The Beef Edge

On this week’s Beef Edge podcast, we’re joined by Ciaran Lynch, host of the Teagasc OviCast podcast, for a joint episode to discuss all things clover with Dr. Mike Egan, Teagasc researcher.    Mike starts by highlighting the potential role of clover in drystock systems, how it works and the potential cost savings.    We discuss the impact of soil fertility and weed control has on successful establ...

Dr. Colin Byrne, researcher in Teagasc Grange is on this week’s Beef edge podcast to discuss key aspects of a synchronisation regime for a suckler beef herd.    Current usage of artificial insemination (AI) is low in Irish suckler herds and this has implications for the speed of genetic improvement.    In Ireland, approximately 1 out of every 5 calves born in beef herds are bred from artificial in...

DairyBeef 500 manager, Alan Dillon, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with an update from the programme and key management tips for the weeks ahead.   Firstly, Alan reviews the profit monitors from last year and explains what the margins were for farmers in the programme.   With all the recent rainfall, grazing conditions have been difficult and Alan discusses how farmers are c...

With farmers starting to close up silage ground in the coming weeks, Teagasc Drystock advisor Gerard Cregg based in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss the main things farmers need to consider.    Gerard advises to complete a fodder budget for silage that will be needed and it is important to determine the quality of silage also needed and to have a plan.    App...

Nationally, 57% of drystock soils have a lime requirement, based on the National Soil Fertility Report 2022.    Teagasc researcher Mark Plunkett is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give an update on the recent National Liming programme.     There is an €8 million budget available which equates to €16/t subsidy available.    The key benefits of liming grassland soils are: -       release up to 8...

Peter Harte, from the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine, is on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast to outline the new Suckler Carbon Efficiency programme - SCEP.   SCEP is the successor to the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP), has a budget of €260 million over five years, and is co-funded by the EU under the CSP.    SCEP rewards participant farmers with a payment equ...

Teagasc Future Beef advisor, Gabriel Trayers, is on the week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss how to achieve the targets this spring, getting out to grass and the various scenarios across the country.    With difficult grazing conditions around the country this past week, Gabriel outlines steps farmers can take.    There are two main categories of  farmers: those that have got out early and those ye...

Martin Kavanagh, Vet and Business Development Manager with Muster Bovine, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast to discuss how to prevent and treat calf diseases.   Marin discusses prevention and treatment of calf scours. Pneumonia is highly dependent on the calf housing and environment of the calf which Martin advises on how to improve drainage, ventilation and have...

Teagasc DairyBeef 500 advisor Tommy Cox is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with key advice for sourcing dairy beef calves this spring.   With almost 2,000 calves sourced by programme farmers, Tommy discusses the traits and top things to look out for.    He outlines the benefits of having minimum sources of calves and says the Commercial Beef Index will be of influence for the genetic ability of t...

Teagasc Environment specialist, Tim Hyde, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to outline the current changes to the nitrates regulations, what it means for farmers and the future changes coming down the line.    The recent changes to the nitrates regulations will have an impact on all farms in Ireland.    From 2023, soil samples are required for all farms stocked above 130kg/ha grassland stocking...

Future Beef farmer Aonghusa Fahy from county Galway discusses preparing for calving, calving the cow and caring for the newborn calf on the latest Beef Edge podcast.    To ensure he is fully prepared, Aonghusa  will carry out a pre-calving check. He makes sure the calving equipment is all working including calving gates, calving cameras, calving jack etc.    Also ensure you have calving ropes, glo...

On this week’s episode  of the Beef Edge podcast you'll hear three of the presentations that were presented at the recent Teagasc DairyBeef 500 Conference in Charleville.   On the night, Nicky Byrne, Teagasc Researcher, gave an update on the Teagasc Grange dairy beef research, and beef farmer Pat Collins, outlined the type of dairy beef calf that he likes to purchase.    It started with Alan Dillo...

Teagasc Drystock advisor, Niall Kerins, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s episode of the Beef edge podcast to discuss the upcoming changes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).    Big changes are coming in 2023 with the new CAP is coming into play and which will last for the next 5 years.    Niall first discusses how the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) replaces the Basic Paymen...

Philip O’Connor and Trevor Boland from IFAC, the Irish Farm Accounts Co-operative Society, are on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss what can be done to help plan a farm transfer.    Philip & Trevor discuss farm partnerships and registered farm partnerships and with the new Basic Income Support for Sustainability replacing the previous basic payment scheme, many farmers are considering o...

In advance of calving season, on this week’s Beef Edge podcast, Catherine Egan is joined by Teagasc Head of Dairy, Joe Patton, to find out how to manage cow nutrition in the crucial weeks pre and post-calving.     Mineral supplementation prior to calving is essential and Joe outlines the importance of various different minerals such as magnesium at 20% inclusion rate and Phosphorus at 3-4% inclusi...

Roscommon DairyBeef 500 farmer Martin Connolly is on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast to discuss how he incorporated red clover last year into his beef system, the pros, cons, tips and advice he has for anyone considering red clover this year.   Martin farms part-time just outside the village of Castleplunket in Co. Roscommon, where he operates a calf-to-bull beef system.    The farm c...

On this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast we are going to hear the four presentations that were given at the Teagasc National Beef Conference panel discussion in December 2022 which was entitled, ‘Key enablers to improving profitability on beef farms’.    The panel was facilitated by Trevor Boland, Teagasc Future Beef Programme participant, and the speakers and topics were:   -       Assessi...

In the final episode of the Beef Edge podcast for 2022, Catherine Egan is joined by Teagasc Drystock advisor Christy Watson, who is based in Naas, Co. Kildare.    As Christy retires this year, he gives his insights into the changes and challenges that he has seen over the past four decades.    Christy talks through his time in Teagasc in Leitrim, Kildalton College, Wicklow and Kildare and he discu...

This week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast is a recording of the Teagasc National Beef Conference panel discussion titled ‘Delivering sustainability at farm level’ which took place on the 13th December in the Shearwater hotel, Ballinasloe.    It was Facilitated by Matt O’Keeffe, from the Irish Farmers Monthly and the panel participants were Professor Sinead Waters, Teagasc, Dr Dominika Krol, Tea...

Teagasc Environment specialist, Catherine Keena, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to give an update on the new Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme also known as ACRES.    This new €1.5 billion flagship agri-environment scheme closed last week for applications of which there were 47,000 applications.    There were 27,000 in the general scheme comprising of Tier 1, 2 and 3. Th...

Teagasc researcher, Nicky Byrne, joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss if red clover has a role on beef farms as well as previewing the upcoming National Beef Conference taking place on the 13th December in the Shearwater Hotel, Ballinasloe at 6pm.    Nicky outlines the benefits and barriers to red clover and discusses how the red clover swards performed this year at Tea...

DairyBeef 500 advisor, Sean Cummins, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with interesting insights into the recent DairyBeef 500 farmer study trip to Spain.   Over the course of the trip they visited a number of farms in the Catalonia region in the north-east of Spain, with the two main enterprises being calf to beef and suckler to beef.    The key differences between both systems were that farmer...

Joe Patton, Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer at Teagasc joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss what beef farmers should be looking out for next spring when it comes to sourcing quality calves for their beef system.    There have been big changes in dairy herd  numbers in the past few years, with 1.6  million dairy cows expected to calve down in 2023. While 30% will be ret...

Teagasc Researcher Colin Byrne joins Catherine Egan on this week’s Beef Edge podcast with an update on the Maternal Herd in Teagasc Grange Co. Meath.    Colin give a background to the herd and outlines the future research being carried out, plus he discusses this year’s weanling performance and the management over the coming winter.   For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show pa...

Teagasc Beef Specialist Aidan Murray joins Catherine Egan on this week’s episode of the Beef Edge podcast with some top tips on managing nutrition with high feed costs this winter.    Aidan outlines the current position with feed availability this winter and discusses the various options.   This year, he explains, it’s very important for farmers to test silage in order to reduce costs as much as p...