1. The Irish Beef Industry and Grassland Management Dr
The Irish Beef Industry and Grassland Management Dr. Michael Egan, Teagasc Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Programme

2. Teagasc The Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority

3. Teagasc Role
TEAGASC - Supporting Innovation in the Irish Bio-Economy

4. Cascade model - operational version of Teagasc AKIS
Component research
14,000 Discussion
Group members
BETTER farms
Beef – 37
Sheep – 10
Dairy – 37
Research Farms
Curtin’s
Derrypatrick
Athenry
45,000 Clients
140,000 Farmers

5. Irish Beef Industry

6. Irish Beef Industry
Suckler beef production in Ireland is predominantly based on spring-calving cows
70% calving in Spring
Pastoral system
The core of the diet is grazed grass and grass silage
Average 60-80%
Competitive advantage of Irish livestock systems
Affords the opportunity of a lower cost system
Compared with many European counterparts

7. Irish Beef Industry
Ireland largest exporter of beef in the northern hemisphere
4th largest beef exporter in the world - 502,000 tonnes
Valued at €2.06 billion
10% of production consumed on domestic market
Major live exporter - 160,000 head live
Valued at €205 million
Beef exports valued at €2.2 billion

8. Irish Beef Industry
Dominant type of farming in Ireland accounting for more than half of all farm enterprises
“Big industry- built on many small blocks”
~100,000 farms have a beef enterprise
Suckler industry based on small herd size
Mostly Part-time (c.50% of beef farmers)
Very positive image
Herd size
15 beef
Breeds
Beef  Limousin, Charolais, Simmental (mostly terminal breeds)
Dairy cross cows (Aberdeen Angus and Herford)

9. Irish Beef Industry

10. Genetic trends - beef cattle

11. Beef Data and genomics scheme
€300 million scheme launched recently by department of agriculture
Financial incentive:
Genotype 60% of cows each year
Purchase/breed high index cows
Objective
To develop and implement a multi-breed beef genomic evaluation for (purebred and crossbred) cattle
Must be across all breeds (big and small)

12. Maternal index

13. Terminal index
Revenue
Cost

14. Less days on feed and less feed per day!
Terminal index
Low index
Average index
High index
Less days on feed and less feed per day!

15. Grassland

16. Grassland in Ireland 4.6 m ha utilised agriculture land
55% of grassland under drystock
Current herbage production
8.1 t DM/ha/year
Utilizing 5.5 t DM/ha/year
Some farmers growing t DM
Proportion needs to be increased in diet

17. Grassland a Natural Resource
“Grass is two times cheaper than the cost of silage and three times cheaper the cost of barley concentrate”

18. Emissions per kg beef produced in different EU countries
Ireland has one of the lowest carbon footprints
Irish agriculture highly carbon efficient

19. Grass Supply and Utilisation/Nutritive value Objective: Increase Grass DM utilized/ha to 11 tonne

20. Stock the Farm Appropriately
Profitability of grazing is closely linked to grass utilisation (tons DM/ha)
Increasing SR will only be profitable when grass utilisation increases
Each additional tonne of DM/ha is worth €105/ha

22. National Grass Growth Curve

23. DM Production 2016 on Irish Farms Average DM Production 13.9 t DM/ha

24. Grazing management Understanding the perennial ryegrass plant
Manage plant accordingly
Rotation length
Seasonal Management
Each of these will be dealt with in the following slides.

25. Grazing management goals
Productive pastures
Persistent pastures
High quality pastures
High utilisation of pasture by grazing stock
Similar management can optimise all four goals

26. The Perennial Ryegrass Plant
Tillers maintain ~3 live leaves,
as each additional leaf after this emerges the oldest dies
Time between appearances driven by temperature and moisture

27. Number of days for leaf to appear

28. Grazing infrastructure
Setting your farm up to grow grass is a fundamental in grassland farming
Rotational paddock grazing system
7 – 9 paddocks per grazing group
Roadways
Paddock access points – minimum of 2 access points per paddock
Water troughs
Paddock size adequate for grazing group size
1 ha paddock for 40 suckler cows or yr olds
Paddock shape 2:1 (length: width)
Too large of paddocks results in long residency times – reduces growth

29. Fencing types Two strand electric fence – creosote posts
Single strand electric fence –posts
Temporary pig tail and polywire
Most expensive
Very high quality
Low maintenance costs
Long term
Harder changed
High quality
Medium maintenance costs
Cheapest
Temporary/easily moved
Higher maintenance required

30. Paddock system – 20 ha farm
5+ day paddocks
3-4 day paddocks
2-3 day paddocks
Being grazed
+25%
Being grazed
Being grazed
Re-growths affected
Difficult to graze out
Reduced grass growth
Reduced animal performance
Hard to manage
Re-growths somewhat protected
Difficult to manage in wet weather
Moderate animal performance
Average pasture utilisation
Re-growths protected
Increased grass growth
Increased grass utilisation
Higher quality grass
Increased animal performance
Easy to manage surplus

31. Leaf stage

32. Leaf stage and yield
2000
1500
1000
500 7 14 21 28

33. Grazing guidelines and tools

34. Grass supply and feed demand
Ireland has a temperate climate with a long grass growing season
Milk (and meat) production systems in Ireland are predominantly grass based
Long grazing season
February to November
Grass supply and herd feed demand are not synchronised
Periods of surplus and deficit
Management tools help to identify and deal with these issues
Surplus
Deficit
Deficit

35. Importance of grassland management
Grassland management is critical to
Ensure adequate grass supply all year
Good quality feed to meet cow requirements
Spring and autumn grass availability

36. Weekly grass measurement
Provides valuable information on how much grass is available for grazing
Identifies surpluses and deficits
Methods
Plate meter – height
Cut and weigh
‘eye ball’

37. The grass growing season begins in autumn -
Grassland management
The grass growing season begins in autumn -
This has a big influence on grass production in the following spring and early summer!!

38. Autumn grassland management
If we want grass in spring
Must set it up to have grass the previous autumn
How?
Graze swards in rotation
Create a wedge shape
Late Sept – early Oct – close paddocks
Once paddock closed don’t graze again

39. Autumn grassland management
Maintain pre-grazing herbage mass below 2,500 kg DM/cow
Follow the 60:40 rule
Week end date
% of farm grazed and closed
10 October
Start closing the farm in rotation
7 November
60% grazed and closed
1 December
100% closed; livestock housed

40. Spring grassland management
The best way to manage grass in spring is to graze a set area each day
The Spring Rotation Planner is a tool which will assist with this
The planner incorporates turnout date, weekly calving pattern, grazing area and target finish date of the first rotation
Spring rotation planner available at;
otationcalculator.xls

41. Spring grassland management
Spring grazing area allocation
Week end date
% of farm grazed at week end
1 February
Start grazing
1 March
30% grazed
17 March
60% grazed
7 April
Start 2nd rotation

42. Main grazing season management
April to mid-August
Target pre-grazing herbage mass – 1600 kg DM/ha
Post grazing sward height 4 cm
Approx. 21 day rotation
Walk farm weekly to monitor paddocks

43. Main grazing season management
An ‘ideal’ wedge

44. Deficit wedge Dealing with a deficit
Supplement with concentrate or good quality grass silage
Increase grazing area if possible, i.e. bring in land used for heifers/beef animals if it is available

45. Surplus wedge Dealing with a surplus
Identify surplus as soon as possible
Remove surplus grass as baled silage immediately so that the paddock remains in the rotation or harvest with main cut silage
Exercise some caution so that you do not create a deficit in the next rotation

46. Soil fertility
Farmers aiming to grow the maximum amount of DM/ha, one of the most important components that must be correct is soil fertility
Soil pH – 6.3
Phosphorous - Index 3 for P (5.1 – 8.1 mg/l)
Potassium - Index 3 (101 – 150 mg/l)
The most limiting factor in soil fertility will limit overall grass production
Managing soil fertility is as important as managing your herd of cattle for grassland farmers

47. Effect of soil pH on fertiliser uptake
Nitrogen utilisation
Phosphorous utilisation
Potassium utilisation
% of fertiliser wasted
77%
48%
32%
85%
52%
100%
21% 0%
Applying 5 t/ha of lime to a soil pH of 5.3 resulted in;
increased DM production by 1.5 t DM/ha
20% increase in stocking carrying capacity
Additional 60 units/ac of N available

48. Why do farmers reseed ? Improve sward quality
Increase spring/autumn growth
Weed control
Repair poached/damaged paddocks

49. Over-sowing Over-sowing
Best practice - after a cut of surplus silage or tight grazing < 4 cm
Sow with a fertiliser that contains P
Good seed:soil contact – roll or apply watery slurry (2000 gal/acre)
Seeding rate – 66% of full reseed
If pasture is old, high weed infestation or low perennial ryegrass content a full reseed may be required

50. Tight grazing/post silage: <4cm
Over-sowing
Tight grazing/post silage: <4cm

51. Over-sowing

52. Management post-sowing
April/May - best time - adequate soil moisture
Grazing management post-sowing is critical
Pre-grazing herbage mass ≤ 1200 kg/ha for next 3 grazings
Post-grazing sward height ≤ 4 cm
Light penetration to the base of the sward

53. Thank you for your attention!
Questions!