At the annual conference organised by the Ulster Grassland Society (UGS), there was a panel discussion on rearing dairy-bred calves as beef.

Taking the platform was Arthur Callaghan from ABP, Co Fermanagh beef and sheep farmer John Egerton and Trevor Burns, farm manager at Ballyedmond Farms in Rostrevor, Co Down.

The Blade Farming model came under the control of ABP in 2011 when the company acquired the southwest England-based RWM Group.

Under the scheme, there are two stages of calf rearing.

My sons are responsible for the calf house and it was a good way to bring them into the business

Calves are taken on to farms at two weeks old and weaned by 15 weeks, at which point the second stage begins with calves transferred to a finishing unit where they remain until slaughter. Currently, the scheme mainly uses beef-sired calves, predominantly Angus animals sourced by ABP.

Rearing unit

John Egerton operates a rearing unit for the Blade scheme.

“We established the calf-rearing house as it was a good opportunity to increase output without having to take on additional land,” said John.

“My sons are responsible for the calf house and it was a good way to bring them into the business. We plan on putting up a second house this year to double throughput,” he said.

The calves coming on to the farm are good-quality animals

The enterprise brings with it a steady routine in terms of workload, so it works well alongside the existing beef and sheep on the Egerton farm.

They are paid a guaranteed margin on each calf, and if certain targets are met, additional bonus payments are included.

We just focus on getting calves to the minimum weaning weight of 120kg by 15 weeks of age

“The calves coming on to the farm are good-quality animals, and because they are sourced by ABP, there is less risk to us.

“We just focus on getting calves to the minimum weaning weight of 120kg by 15 weeks of age, thereby maximising our margin per calf,” said John.

Tight selection

According to Arthur Callaghan, calves below 45kg liveweight at two weeks old will not be purchased for the scheme.

Similarly, any calf that does not meet the 120kg weaning weight at 15 weeks of age does not go to the finishing unit.

Animals that had repeated issues with pneumonia or those with poor conformation are also excluded at this point.

There is a minimum target carcase weight of 300kg at 22 months of age for steers and heifers

“This means only the best and most efficient calves reach the finishing unit.

“There is a minimum target carcase weight of 300kg at 22 months of age for steers and heifers, so tight selection means cattle are more likely to hit this target.

The selection process effectively identifies those calves which have not received adequate colostrum after birth, as well as encouraging dairy farmers to use better sires through AI,” said Arthur.

Finishing unit

Trevor Burns outlined the management of calves once they arrive on a finishing unit. Calves are grazed in paddocks, making better use of grassland.

“Grazed grass is vital to the end margin and we rotationally graze calves in batches.

“Once cattle reach 500kg, they are housed for finishing as we have found that heavier cattle are less efficient grazers and weight gain tends to tail off.

Our returns are improved when we get calves bred from top AI sires

“We are getting a margin that covers the cost of production and labour.

“Our returns are improved when we get calves bred from top AI sires.

“They produce heavier carcase weights and usually kill at a younger age, meaning we use less inputs,” said Trevor.

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