Dairy-beef continues to grow in popularity with farmers looking at the alternative or addition of dairy-beef and how it could work on their farm. It has been shown to be a viable alternative on some farms and factories are putting a big push behind dairy-beef and the positives it brings to them in terms of carcase weights, uniformity of product and an earlier slaughter age.

One family that made the switch was the Kelly family, who farm just outside the village of Tubber, Co Offaly. They moved over to dairy-beef in 2021 having run a 50-cow suckler herd and 150-ewe sheep flock all along.

“I suppose we were looking for something a little easier after calving cows and lambing ewes all our lives,” says Cormac Kelly. “Don’t get me wrong, there is lots of work with rearing calves but it’s a little more planned and a little easier than the cows and sheep. The finances are also good.

“It’s a different game, the dairy-beef – in terms of cashflow and volume of money as well. The cost of keeping the cow is the crucifying part of suckling. In dairy-beef, you don’t have that and you also have money coming in for more months of the year,” he says.

Kelly farm

The farm is typical of Westmeath land; some of it dry, suitable for early grazing, with more of it heavy in nature. Weanlings are typically turned out in early March.

“We did venture out earlier last year. It was a good February but I’d say cattle went back later on in March and if I was to do it again I would have probably delayed turn out a little longer,” Cormac says.

The farm is divided up into seven different blocks all within a four-mile radius of the home farm.

“When you have a fragmented farm, if you are letting out stock, you need to be sure that they are staying out. It’s hassle loading them up and bringing then back home again,” Cormac explains.

The Kellys finish 150-160 cattle annually through the Tirlán/Kepak 2020 programme.

“We joined it at the beginning. It was a sort of a no-brainer for us in that we were doing a lot of the things we had to do anyway, so we might as well avail of the bonus.

“It’s a big help and when beef price was lower, it could have been the difference in making and losing money some years. We are 15 minutes away from Kilbeggan, so it’s very handy,” Cormac says.

“We can load up our cattle here and we can be back in the yard in a half an hour so we can go with smaller amounts when it suits us. The factory knows when our cattle are coming, but the pricing system is very transparent.

“There has to be a bit of loyalty shown in both directions” Cormac adds.

The Kellys buy in the majority of calves in springtime with a small number also purchased in the autumn.

“We have the shed and the feeder, so we might as well be making use of it during the winter months,” Cormac says. “The only downside is that there is more straw used and meal used in the autumn system.”

As part of the programme the Kellys have to purchase 25 calves from Tirlán suppliers with the rest sourced from local farmers.

“We like to buy in batches, if we can at all. It’s a lot easier and probably healthier for the calves not buying them in twos and threes everywhere,” says Cormac. The Kellys buy a mix of Aberdeen Angus, Hereford and Belgian Blue calves.

“There is no club bonus on P-grading cattle this year, so we need to be a little more careful when buying calves to make sure we don’t have any P-grading cattle in the future. We are trying to purchase as high a CBV (commercial beef value) in calves as possible, but sometimes it’s hard to find them. We are avoiding Jersey genetics. We don’t want any of that in the calves,” he says.

Calf health

The Kellys place a big emphasis on purchasing healthy calves and then keeping them as healthy as possible for their time on the farm.

Calves are vaccinated once they come off the trailer on arrival using an intranasal vaccine, which is followed up with a booster shot three weeks later. Calves are also vaccinated against clostridial diseases.

Weanlings are then vaccinated when they come into the shed in autumn time. The Kellys invested in a JFC calf feeder a few years ago.

Calves are programmed to a set plane of nutrition for the rearing phase and the calf feeder does the rest.

“We are averaging about two bags of milk replacer per calf,” Cormac explains. “I don’t know if that’s too much, but we are happy with the calves when they come off the machine.

“In terms of feed, it’s taking about €250/calf for meal during the rearing phase and finishing phase. Calves continue to be fed at grass, with 1kg per head per day fed all through the summer.

“Two bags of milk replacer was about €100 last year and there is about 500kg of finishing ration at €340/t going in during the finishing phase. Over 90% of the cattle are finished out of the shed on the farm.

“We try and graze the bigger cattle in a paddock system with each group getting about two days in each paddock. This keeps the quality up and keeps cattle moving in terms of weight gain.”

Once the bullocks hit 500kg and the heifers hit 470kg on the farm, the finishing feeding starts.

“We try to weigh as often as we can, but it’s a big job weighing 150-160 cattle, but it is a good tool to see where you are going with weights,” Cormac says.

Slaughter performance

Slaughter performance has been increasing over the last few years as the system beds into the farm.

Table 1 outlines the dairy-beef heifer performance in 2024 while Table 2 outlines the bullock performance.

“The support from Eamon Phelan in Kepak and Ross Brady is Tirlán is also a big help,” Cormac added

While the Twenty20 (T20)club cattle get the specific 30c/kg bonus (20c/kg from Kepak and 10c/kg from Tirlán), they also get any other bonuses if deemed eligible. The quality based pricing in-spec bonus is paid (20c/kg for O= grades or better, 12c/kg for O- grades) as being quality assured is a requirement for entry to the club.

Aberdeen Angus and Hereford cattle in the T20 club qualify for a 30c/kg bonus at the moment, continental-type cattle get a 10c/kg bonus, and young bulls under 19 months get a 25c/kg.

There is also a seasonality bonus with cattle presented for slaughter in May getting an additional 10c/kg, and cattle presented in June and July getting a 6c/kg seasonality bonus.

An upper carcase weight limit of 400kg applies, along with a minimum weight of 240kg which has changed recently. Cattle must grade an O- or better. The CBV of the animal must be minimum three star (€-7 for dairy sire/dairy dam, €82 beef sire/dairy dam) at the point of birth/purchase. Cormac said that there is an age limit of 28 months for bullocks and heifers. All inputs have to be sourced through a Tirlán store.

So far, there are about 500 farmers finishing 25,000 cattle a year with the aim to get it to 50,000 annually in the next few years.