Allen Callagy is a weanling to beef farmer in Co. Kildare. He recently installed a dual purpose solar pump on one of his out-farms.

The farm is fragmented and laid out in three blocks up to 4km from the farmyard and is all laid out in permanent pasture.

The beef system is based on the purchase of 120 continental weanlings each autumn, with all stock brought through to beef.

Allen explained that 50% of the cattle on the farm are finished out on grass and the remaining cattle are finished in the shed.

He noted: “I’m trying to finish more of them on grass because costs are much higher in the shed.”

The Irish Grassland Association (IGA) held part of its 2021 virtual beef event – in association with Mullinahone Co-op – on the farm this week.

Weanlings are bought in at 300kg liveweight and brought to carcase weight of approximately 410kg.

Managing grass

Despite the difficulties of managing grass on a fragmented farm, Allen is determined to maximise liveweight gain from grass and grass silage, and minimise the amount of purchased concentrate in the diet of the cattle.

Allen soil tested the whole farm and is now working to improve the farm’s Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) index, as well as the soil’s pH.

The most recently reseeded pastures were 25 years ago and Allen outlined: “Its amazing what you can do with old pasture when you get the P and K right and manage the grazing effectively.”

Since joining a grass management course in Kildare, Allen has renewed his focus on grassland management.

He explained: “I used to have a set-stocking system and then I started putting bigger groups together and grazing out a field and moving them on.

“In the last 2-3 years, I started putting in paddocks and splitting fields. Now, I have about 42 paddocks and I have much better quality grass all the time.

“The cattle are thriving better because at every stage they have better grass. As a result, my cattle are finishing about a month earlier.”

The Kildare-based farmer has substantially improved the grazing infrastructure on the farm and installed a new water system with large water troughs and up to thirty additional paddocks.

On an outfarm with no electricity, Alan bought a solar pump unit to pump water to the drinkers on the farm. The unit is also capable of generating power to electrify the mains fence on the 50ac out-farm. The solar pump cost Allen approximately €2,300.

The installation of additional paddocks and the new water system has greatly improved grazing practices on the farm.

He is already reaping the rewards of good grassland management, with not only more grass grown, but the new grass is of a higher quality, resulting in more cattle finished off-grass reducing the need for concentrate input.

In addition, grass silage regularly analyses over 73% dry matter digestibility (DMD) which is a great achievement from permanent pasture.

Concluding, Allen outlined he gets great satisfaction from the fact that he is producing top-quality beef from predominantly home-grown resources – grass and grass silage.