Dairy beef systems can be high-output, grass-based systems with 80% to 90% of the calf's diet available from what forage is already on the farm, Teagasc Grange research officer Nicky Byrne has said.

Ireland's grass-based system is a huge advantage for producing beef that internationally, "cannot be touched", Byrne told Teagasc's DairyBeef 500 spring conference in the Ardboyne Hotel, Navan, Co Meath, on Wednesday.

We're successfully producing in-spec carcases at 19 and 20 months of age

Based on findings from dairy beef research in Grange, Byrne said that there are huge opportunities for these animals to be killed at much younger ages.

"We're successfully producing in-spec carcases at 19 and 20 months of age. Most importantly, that dairy beef animal is very much capable of doing that from a predominantly grass-based diet," he said.

In order to achieve these lower slaughter ages on the back of low-cost feed, such as grazed grass and silage, the animal type that can achieve that really efficiently needs to be identified.

"There is a massive variation in the calf crop coming from the dairy herd but we are in a very lucky position that we have a lot of control over that. If we get farmers to use the genetics that we know work, we can get very rapid and widespread improvement of the quality of that calf crop.

"We will eventually be in a position where we will have high beef merit calves, competitively priced, that we know are going to find custom for off-farm at a young age," he said.

It's quite easy to have a very high stocking rate in dairy calf to beef, according to Teagasc.

He added that calves with a high DBI and a high beef sub index are a “sure way” of futureproofing both the dairy and beef industries.

There are currently 16 farmers taking part in Teagasc’s DairyBeef 500 programme and they are a mixture of full-time and part-time farmers with an average farm size of 51.2ha.

Coordinator of the programme, Alan Dillon, said that the key to maximising profit in these systems is maximising stocking rate.

It's impossible to make a high profit with a low stocking rate

The question that is often asked, he said, is why these farmers in programme are stocked at such a high level (2.3LU/ha).

It's quite easy to have a very high stocking rate in dairy calf to beef, he explained, adding that farmers can find themselves in a situation where they are touching derogation level without being under any major pressure on the farm.

"On an organic nitrogen basis, they're valued at 24kg/N per calf, 57kg/N for one- to two-year-olds compared to a suckler cow who is 65kg/N. Their intake of grass is also quite low.

"It's impossible to make a high profit with a low stocking rate. You have to maximise production from your land," Allen said.

Challenges

The major challenges that this sector will face over the coming years include reducing age of slaughter, less chemical fertiliser usage and calf exports, according to Allen.

"Red and white clover are two things that we are going to work on over the next few years - red, especially. Our red clover silage crop has proved very successful. It has potential to substantially reduce the chemical nitrogen on farms," he said.