Maternal-powerhouse breed, Saler, forms the backbone of Garreth’s 50-strong suckler herd. Of the 92 animals on his books at present, 29 are in the top 1% in the country (>€143) and 56% of his herd are five-star.

But are his breeding efforts paying dividends on the ground?

Garreth calved 36 cows this spring. The herd’s average calving interval was 367 days. Mortality at 28 days was at 2.8%. His six-week calving rate was 67% and he finished up with a calves/cow/year figure of 0.94. Just one of his calvings was classified as ‘difficult’ and 25% of his calves were out of AI sires.

Breeding ‘17

Breeding 2017 went well for Garreth. Having scanned at the end of July, he has 42 expectant mothers in-calf to a plethora of top-class AI sires, as well as his own bulls. Thirty-three of his 35 cows scanned in-calf and 90% of heifers conceived.

There was a 71% conception rate to first service in 2017. Garreth is also in the process of sourcing more animals – with a view to building his breeding herd up to 50 cows in the coming years.

Sires

“My own Charolais bull is by Major and he has seven calves on the way,” Garreth told me. “I’m also expecting calves from Heracles (CH), Castleview Gazelle (LM), Castleview Casino (LM), Ulsan (SA), Ballymackeogh Lucas (SA), Ballymackeogh Hugh (SA) and four from my own Saler bull by Wicklow Odeon, among others.

Garreth is due to begin calving on 15 January next year and the season will run until 31 May. His 2017-born calves have averaged 1.16kg of daily weight gain from birth.

Stars

“You know though, you can have all the stars in the world, but it doesn’t mean anything unless cows are doing the business. Cow no.752 has a replacement value of €40 after genotyping, but she has the heaviest calf every year. Her calf this year is doing 1.50kg of daily gain,” Garreth concluded.

In brief

  • Garreth McCormack has the top herd in the programme from a replacement index point of view.
  • Average calving interval is 367 days.
  • Six-week calving rate was 67%.
  • 71% conception rate to first service in 2017
  • 2017-born calves have averaged 1.16kg of daily weight gain from birth.

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