Farming in Clancoolmore, Bandon, Co. Cork, John Twohig is a dairy and beef farmer finishing all his beef animals at under 24 months of age.
John is farming alongside his wife Catherine, and three children Katie, Tim and Brendan. On Thursday (June 23) the Twohigs hosted a farm walk as part of ABP Food Group’s Advantage Beef Programme.
In opening the event near Bandon, ABP’s Amie Coonan explained: “We chose to have this event on John’s farm because he puts a huge emphasis on beef sire selection for his dairy cows and this is evident in the quality of cattle he brings to finish as beef.”
The farm walk focused on the role of animal breeding in adding value to a dairy/beef system and weather conditions were spectacular for the event, which was well attended by dairy and beef farmers alike.
Attendees heard a number of interesting views from industry representatives from ABP, the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), Teagasc and Farm Relief Servises (FRS) farm safety.
The Farm
John farms 185ac, 155ac of which is owned and 30ac of which is rented. He milks 85 Friesian cows and finishes all his beef cattle at 20-24 months of age. John is a farmer member of ABP’s Advantage Beef Programme.
All cows are vaccinated for Rotavirus, Coronavirus and Escherichia coli (E.Coli)and all calves are vaccinated for Pneumonia (RSV and PI3) as well as Coccidosis and Blackleg.
The stocking rate on the Bandon farm is 2.57LU/ha and the beef breeds on the farm include Aberdeen Angus, Hereford, Friesian and Belgian Blue.
Heifers are finished on the farm at an average age of 22 months and steers are finished at an average age of 23 months.
The heifers finished on the farm this year had an average carcass weight of 274kg and the steers had an average carcass weight of 328kg. Both heifers and steers graded an O+ on average, with a few R-grades achieved.
The finishing diet consists of ad-lib grass silage as well as 12kg of beet and 6kg of finisher ration/day. The concentrates used is a 14% protein finisher ration with maize, barley, distillers and maize gluten.
John places a big emphasis on examining the sire indexes before selecting a bull to use on his cows.
Sire figures for 2021-born calves:
Calving difficulty (cows) dairy beef index (DBI) Beef sub-index Carcass Aberdeen Angus stock bull 2.4% €60 €26 1.2kg
2022 born calf sires:
AI code Calving difficulty (cows) DBI Beef sub-index Carcass HE5346: 3.6% €77 €49 4.9kg AA7485: 2.8% €147 €93 22.9kg AA4640: 3.4% €92 €69 15.4kg Angus stock bull: 3.4% €100 €83 19kg
The quality of beef cattle John is getting from his dairy herd is evident in the slaughter performance of his cattle.
Event speakers
Farmers at the event heard from the Advantage Beef Programme’s Oisin Lynch who gave an overview of the farm system on the ABP Demo Farm and the trials taking place there. ABP group livestock manager Paul Matthews gave some insight into the processors’ Advantage Beef Programme and what the initiative aims to achieve.
Also speaking at the Bandon event, ICBF’s Chris Daly gave an overview of Commercial Beef Value (CBV) and expressed optimism that this would be rolled out on mart boards across the country before spring 2023.
The CBV is a tool for non-breeding beef farmers that is designed to give farmers an insight into an animal’s genetic merit. It is expressed as a euro value and aims to help farmers to make more informed decisions when selecting calves for purchase.
Animals with high carcass, docility and feed intake trait values will have the highest CBVs.
Teagasc’s Sean Cummins noted that sire recording can be an issue on some dairy farms where two or three stockbulls are let out with cows and noted “it’s something that will have to be looked at”.
Cummins also noted the target weights to get a spring-born calf to beef before its second winter.
He explained: “With a Friesian-type animal, you’re looking for a calf to do 0.7kg/day from the day they arrive to housing at their first winter.
“That would put the animal at 230-240kg at housing for the first winter. During the first winter, the aim is for 0.6kg/day weight gain, putting them at 320-330kg going out.
“For the second summer, the target weight gain is 1kg/day but the farmers excelling at this are doing 1.4kg/day from turnout through to June/July.”
Animals at 480kg by August 1, will be introduced to meal and the aim is for a 580/590kg at slaughter giving a 290kg carcass.
Finally, FRS’ Jim Dockery gave attendees at the Bandon farm walk a demonstration to farmers on best health and safety practice when using all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and warned farmers of certain hazards on farms which may go unnoticed.