Teagasc Beef Specialist, Aidan Murray, discusses beef management tips for the month ahead on the latest Beef Edge podcast. Aidan says that farmers with autumn calving herds should keep cows fit prior to calving, ensure minerals are supplemented pre-calving, particularly iodine and copper, and he explains ways to avoid mastitis and create awareness at this time of year. Aidan recommends that cows should be scanned in the spring calving herd to help reduce farm demand and discuss options to sell l...
Jul 31, 2024•22 min•Ep. 236
This week’s Beef Edge podcast is a joint episode with Ciaran Lynch from Ovicast and we are joined by Grass10 advisor Niamh Doyle to get an update on the current situation and discussing management tips for the coming weeks. Niamh says there have been many factors that have limited grass growth over the last number of months such as lower temperatures, especially at night, harsh winds, high rainfall and high levels of poaching due to the wet spring with poor conditions for grazing. Niamh explains...
Jul 24, 2024•10 min•Ep. 235
Reducing the mean finishing age of prime beef cattle from 26 to 22-23 months by 2030 is fundamental to achieving Ireland’s 25% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture and on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast, Teagasc researcher Paul Smith discusses this topic. Paul explains the main messages relating to reducing age at slaughter from the BEEF2024 Open Day and future research surrounding the grass-based beef research in comparison to commercial high performing beef...
Jul 17, 2024•12 min•Ep. 234
Barry Caslin, Teagasc Energy & Rural Development Specialist, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss energy and farm diversification options and the areas for farmers to consider. It is a very big area including: Anaerobic Digestion, Energy, Solar, Electricity, Biomass, Community Energy, Business Diversification, Food Business Start Ups, Agri Tourism, Organics, Forestry, Bio-economy and Agri-Tech. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine recently launched Ireland’s National ...
Jul 10, 2024•26 min•Ep. 233
Alan Dillon, Teagasc DairyBeef 500 Manager, is on this week’s Beef Edge Podcast to explain the key messages discussed with farmers who visited the Dairy Calf-to-Beef Village as part of BEEF2024, Teagasc’s National Beef Open Day. Alan outlines the benefits of the Commercial Beef Value (CBV) and how its use at purchase time can result in more profitable and efficient dairy-beef systems. The importance of meeting weight gain targets was also highlighted, with Alan explaining that animals must perfo...
Jul 03, 2024•18 min•Ep. 232
With the launch the GROFarmS project taking place today at BEEF 2024 National Beef open day in Teagasc Grange, Teagasc organic specialist, Elaine Leavy, and Teagasc researcher, Kevin Kilcline, join Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the role this research programme will have for anyone interested in converting or currently in organics, as well as detail on the variety of organic events taking place in the coming weeks. GROFarmS stands for Growing Resilient Organic Farming...
Jun 26, 2024•15 min•Ep. 231
Emma Dillon and Kevin McNamara from Teagasc join Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the findings from the recent National Farm Survey Small Farms Report. Teagasc collects farm data through the National Farm Survey (NFS) and this report focuses on the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the approximately 48,000 farms in Ireland that are too small in economic terms for inclusion in the annual NFS survey. What's in the Report? Farm Coverage 1. Cattle Rearing...
Jun 19, 2024•19 min•Ep. 230
Teagasc researchers Peter Doyle and Nicky Byrne join Catherine Egan on the latest Beef Edge podcast to give an update on the suckler and dairy beef herds in Grange, what research is currently ongoing in Teagasc Grange and what’s happening at the National Beef Open day BEEF 2024 on Wednesday 26th June. The theme of this year’s event is ‘Securing your future’ and Teagasc are delighted to invite all beef farmers and stakeholders in the Irish beef industry to the event. The focus of BEEF2024 will be...
Jun 12, 2024•20 min•Ep. 229
With the upcoming Irish Grassland Association National Beef walk taking place on Tuesday 11th June, suckler and sheep farmer Martin Shaughnessy from Co. Mayo, and the Irish Grassland Association Beef chairperson, Paddy Casey, are on this week’s Beef Edge to discuss Martin’s system and the upcoming open day. Martin runs a suckler-to-weaning system while also lambing approximately 150 ewes – a typical suckler and sheep operation in the west of Ireland. Martin now runs a herd of sixteen three-quart...
Jun 06, 2024•19 min•Ep. 228
Future Beef farmer, Trevor Boland, who operates an autumn calving suckling system in county Sligo is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give an update on the farm including harvesting of silage and management of grass in the coming weeks. With current weather conditions very changeable, Trever discusses how he has some first cut silage harvest and the rest will be made in the coming days. There are currently four groups of stock on the farm grazing and he outlines the management of the various ...
May 29, 2024•13 min•Ep. 227
For this joint Beef Edge and Ovicast podcast with Catherine Egan and Ciaran Lynch, Future Beef Farmer, Olivia Hynes from Roscommon, discusses how she is managing grass this year and how mixed grazing is working on her farm. Olivia describes the farm system and how this spring has been on the farm. She is using 100% AI with breeding in full swing and she discusses various sires she has selected. Weanlings are targeted for the export sales and Olivia keeps 10-12 heifers as replacements annually. O...
May 22, 2024•21 min•Ep. 226
Teagasc Researcher, David Kenny, is on this week’s Beef edge podcast to discuss how to deal with current breeding issues and the key tips to be aware of. With extended housing this spring, David outlines the impact this has had on suckler cow fertility and body condition. In some cases breeding season has been delayed by 2-3 weeks. With some cows only calved in the last 3 weeks, David discusses a plan for these cows with synchronisation programmes and timed AI. Further details can also be found ...
May 15, 2024•18 min•Ep. 225
DairyBeef 500 advisor, Tommy Cox, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with an update on the programme farms, management tips for the coming weeks and he discusses the weaning process. It has been a challenging spring and Tommy outlines the targets on the farms up to weaning. He describes the weaning process on the farms and the amount of concentrates fed to calves at grass. In a lot of cases weanlings were 30-40 kg behind target at housing last autumn and Tommy outlines the management plan for y...
May 08, 2024•13 min•Ep. 224
Margaret Brennan, Assistant Principal Officer over Beef Schemes with the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine, is on the Beef Edge podcast to discuss the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) course. One of the eligibility conditions of SCEP participation requires that participants MUST complete the mandatory SCEP training course by 15 November 2024. The Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, with the assistance of ICBF and Teagasc, and with contributions from Bord Bia a...
May 01, 2024•11 min•Ep. 223
David Quinn, Superintending Veterinary Inspector at Department Of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, is on this week’s joint episode of the Beef Edge and the Dairy Edge with hosts Catherine Egan and James Dunne to dispel some of the myths around TB (Bovine Tuberculosis). Ireland’s TB Eradication Scheme started in 1954. A TB forum was set up in 2018 and a new eradication strategy was launched in 2021. David first explains that last year there were over 30,000 cases which was an increase of 6,000 o...
Apr 24, 2024•20 min•Ep. 222
With the current extended rainfall, on this week’s Beef Edge podcast, Future Beef advisor Gabriel Trayers and Alan Dillion DairyBeef 500 manager give an update from around the country along with tips and advice to implement on farms for the coming weeks. Alan also discusses health issues while Gabriel outlines issues in relation to the breeding season and cow nutrition options. With grazing rotations delayed, Alan discusses the first steps in the plan and getting silage ground on track; plus he ...
Apr 17, 2024•17 min•Ep. 221
With the difficult weather conditions, DairyBeef 500 advisor Gordon Peppard is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with some timely tips in relation to closing ground for silage. Gordon highlights that on many farms silage ground won’t be cut but this could provide an opportunity to cut this silage earlier and hence have after grass coming into the rotation faster or the ability to close ground earlier for second cut silage if needed. Gordon also describes the different fertiliser programme options...
Apr 10, 2024•13 min•Ep. 220
Future Beef programme farmer Trevor Boland is on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast to give an update on his farm, closing for silage and selecting sires. Trevor farms part-time in county Sligo and his main enterprise is an autumn calving suckler herd, calving August to October. The bull calves are sold at 10-12 months with a target weight of 500kg and the heifers are kept to calves at 24 months or sold as stores. It has been a very difficult spring but Trevor has managed to turn out w...
Apr 03, 2024•12 min•Ep. 219
DairyBeef 500 Manager, Alan Dillon, is on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast with some tips for rearing calves at this time of year, the financial performance update for 2023 as well as slaughter performance. With a difficult spring to get cattle out to grass on programme farms, Alan outlines the plan at the moment with some cattle going to be kept in and finished from the shed due to difficult grazing conditions. Sourcing calves this spring there is big variation on price and delay of...
Mar 27, 2024•21 min•Ep. 218
Ken Gill operates an autumn calving, organic suckler to beef system located in Co Offaly and he joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to explain his system. He has 73 suckler cows calving from the end of July to mid-September and all progeny are brought to beef with the aim to slaughter at 24 months. Ken says that one of the big changes he had to make when converting to an organic system was in relation to housing on the farm. Being organic means that crop rotation is vital to en...
Mar 20, 2024•21 min•Ep. 217
When it comes to this time of year, the question of doing an agricultural course arises and with so many on offer it can be difficult to decide what Teagasc course suits best. On the latest Beef Edge podcast, Teagasc education officer, Serena Gibbons, discusses the range of Teagasc education courses that are available and how you can apply. Log on to www.teagasc.ie/education where you can find lots of information and also contact details of the education officers in each region. There is also a ...
Mar 13, 2024•11 min•Ep. 216
This week it’s a joint episode between the Beef and Dairy Edge podcasts with dairy farmer Paul Delaney joining Emma-Louise Coffey & Catherine Egan to discuss the importance of genetics in the dairy-beef system to maximise performance and profitability. Paul first gives an overview of his system. Two thirds of the cows are calved to date and Paul has used a number of continental sires to breed top quality calves. Paul previously was a suckler farmer prior to converting to dairy in 2015. While...
Mar 06, 2024•22 min•Ep. 215
With a difficult spring leading to challenging grazing conditions, Teagasc Grass10 Manager, John Maher, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with his top tips in relation to grassland management this spring. John discusses the current soil temperatures and grass growth across the country and on farms where grazing has been delayed and very little grazing has taken place to date, John explains what the key steps are to get stock to grass in the coming weeks. John highlights the grazing targets to ...
Feb 28, 2024•16 min•Ep. 214
With calving season underway in the Newford herd, Teagasc Newford farm technician Michael Fagan is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give an insight into changes on the farm, preparation in advance of calving and a review performance of the herd. Michael discusses the big changes on Newford farm since we spoke last with the cows being moved from Athenry to Roscommon. As the farm operated a tillage and beef enterprise, Michael discusses the work involved in making paddocks, reseeding and making...
Feb 21, 2024•14 min•Ep. 213
John Donlon who gives advice and tips for caring for the new born calf. John outlines the best practice for when the calf is just born such as feeding colostrum and care of the navel. He also describes the key tips when stomach tubing a calf. Regardless of a suckler or dairy beef system, there are a number of ailments that can arise and John has important advice for management from a health perspective for a number of conditions and diseases. Don’t forget as well to listen back to last week’s ep...
Feb 14, 2024•22 min•Ep. 212
On this week’s Beef Edge podcast, it’s the first of a two-part episode with Teagasc Researcher and Vet, John Donlon, who gives his insights and top tips in relation to managing the cow before calving and calving the suckler cow. Calving will be taking place on farms over the coming weeks and John discusses the nutrition to be aware of in the final stages with mineral and vitamins and ensuring that cows are fit and not fat. John then discusses giving assistance at calving and about the presentati...
Feb 07, 2024•23 min•Ep. 211
January is a good month to review your 2023 financial performance before you start focusing and putting a plan in place for 2024 and on this week’s joint episode with Ciarán Lynch from Teagasc’s Ovicast sheep podcast, we discuss financial management tips on drystock farms with Teagasc Financial Specialist Kevin Connolly. Kevin first outlines the benefits of completing a profit monitor. He discusses the data that’s required and how farmers make use of the data for their system. Kevin explains the...
Jan 31, 2024•26 min•Ep. 210
Dr.Siobhan Kavanagh from the Signpost Programme is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss what areas you can focus on to make your farm more sustainable in 2024. The Signpost programme is a multi-annual campaign to lead climate action by all Irish farmers. The programmes aims to achieve early progress in reducing gaseous emissions from Irish agriculture and to also improve water quality, maintain and in some cases improve bio-diversity, reduce costs and create more profitable and sustainabl...
Jan 24, 2024•19 min•Ep. 209
Teagasc Cattle Specialist, Niall Kerins, is on this week’s Beef Edge Podcast with an update on the nutrient management legislation and developing a nutrient management plan for your farm. The Nitrates Action Programme underwent a number of changes last year, with stronger measures introduced for the protection of water quality. There were a number of changes in particular that all farmers with a grassland stocking rate above 130kg of N/ha must take soil samples. In addition to this, for arable f...
Jan 17, 2024•16 min•Ep. 208
With calving kicking off on many dairy farms, on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast, Teagasc DairyBeef 500 advisor, Tommy Cox, discusses the key areas you need to focus on from sourcing calves and rearing up to weaning. There are over 2,500 calves reared across the country on dairy beef farms and Tommy highlights that, in addition to the physical health of the calf, it is important to look at the Commercial Beef Value (CBV) to get an insight into the genetic make-up of the calf. After ...
Jan 10, 2024•18 min•Ep. 207
