The Beef Edge

Teagasc Nutritionist, Aisling Claffey, discusses winter nutrition and diets on this week’s Beef Edge podcast.   Aisling explains that beef systems are simple and it comes down to trying to maximise intake and growth whilst minimising stress and digestive upsets.   A combination of factors ultimately decides how close you get to growing and finishing cattle to their genetic potential such as manage...

Dr. Eoin Ryan, Senior Superintending Veterinary Inspector with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, gives an update on the Bluetongue Virus on this week’s Beef Edge podcast.    Since the end of August, over a hundred cases of Bluetongue have been detected in England and Wales and farmers in Ireland are hearing more and more about it.    Bluetongue is a viral disease affecting cattle...

Bob Thomson, a New Zealand Farm Consultant specialising in sheep and beef, is on this week’s Beef Edge to discuss some of his insights into dairy beef in Ireland compared to New Zealand.   Bob has a wealth of experience working in extension, consultancy and project management for the past 50 years.    He explains what he learned from the DairyBeef 500 farms he visited this week around the country...

Niall Kerins, Teagasc Cattle specialist, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss winter cattle housing arrangements.    Every winter a significant number of cattle are housed and fed in rented sheds. Whether you are the farmer renting out the shed or a farmer renting in the shed, there are a number of considerations for both parties.   Fodder, labour and machinery running costs are often in...

Grass10 advisor Niamh Doyle joins Catherine Egan on the latest Beef Edge with grassland management tips for the month ahead.   Niamh discusses closing up paddocks in rotation starting with the paddocks near the farmyard, the sheltered and the driest paddocks that will be grazed in early spring .   She outlines the targets for the month ahead to extend grazing, reduce demand to maximise days at gra...

Teagasc Financial Specialist Kevin Connolly is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the main headline items arising from Budget 2025, from tax cuts to increased spending.   Kevin explains that the income tax standard rate bands have been increased by €2,000. The income tax rates (20% & 40%) have not been changed. There has been a €125 increase in the principle tax credits.   The rate ap...

Following the launch of the Beef Budgets for 2024 at the National Ploughing Championships, Teagasc Beef specialist, Aidan Murray, has an update with all the details.   Aidan compares the national kill figures to 2023 and discusses how have the prices changed in comparison to this time last year.    Aidan also highlights how the Irish supply of beef looks for the rest of the year.    Prices are goo...

Scottish beef and sheep farmer, Graham Lofthouse of Bankhouse Farm, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss his mixed farming system.   The farm is located 30km south of Edinburgh and is 200-300m above sea level.  The average rainfall is around 1,000mm. There are 470 ewes on the farm and 84 suckler cows.    Graham discusses how the sucker herd is managed from birth to weaning. Breeding and...

Galway Future Beef farmer, Aonghusa Fahy, features on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give an update on his farm system and management at weaning, plus he discusses the cattle from his farm that will be on the Teagasc stand at this year’s Ploughing Championships.   Even though the weather has been challenging the weanlings have still performed well, Aonghusa explains.   Weaning will take place in...

It was a very challenging August this year and for the monthly Grass10 update, Niamh discusses how farmers have fed silage out over the past few weeks.   Calves have been creep grazed in front of cows to break the bond and concentrates supplemented earlier as well as calves being weaned earlier in September versus late September. Supplement introduced 4 weeks pre weaning and will be continued 2 we...

Roscommon Future Beef farmer, Shane Keaveney, features on this week’s Beef Edge podcast discussing management of his suckler to beef system and the upcoming National Beef walk taking place on his farm on Wednesday, 11th September at 6pm.   Shane explains that he farms with his wife Gráinne and 3 children and operates a suckling to finishing system with bulls finished under 16 months and heifers th...

Aidan Maguire, DairyBeef 500 farmer from Navan, Co. Meath, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss management on his farm and his upcoming National Beef open day taking place on September 5th at 6pm.   Aidan, alongside his son Luke, runs a dairy calf to beef enterprise on their farm, in conjunction with a contracting business. The farm stretches to over 70ha, with 54ha in grass and the rema...

Billy Gilmore, Grass10 Grassland Farmer of the Year Drystock category winner, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss his farm system and grassland management on his farm. In recognition of the award, Billy will host a farm walk on Tuesday, 27th August @ 6.30pm.   Billy, along with his wife Anne, operates a contract heifer rearing system rearing over 200 heifers a year. The system has chang...

Margaret Brennan, Assistant Principal Officer for Beef Schemes with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, discusses and explains the 2024 Beef Welfare Scheme on this week’s Beef Edge podcast.   The 2024 Beef Welfare Scheme (BWS) will support farmers in meal feeding suckler calves before and after weaning, and in vaccinating against clostridial diseases and calf pneumonia. Calves elig...

Teagasc researcher and vet, John Donlon, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the main issues that arise around weaning time and how to prevent them.   It’s been a difficult year for cows and calves and performance of some calves has been impacted by the extended spring and grazing conditions and weather. John says that many calves may have had health issues in the spring and it is impor...

Teagasc Grass10 advisor, Niamh Doyle, gives her monthly update discussing grass management tips for the month ahead.    Currently, growth is ahead of demand on farms and Niamh highlights management and targets for the coming weeks.   Second cut harvested in the past few days indicates the yields are back around the country and for farmers that will need a third cut, Niamh advises to apply 2,500 ga...

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...

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 rainf...

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 futu...

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...

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 imp...

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 or...

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 econom...

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...

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 typ...