Farming between the Knockmealdown and Galtee Mountains, brothers David and John O’Gorman are dairy farmers in the process of integrating calf production on their farm, with the needs of the calf-to-beef farmers they supply calves to.
Their farm is based in Ballylooby, south Co. Tipperary, and Agriland recently caught up with John to hear how the farm is incorporating the needs of its calf customers into the breeding plan for the cows on the farm.
The farm previously finished all cattle on-farm and the O’Gormans are acutely aware of the importance of genetics when producing a beef animal from the dairy herd.
The mantra on beef-calf production is to produce a calf that meets the needs of the calf customers to ensure return buyers for their calves every year.
Commenting on the cow type, John said: “Our cows generally kill out at 330kg plus carcass weight so they’re not a massive cow but they’re a good, well-framed cow. We try to stay in the middle band for milk banding.
“We always had a big emphasis on the beef side of our dairy farm. We have 0% Jersey blood and the cows are 50/50 British Friesian/Holstein cross.”
He explained how the beef-calf production system has evolved on the farm.
“Before milk quotas were abolished, all animals on the farm were reared to finish. All cull cows were finished as well and we used to buy in a share of calves and finish them also. At the time, the enterprise was 50/50 dairy and beef,” he said.
“As the quotas went, we gradually increased cow numbers year on year and as we did, it put a bit more pressure on the beef enterprise so instead of keeping the Friesians until 30 months, we started finishing them at under-24-months.
“As our cow numbers increased again, we started finishing our Friesians as under-16-month bull beef.
“Then after 3-4 years of finishing bulls under-16-months and heifers under-18-months, we started selling the cattle at 6-8 months of age in August and September.”
“We have now moved to selling calves at about a month old. We always try to sell the calves at home if we can.
“We’re starting to build a customer base for our calves and we are working with the Advantage Beef Programme team at ABP. They’ve sourced more customers for us and we hope to develop a network of return customers for our calves,” he added.
John explained that the arrangement can work for both the calf buyer and the seller.
“The farmers buying the calves off us know what they’re getting, the cows are all vaccinated so the calves have got every bit of protection they can get and the guys buying them have that assurance as well,” he said.
Bull selection
When it comes to sire selection for the cows, the O’Gorman’s place their trust in Munster Bovine artificial insemination (AI) technician Tom Drislane.
“Tom is a top guy, he comes in and takes all the cows’ numbers and picks a bull to suit them, either sexed semen or AI Angus or Hereford,” John said.
“We generally use sexed semen on all our high EBI heifers and best yielding cows. We’re using more sexed semen now which enables us to use more beef sires.
“We rely heavily on our AI technician. He uses the top Dairy Beef Index (DBI) bulls that have a good carcass weight figure.”
“The list of bulls ABP sent out, we had been using a lot of them sires already, we have calves sold from them bulls and farmers are coming back looking for them again saying they’re doing well.
“A couple of years ago, customers bought calves based off breed, now they’re coming to us looking to buy calves from a particular sire so we have to pay attention to this and use the beef sires that are working well in the beef systems.
“It’s not rocket science, if you pick the best of what your AI company has as regards a high-DBI sire with a good carcass value figure, and use those bulls, you won’t go too far wrong”.
Advantage
The O’Gorman’s supply calves to beef farmers participating in the Advantage Beef Programme.
John said: “Amie Coonan is the Advantage farm liaison officer for our area and she keeps us in touch with what’s going on on the beef side of things and what type of calves we need to be producing.
“I think there needs to be a lot more focus on producing better calves in the dairy sector and dairy farmers are going to have to be more aware of the market they’re producing calves for.
“Initiatives like this are the way to go. It moves dairy-beef calf production in the right direction and it works well for both dairy and calf-to-beef farmers.
“We get feedback from the farmers who buy our calves and we can produce calves from the bulls they want or prefer. It works for us selling the calves and it works for the farmer buying the calves.”