On what was a glorious summer’s day last Tuesday, thousands travelled from all over the country to Teagasc Grange for BEEF 2018. On arrival, spectators were greeted by Eddie O'Riordan on the introduction stand, which outlined the theme of the event "€nhancing Knowledge" and the schedule for the day.

Following the introduction stand, next up was the infrastructure village which had fencing, drainage systems, roadways, soil fertility, reseeding and water system demos on display.

Infrastructure village. \ Philip Doyle

The four main stands on the day outlined key performance indicators in the suckler-to-beef system, dairy calf to beef, animal genetics and grassland management.

There were many other new technologies in relation to grassland management, animal nutrition, beef genetics, reproductive management and animal health, including farm planning and implementation methods essential in increasing the competitiveness of the beef sector, on display on the day.

The Irish Farmers Journal and ICBF held a livestock demonstration focusing on replacement heifers, achieving the two-year-old calving target, animals of varying suckler €uroStar index and AI usage in suckler herds.

The Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed was one of the speakers at the evening's farmer forum chaired by Richard Curran from RTÉ, alongside Phelim O’Neill from the Irish Farmer Journal and farmers Mike Dillane, Joe Farrell and John Phelan.

Some farmers' views

  • “Very interesting day with lots of useful information to take home with us, it’s a very impressive set up cows are looking well and the paddock system looked great I suppose they are suffering a little bit from the lack of rain like everywhere else.”
  • “The new technology on show was very impressive; the Moocall heat monitors are something that looks really interesting and it would come in very useful on many beef farms. The Grass 10 demo was also very good showing how you can better utilise grass to get better feeding value out it.”
  • “Good day overall. The event was very well laid-out and thought-out. Walking through on the tour you always pick up something new that you never saw before that can be brought home and put into practice on your own farm.”

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