Tullamore Farm: bulls set sail for Italy and students fly in from Kansas

This week marked another busy week on Tullamore Farm, with more cull cows drafted and 20 of the 2024-born bull weanlings sold for export.

A sigh of relief was taken after receiving clear results on the annual TB test last week, which meant that the weanling sale could go ahead without any disruption.

More cull cows were drafted this week, leaving nine cows now left in the fattening pen.

Well-fleshed cows continue to be sought after and demand a good price from processors, with R grading cows being paid out at €5.30/kg this week. The R grading cows weighed 420kg and came into €2,226/head.

There were four U grade cows on the load which averaged 458kg carcase weight. All these were homebred Limousin- and Simmental-cross cows averaging 67 months of age having had their first calf at 24 months.

The remaining cows on this draft were predominantly older first-cross cows grading O grade with €5.10/kg being paid. They averaged a carcase weight of 362kg at €1,849/head.

With almost 100kg in the difference in carcase weight of the first-cross O grade cows and top-end U grade second-cross cows, this highlights the variation in cow mature weight through the herd.

The introduction of more homebred heifers this year and into the future could push average cow weight up, but leave us with a more uniform herd.

Confidence

These figures also give confidence that our attention to sub-indices for carcase weight and conformation when selecting bulls for first-cross cows is delivering what we set out to achieve.

A variation in kill-out percentage was observed, with the heaviest U grading cow weighing 476kg carcase killing out at 57% of her liveweight, while the other end of the scale saw the lightest O grading cow at 335kg carcase kill out at 49%.

Twenty bull weanlings were sold off farm this week and are destined for live export to Italy. These were the earliest 2024-born bulls all born in February and March this spring.

They weighed an average of 407kg and sold at a price of €3.60/kg, leaving them coming in at €1,465/head.

When budgeted and all feed and health costs added in and a projected average carcase weight of 390kg, these bulls would have to secure a price of €6.05/kg next spring to match the price to sell live now.

With a good beef trade projected for early 2025 perhaps this price is achievable, but the risks are high and the farm saw selling these now as weanlings as a much safer option.

This leaves 17 younger bulls on farm and the decision will be made in the coming weeks to either slaughter these, feed to a higher weight and sell live or perhaps castrate and return to grass next spring.

US visitors

The farm welcomed a group from Kansas State University in the USA visiting for a walk and talk on Friday.

These students all study agriculture in Kansas and came from all four corners of the USA.

There was good engagement with students, with comments being made about the uniqueness of the farm and its demonstration purposes and students commented on how the transparency of the project is of huge benefit to Irish farmers.

When asked on the general mood among US beef farmers, the visitors commented "Mood is good, cattle prices are rising and looks like they’re going to be good for spring 2025."