Teagasc has invited tenders for the service to record live weights of beef cattle, across over 200 farms, at different stages of the production cycle, over a two and half year period from the end of 2024 until 2027.
The request comes as part of the Beef-Quest research project, funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) – where Teagasc aims to work on identifying the barriers to achieving an earlier age of finish for beef cattle nationally.
A field service is required for the provision of live weight recording of cattle and the data will be used to determine the live weight gain of cattle across commercial beef farms, during key periods of the production cycle.
Tenderers coming forward for the field service must demonstrate “competence and experience” with the accurate recording of beef cattle live weights.
The tenderers must ensure that all data can be uploaded to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) online database, and supplied to Teagasc, in “a fast and accurate manner”.
Technicians must demonstrate that they have their own weighing scales capable of being routinely calibrated.
Weighing cattle
As part of the project, live weight recording of beef cattle will take place on approximately 200 beef farms, spread across the entirety of the Republic of Ireland. The successful tenderer will be supplied with herd details of all the relevant farms to visit.
The overall number of animals to weigh on recruited herds will range from approximately 20 to 200 animals, with the expectation that all animals will be weighed upon a single visit.
At the time of the herd visit, it will be the responsibility of the farm managers or staff to have cattle penned and ready for weighing.
The tenderer must be have their own transport and have the capability to travel from their base of operations to the farm destination.
Tenderers will need to demonstrate that they have a large number of trained weighing technicians, over 20, at their disposal, capable of covering all parts of the country.
The coordination of farm visits for each scanning session will be organised between the successful tenderer and the relevant farm managers, after initial direction from the single point of contact in the contracting suthority (Teagasc).
Tenderer weighing technicians will also be evaluated at least once per year over the term of the contract to ensure all weights captured from an individual technician are accurate.
Teagasc timeframe
The first weighing will be conducted one to four weeks after cattle are housed on farms for the winter period and/or at the beginning of a winter finishing period.
Following this, cattle will be weighed at least one week prior to going out to grass in spring and/or at the end of the finishing period prior to being slaughtered or sold.
Subsequently, around approximately October to December 2025, cattle will be weighed again within one to four weeks after the winter housing period and/or at the beginning of a winter finishing feeding regime.
This process will be completed until at least one full production cycle of weaned cattle, is recorded on each farm.