We won the five Irish Angus calves as part of the Certified Irish Angus beef schools competition 2016 run by the Irish Angus Producers Group along with their processing partners ABP Food Group and Kepak Group. Our theme is ‘Certified Irish Angus Beef from the dairy herd’.

Progress of the calves

Since our five Irish Angus calves arrived to their new home in west Cork they have thrived very well. They are being reared on Mark Shortens farm. When they came home from the National Ploughing Championships they were put out onto grass and due to an exceptional autumn they were on grass until 30 November.

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This competition has given us an unique opportunity to learn about all aspects of meat production

On 1 December they were placed in a field of kale and redstart where they will stay for winter. They are also getting a bale of silage for fibre as the kale and redstart lacks fibre. When the calves first arrived, we continued to give them 2kgs of ration as this is what they were fed prior to arrival. We then reduced that to 1kg while they are on the kale and redstart as they are performing well.

Weights

When the calves arrived in September they were weighing an average of 228kg. In November they were then weighing an average of 272kg. This means they had a daily weigh gain of 1.2kg. In December the calves were weighing 302kg, giving a daily weigh gain of 1kg. In January the calves were weighing 311kg, meaning they only put on 0.1kg per day. This is because they were now being outwintered on the kale and redstart. We then weighed them again in January - they put on 0.5kg per day and were weighing an average of 325kg.

The process so far

We feel this competition is very interesting as both of us are very involved in farming and it is also a great challenge for us. As well as the opportunity to learn about farming we also have gained experience in making presentations, which will benefit us in the future. This competition has given us a unique opportunity to learn about all aspects of meat production which we would not have got first-hand experience of otherwise.

The support we have received so far from our school, the town of Bandon, and west Cork in general, has been incredible. Bandon co-op has supplied our calves with 16% protein beef cubes and Animal Health Laboratories Ireland has been testing dung samples for our calves, which we weigh every month. Due to the support we have received, we have decided to donate the slaughter price of one of our Irish Angus calves to a well-deserving west Cork charity.

Keep an eye on www.farmersjournal.ie for future blog updates from St Brogan’s College and other schools in this competition.

Read more

Read more of the Irish Angus calves blogs here