Improving the quality of beef calves from the dairy herd is a hot topic at the moment. When I heard the myostatin gene that is linked to muscling in cattle was a topic at a Drinagh Co-op event last week, I thought, fair play.

Here is a dairy co-op taking a very proactive approach.

It turns out it was at a beef event the west Cork co-op held for its sizeable suckler clientele.

Sub-zero temperatures didn’t dampen the appetite for the event, with a good crowd showing up. I’d be slow to write off suckler farming in the southwest yet.