The Deane Farm Open Day
Ciaran Hickey, Teagasc, Carlow
The Farming Enterprise
The main enterprises on the Farm today are Cattle and sheep. The farm is participating in the REPS 3 scheme.
The main enterprise is the 80 cow suckler herd which are mainly Limousin X cows. These are then mated with 2High Genetic merit Belgian Blue bulls.
Particular attention is placed on high quality replacements, this is achieved through a planned breeding program using a Limousin maternal tested sire ( Highlander Son). The aim is to breed docile cows with milk and a large frame and to use the well muscled terminal sire to breed quality stock.
The progeny are aimed at premium markets such as Holland, Belgium and Italy who will
pay for the top quality. This year the 1 Omth old weanling heifers were exported live to
the Italian feedlot market and the bulls are contracted to Kepak, Clonee for the Italian
market.
There are 220 Breeding ewes and 50 ewe lambs on the farm. The flock is mainly Suffolk
x Cheviot and the system is maintained through the purchase of approximately 50-60 ewe
lambs each year.
Texel rams are used as terminal sires and mid season fat lamb production is practiced. All finished lambs are sold through the Baltinglass Lamb producer group to Kepak Hacketstown.
Farm Management
The Cows calve in the spring and are put to grass straight away to minimise disease build up in the shed. A program of vaccinations is undertaken to protect the herd from Lepto.BVD and scour. The calves are vacintated against pneumonia and blackleg on a routine basis. The calves are injected with ivermectin in early July and then again in late September/early October before housing.The Cows and calves are paddock and strip grazed for the summer. In the Spring the Ewes and lambs graze ahead of the cows. The sheep are then weaned at the end of June and the Ewe flock are used to tidy up the paddocks after the cows and calves.
Part of large crowd viewing group of cows and calves at open |
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The remaining weaned lambs are grazed on the silage after grass and as the lambs are sold, the silage ground comes back to the grazing area and a lot of extra land becomes available to meet the demand of the growing stickler calves.
Finishing System
Creep feed is introduced to the calves from mid August onwards. Weaning takes place in early October and the Cows are housed on slats one week later. The weanlings are then housed from mid November on depending on weather conditions. They are housed on straw and are fed top quality baled silage and up to 3Kg of concentrates. This is a home mix ration consisting of 38% Toasted Grain, 25% Beet pulp and 25% Distillers and 10% Toasted flake maize and minerals and vitamins. The beet pulp and toasted flake maize are preferred as they increase intakes.
From mid February on ad lib concentrate is introduced to all finishing bulls (Super Bull Finisher) with access to good quality straw for roughage. They are normally finished over a 120-day period leaving the Bulls at an average liveweight of 700kgs at 15-16 months.
During this period the average daily gain is approximately 1.8kg/hd/day. The bulls consume llkgs of meal per day during the finishing period. Meal consumption is in
excess of two tonnes per animal costs approximately €400, this is a high cost system and can only be justified with a premium price from the market.
Analysis of the future Options
The system as outlined has performed well on this farm and the future direction is dependent on improved cattle prices and the availability of niche markets.Derek believes that he will not use his single farm payment to subsidise beef and sheep production in the future. The aim is to retain less stock of a higher quality and to try and achieve a higher margin with reduced costs.
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