The Beef Edge

DairyBeef 500 farmer, Peter O'Hanrahan from Co. Kilkenny, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss his dairy beef system, grassland management on the farm and the upcoming farm walk taking place.    Peter explains how calves are sourced from five farms within 15 minutes of his own farm. They are reared on automatic feeding system which he discusses in detail . They are grazed in two groups w...

Future Beef farmer, Michael Biggins from Co Mayo, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss his suckler beef system, weanling management on the farm and the upcoming farm walk taking place on his farm.    Michael farms with his son Niall in Ballynalty, Headford, Co. Mayo and he gives an overview of his spring calving suckling to weanling system.    All suitable heifers are kept on the farm fo...

Grass10 Manager, John Maher, joins Catherine Egan on the latest Beef Edge with grassland management tips for the month ahead.   John discusses current grazing conditions and explains the different scenarios across the country.   He also details an action plan for dealing with drought, deficit and surpluses and he highlights the plan for the weeks ahead to ensure quality swards are available for bu...

The winner of the Drystock Sustainable Grassland Farmer of the Year, Peter Byrne from Co Kildare, and Dairy Beef 500 advisor, Fergal Maguire, are on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss Peter’s dairy beef system, grassland management on the farm and the upcoming walk taking place there.    Peter’s current system is 19- 22 month heifers and 22-26 months steer beef. Up until 2008, he was running...

Teagasc Climate and Sustainability advisor, Enda Geoghegan from Ballina Co. Mayo, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss actions implemented on farms that increase efficiency while reducing emissions and the recent findings from the Signpost Programme Report .   Farmers participating in the Dairy Beef 500 and Future Beef Programmes are also part of the Signpost Programme and Enda explains...

Teagasc Head of Schemes Support Unit, Aidan Murray, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with an update on the upcoming scheme deadlines and the newly launched Long Established Young Farmer scheme.     The maximum payment for this is €5,000 per eligible farmer and Aidan discusses the criteria these farmers will have to meet to be able to apply.   Further details are here: https://www.gov.ie/en/depa...

Mark Waters from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the National Genotyping Programme which has recently opened for applications.   The National Genotyping Programme is a collaborative initiative enabling Ireland to take the first step in achieving a fully genotyped national herd, based on a cost-sharing model between the Department of Agricu...

Grass10 Manager, John Maher, joins Catherine Egan on the latest Beef Edge with grassland management tips for the month ahead.   John discusses current grazing conditions and explains the different scenarios across the country.   He also details an action plan for dealing with drought, deficit and surpluses and he highlights the plan for the weeks ahead to ensure quality swards are available for bu...

Future Beef Farmer, Kay O’Sullivan from county Cork, is on this weeks’ Beef Edge podcast to discuss her organic beef finishing system, current management on the farm and the upcoming national beef walk taking place on her farm.    Kay explains her conversion to organics, current grass/clover and multi-species management as well as her herd health plan.   The Future Beef farm walk will take place o...

Teagasc Scheme Support Unit Specialist, Seamus Nolan, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with an update on the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme - known as TAMS - to discuss items that are eligible for grants to make various improvements to farms.    TAMS consists of ten different schemes and seven of these, including: the Animal Welfare, Nutrient Storage Scheme (AWNSS); the Young Farmer...

Teagasc DairyBeef 500 farmer Charlie Smyth is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give an insight into his dairy beef system and upcoming farm walk on 10th July at 7pm.   Charlie explains how he purchases and rears 100 dairy beef calves every spring and operates a steer and heifer finishing system. Whether sourced directly from farms, or through local marts, calf selection is based on strong beef...

Noel Prunty and Liam McWeeney, from Teagasc Ballyhaise College, join Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge Podcast to give an update on breeding season and how the bulls performed finishing under 16 months.   Noel gives a review of calving season 2025 and discusses how AI was used for the start of the breeding season before the stock bull.   Liam highlights the management of the heifers calving...

With surplus grass on most farms, Grass10 Manager, John Maher, has grassland management tips for the coming weeks.   You can subscribe to the Grass10 newsletter here: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/grassland/grass10/grass10-enewsletter/   For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com

Teagasc Technician, Chloe Millar, from the Dairy Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm in Co. Tipperary gives an update on this week’s Beef Edge podcast on rearing calves this spring and management on the farm currently.    There were 381 calves sourced on the farm this spring with the calves sourced from seven farms from specific sires with high dairu beef indexes. There was a focus on selecting sires...

As part of Men’s Health Week, Laurence Gaughan, Regional Project Manager in the west of Ireland with the HSE, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with some tips and advice on mental health for farmers.   Farmers tend to prioritise farm work and the health of their animals and Laurence discusses how to keep healthy.  He also outlines financial planning actions that can also help overcome stress and...

Tim Meagher from Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, who will host this year’s Irish grassland Association Beef Event, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss his farm system, while Paddy Casey from the Irish Grassland Association highlights what to expect at the event.   It will take place on Tuesday June 10th, with the event kicking off at 6:30 pm sharp and will conclude at 8:30 pm.    Tim operates a...

DairyBeef 500 farmer, JP Hammersley from Co. Tipperary, is on this week’s Beef Edge with an update on his farm, management of calves at grass and the plan for finishing cattle on the farm.   JP outlines his dairy calf to beef system with cattle finished at 20-24 months of age. All the calves are sourced locally from a nearby dairy farmer.    He discusses how calves are reared and managed up to now...

As we are at a critical stage of the breeding season, Dr. David Kenny, researcher in Teagasc Grange, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss breeding on spring calving suckler herds and he has key tips to be aware of.   David says that overall this spring has been good and cows were in good condition going to grass early and fit for breeding.    This spring we have seen the impact of the ch...

Grass10 Manager, John Maher, is on this week’s Beef Edge to discuss grass management on the farm at this critical stage of the year.    John gives an update on farms at the moment with some farms having had the best spring in years while other farms are looking for rain. Rain was very localised earlier this week and with not much rain forecast, it will be challenging on some farms.   John says tha...

Stephen Frend from the Newford demonstration herd in Co. Roscommon is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give a review of calving, an update on the current breeding season and a look into management for the coming weeks.    Stephen says that calvings have gone well this spring, cows calved over a compact 10 weeks and went to grass earlier this year in comparison to last year.    With breeding sea...

Chris Maughan, Product and Technical Manager with Whelehan Crop Protection, discusses weed control on grazing and silage ground on this week’s Beef Edge podcast.    Chris highlights the opportunity to control weeds, particularly docks in silage ground and grazing paddocks.   Nettles and thistles are possibly the most common weed on farm and he outlines the best control method.    Chickweed is also...

Mary McEvoy, Technical Development Manager with Germinal, joins Catherine Egan and Ciaran Lynch on this week’s joint episode of the Beef Edge and OviCast podcasts to discuss all aspects for carrying out reseeding.   Given the weather this spring, in comparison to previous years, many farmers across the country are considering carrying out reseeding on their farm.    Mary outlines the important poi...

Beef farmer, Sophie Tyner, from county Wicklow, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss her beef system, her plans in the coming weeks closing for silage and how good quality silage is so important on her farm.   Given that all the cattle are finished on the farm, good quality silage is very important to her system to reduce concentrates fed.    Sophie discusses winter performance achieved...

Margaret Brennan, Assistant Principal Officer over Beef Schemes with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the new Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme that was announced recently and to give an update on all things scheme related.   Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme Margaret, outlines the 2025 Dairy Beef Weighing Scheme which is open f...

Teagasc researcher, Sarah Burke, is on this week’s Beef edge podcast to discuss her latest research on grass-white clover and multi-species sward systems.    A source of inefficiency in beef cattle production systems is the failure to meet live weight targets throughout the animals’ lifetime, resulting in animals being older at slaughter. Consequently, lifetime production costs, which are mainly f...