An Open Day at the Newford Suckler Demonstration Farm will take place on Wednesday, 5th September near Athenry, Co. Galway. All cattle farmers will have the opportunity to visit the farm and see at first hand the physical and financial performance of the farm over the last three years since it was set up. The project is a demonstration of best practice in suckler beef production with an emphasis on breeding, production data, measurement and management.
The 55 hectare farm was established by Dawn Meats and Teagasc in 2015 with additional support from McDonald’s and the Irish Farmers Journal. The 100-cow Newford herd is made up of first-cross Angus and Hereford cows from the dairy herd, bred to 5 star terminal sires producing 21-23 months beef steers at 310- 350 Kilograms carcase and beef heifers 18- 20 months at 290-320 Kilograms carcase for the beef market. The target is to finish 70-80% of these progeny off grass.
Matthew Murphy, Farm Manager will be available along with representatives from Dawn Meats, Teagasc and Farmers Journal to meet and discuss the herd and its performance with farmers and answer questions on the day.
Speaking in advance of the upcoming Newford Open Day, Padraig French, head of livestock systems in Teagasc said: “the data gathered and the lessons learned from the herd’s performance last year will be shared with farmers on the day, to help them adopt some of the practices in their own farming enterprises,”
Paul Nolan, from Dawn Meats said: “that whilst delighted to share with our many visitors the impressive progress made at Newford to date in terms of breeding and stocking targets – more work on output challenges in terms of finishing weights and climatic fluctuation is our priority over the next 12-24 months.”
The event will also be attended by representatives of McDonald’s UK & Ireland as well as industry stakeholders including ICBF, Bord Bia, Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine and Agri-Aware.
Fodder Advice for Farmers
2018 has been a challenging year for all livestock farmers due to the extreme weather events in the spring and then again in the summer, and the impact on grass and fodder production.
Advice on planning and managing feeding regimes for winter 2018 and spring 2019 will be available and Teagasc Advisors will be available to assist with fodder budgeting and planning.
