Next Gen Herefords visited the ABP Demo farm in Carlow on Friday evening 2^nd June 2023 & were welcomed & given a farm tour by farm manager Sean Maher.

The farm, located roughly 15 minutes from Tullow town, is rented from the Shepherd family. The farm consists of 280 acres. The land is very dry and would suffer from drought during prolonged dry spells. This is a research farm that opened as such in 2015. The farm system is now fully calf-to-beef with all sires being sourced through the Gene Ireland programme. There are 20 calves chosen from each sire year on year. The farm sells 150 calves into Tully Beef farm each year.

All calves are born in Spring and range across several breeds including: Hereford, Angus, Limousine, Belgian Blue, Aubrac and Friesian. They are roughly 27 days old and 58kgs arriving on farm. Every animal is managed the exact same from the first day they arrive. Given this is a trial farm – animals are purchased of what is reflective of the everyday calf-to-beef system.

All cattle are finished in the shed with the heifers generally finishing slightly earlier in August and steers in September. The system runs a 65-day finishing period with all stock slaughtered by Christmas. The Hereford & Angus cattle are generally slaughtered earlier – sometimes two weeks ahead of other breeds.

The calf management system and infrastructure are impressive because it is very simple and effective and could be implemented on any farm. Calves are weighed when they arrive on the farm, when they are put out to grass & every month. All calves are fed milk replacer once a day only. This keeps the concentrates consumed up and halves the workload. The research has shown that there is no difference in performance but the stockperson needs to be sharp to catch any health problems as they arise. Calves are weaned when they are consuming 2kgs of meal/day.

Calves are fed 1kg meal per day when they get out to grass. Straw is fed to all calves when out on stemy pastures because it helps prevent bloat & summer scour.

Animal health is very important on the farm – all calves are dosed and vaccinated accordingly. All male calves are castrated with rings at three weeks after weaning off milk.

Grassland management is very important. There are various trials carried out on the farm including trialling various grass mixtures & pest control measures. There are currently nine acres in red clover. This is yielding four cuts per year which can be fed during the winter with grass silage and 12% ration. They are currently spreading 170kgs of Nitrogen annually.

Another big take home from the visit was that the research from the on-going trials has shown that despite management decisions – genetics are crucial. Research has shown that genetically there is 40% difference between the top and the bottom Herefords on the ABP demo farm.

Many thanks to Sean Maher, the Sheppard family & ABP for welcoming us on farm & giving the full tour.