The Beef Edge

In the first of a two part series on planning in preparation for weaning, vet Charles Chavasse, Area Veterinary Manager with Zoetis, joins Catherine Egan on the latest Beef Edge to discuss how to prevent pneumonia. Charles first describes how most pneumonia is caused by a mix of viruses and bacteria. Vaccines are an aid to the control of pneumonia as the vaccines reduce lung damage caused by virus...

As part of #FarmSafetyWeek, beef farmer Tommy Holmes from Co. Mayo, discusses farm safety on his farm along with his Teagasc advisor Tom Kelly, Teagasc Ballina on this week’s Beef Edge podcast. Tommy outlines his store to finishing system and describes how he has moved from suckler cows to bull beef and now to bullocks. A large proportion of all fatal workplace accidents occur in agriculture each...

Chris Maughan, Technical Manager with Whelehan Crop Protection, and Teagasc Beef specialist, Alan Dillon, are on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss weed control on farm. It has been a difficult spring on farm relating to grass, particularly getting an opportunity to control weeds. Chris discusses control of docks nettles, thistles, buttercups and ragwort. He also discusses the correct sprayi...

Orla Keane, Senior Researcher at Teagasc Grange, has some timely advice in relation to updating your herd health plan and parasite control on this week’s Beef Edge podcast. It’s a good time of year when calving is over for a spring calving herd and before it starts on an autumn calving herd to review the herd health plan now and Orla highlights the importance of biosecurity and hygiene and outline...

Teagasc Green Acres dairy calf to beef participant, Martin Connolly, from Co. Roscommon gives a Beef Edge Masterclass on this week’s podcast episode. He gives an insight into his 21-22 month Friesian bull beef system and discusses the key points from managing the calf up to weaning, emphasising the importance of calf health in the early weeks of life. He discusses how he manages the stock at grass...

With an increase in grass growth in the past few weeks the challenge now on farms is to maintain quality in the sward. On this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast, Teagasc Grass 10 Manager John Maher gives top tips in relation to managing grass quality. John highlights the two main ways to manage grass at the moment. Firstly, it involves targeting ideal covers to graze of 8-10 cm and that may...

This week’s Beef Edge podcast finds out about the Certified Irish Angus Schools competition that challenges students to rear five Irish Angus calves over 18 months while completing a research project and which is organised in partnership with ABP Ireland and Kepak Group. Catherine Egan is joined by Darragh Barlow, a student at the Abbey School Tipperary town which is one of the five finalist schoo...

Contract rearer Kieran Kielty from Co. Sligo joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss how he operates a contract heifer rearing system. Kieran explains how he has developed the system over the past number of years and he outlines the importance of grassland management and quality silage in this system. As Kieran works off farm he highlights the benefits of contract rearing...

With many drystock farmers looking for possible alternative income opportunities for their farms, contract heifer rearing has increasingly become an option and Teagasc advisor Tom Coll and specialist Gordon Peppard join Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss what’s involved. Gordon says it is a very attractive option with a lot of benefits such as providing a steady monthly cas...

Derrypatrick herd Manager, Michael McManus, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give an update on the breeding season. There is 100% AI used in the herd and Michael describes how sires are selected and what sires are being used this year. It has been a very difficult year on the farm managing grass like other farms around the country and he highlights how some of the silage gr...

Aidan Murray, Teagasc Beef Specialist joins Catherine Egan on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast to give an update on the various beef schemes. Firstly, Aidan outlined the actions that farmers had to continue to do in order to comply with the BDGP 1 extension and Aidan advised on various scenarios such as a stock bull being injured or replaced. Next Aidan discussed the Beef Exceptional A...

Teagasc drystock advisor Terry Carroll and beef farmer John Phelan join Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the importance of harvesting silage and the ensiling process in making top quality silage. Given the last few weeks with poor grass growth on farm, Terry advises farmers to make the best quality silage possible now and meet your requirements for good quality silage fir...

Teagasc specialist Catherine Keena joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with an update on the new Results Based Environment Agri Pilot Programme also known as REAP. REAP is an agri-environment pilot project that pays farmers to maintain and improve the environmental conditions of their land. Farmers will bring in between 2ha and 10ha of land which will be scored in year one to est...

With calves being weaned on dairy calf to beef farms across the country, Teagasc Green Acres programme advisors Sean Cummins & James Fitzgerald join Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with top tips on weaning, advice for the year ahead and an update on the farms. Firstly, Sean has an update on the calves’ performance in the Green acres programme this spring. He highlights the key...

Teagasc Drystock advisor Joe Hand joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss how to maximise silage yield this year on your farm. Firstly, Joe highlights a number of factors which influence silage yield such as soil P, K, and pH levels, soil compaction, reseeded swards and fertiliser applied to the crop Joe advises that sub-optimal soil fertility is probably the core reason t...

Teagasc Grass 10 Manager John Maher is on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast with top tips in relation to grassland management. With a difficult spring leading to challenging grazing conditions, John discussed and gave advice for the different scenarios on farms where grazing has been delayed and very little grazing has taken place to date or where farms are on target starting the second...

With only 20% of beef farmers using AI, suckler & sheep farmer Martin Shaughnessy from Co. Mayo joins Catherine Egan on this week’s podcast for a Beef Edge Masterclass to discuss his beef system & how he uses AI on his farm. Martin explains that he operates a niche suckler to weanling system targeting breeding quality Belgian Blue weanlings for the export market. He has a compact calving s...

With breeding season around the corner on many farms, Teagasc drystock advisor David Argue, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast and with over 80% of beef farmers using stock bulls, David discusses some top tips when selecting a new stock bull. David advises farmers to examine their herd of cows first and figure out the exact genetic traits they are lacking and that...

Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advice Programme advisors Mary Roache & Meabh O’Hagan join Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast as part of Water Quality Week to highlight correct weed control management & tips on carrying out drainage work to reduce impact on water quality. Firstly, Mary discussed the main types of weeds farmers want to control. With docks being the most...

As part of the Teagasc & ICBF breeding week, Teagasc researchers Nicky Byrne & Alan Twomey join Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give an update on the Dairy Beef Index (DBI) and an insight into its impact in the future. The Dairy Beef Index is a breeding goal for Irish dairy and beef farmers to promote high quality beef cattle bred from the dairy herd that are more saleab...

25% of the annual feed budget consists of grass silage and silage accounts for 40% of the feed costs for the year. Hence it’s so important to make the best quality silage as possible. On this week’s Beef edge podcast Teagasc Drystock advisor Terry Carroll and Kilkenny beef farmer John Phelan join Catherine Egan in a two part series on making quality silage. On this first episode John and Terry hig...

Teagasc specialist Tim Hyde joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme, also known as TAMS which in January, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine announced it was extending. Grant aid is 60% for young trained farmers or 40% in all other cases up to a maximum of €80,000 spend for individuals or €160,000 for partnerships....

Last week the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine advised farmers that the application process for the 2021 Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and the Greening Scheme has now opened online. Over the past few days, farmers have been receiving a BPS information pack in the post containing maps and land details and on this week’s Beef Edge podcast, Teagasc Farm Management Specialist James McDonnel...

If you want to reduce fertiliser bills on your farm, listen to this week’s Beef Edge podcast with Teagasc specialist Mark Plunkett joining Catherine Egan for top tips and advice Mark advises that the starting point on every farm is to have up to date soil sample results. In 2019 , there were 7,863 samples taken on drystock farms. These results show that 18% of these soils are optimum for lime, pho...

James Madigan, a suckler farmer from Co. Kilkenny, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast for the latest in the show’s Masterclass series. James outlines his suckling to finishing system with bulls finished under 16 months and heifers under 20 months and he describes how he operates a split calving 50/50 spring and autumn calving herd with 100 cows put to the bull. The spring herd c...