take questions from farmers and provide a few useful tips for calf rearing.

ABP’s agri-sustainability manager Stephen Connolly will deliver a presentation on the performance of calves on the ABP Demo Farm and outline the kill-out data to date this year.

He also has a few informative videos showing the difference (within breeds) a sire can have on carcass performance and has advice and tips on choosing beef bulls for cows that will produce calves with a better beef value.

The information meetings are aimed at farmers buying calves and rearing them to beef and are open for both Advantage Beef Programme members and non-members to attend.

Both dairy and beef farmers are welcome to attend, and refreshments will be provided afterwards.