Unveiling the Future of Dairy Beef: Highlights from 2024 – Teagasc Insights

31 December 2024

2024 presented dairy beef growers an extensive array of chances to acquire knowledge for enhancing the productivity of their dairy beef operations.

In the second part of this series of articles, Catherine Egan, Beef Specialist at Teagasc, highlights some significant Teagasc events, webinars, and publications from the past year.

DairyBeef 500

A five-year initiative launched in 2022 aimed at endorsing and showcasing social, environmental, and financial sustainability in dairy beef systems, the Teagasc DairyBeef 500 group conducted multiple farm walks and webinars throughout the year.

Webinars

Beginning its year of educational activities was a webinar on calf rearing preparation, featuring representatives from Munster Bovine and MSD, as well as DairyBeef 500 demonstration farmer, Peter O’Hanrahan.

View the webinar below:

Following this, a webinar focused on sourcing and nutrition of dairy beef calves, where essential insights were provided by members of the DairyBeef 500 team and Volac regarding calf sourcing policies and nutrition plans. Charlie Smyth, a DairyBeef 500 participant from Co. Cavan, also contributed by detailing his farming operation and calf purchasing protocol.

View the webinar below:

More recently, the DairyBeef 500 team organized a webinar on preparing calves for sale in 2025. Featuring speakers from Teagasc, MSD, and Munster Bovine, it concentrated on optimizing the cow now to yield a healthy and robust calf next spring and evaluated dairy breeding strategies to enhance the utilization of high genetic merit beef bulls. This webinar marked the first of two, with the second planned for January 16, 2025, at 8 pm. Register for the Webinar on Sourcing and finishing high-quality dairy beef animals here.

View the Preparing your calves for sale in 2025 webinar below:

Events and open days

DairyBeef 500 open days

The farmers participating in the DairyBeef 500 Campaign constitute a vital component of the initiative, enabling other farmers to observe how the latest innovations are functioning on commercially-operated demonstration farms. To promote this knowledge exchange, several prominent open days were organized by enrolled farmers throughout the year. Open days occurred on: Peter Byrne’s farm in Castledermot, Co. Kildare; James O’Sullivan’s place in Union Hall, Co. Cork; Gareth Peoples’ farm in Tullyannan, Glebe, Co. Donegal; and Aidan Maguire’s operation in Antylstown, Co. Meath.

For more details regarding their farming approaches, proceedings from the DairyBeef 500 Open Days can be viewed here.

BEEF2024

A collaborative effort from Teagasc researchers, specialists, advisors, and the DairyBeef 500 team also resulted in a dedicated Dairy Beef village at Teagasc’s premier national beef open day, BEEF2024 in Teagasc, Grange. Some notable highlights included: Teagasc research systems; genetic tools for enhancing calf quality; calf rearing and health; earlier finishing age for dairy-beef cattle; and the Tipperary Dairy Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm.

Discover more about the Dairy Beef Village at Beef 2024 here.

Also presented at the BEEF2024 Open Day was the presentation of 12 dairy beef factsheets by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.

These factsheets are derived from actual farm data and analyses from dairy beef research units at Teagasc Johnstown and Teagasc Grange. They also incorporate information and farmer experiences from Teagasc DairyBeef 500 demonstration farms.

The 12 Dairy Beef factsheets are accessible for reading here.

Dairy Calf to Beef International Conference

Another significant event was the Dairy Calf to Beef International Conference, which occurred in October and was organized by Teagasc, with the assistance of the British Society of Animal Science (BSAS) and ABP. The technical conference emphasized the production of beef from the dairy herd, offering the latest insights and innovative practices to foster sustainability within the sector and support the future sustainability of the dairy and beef industries.

Discover more about the Dairy Calf to Beef International Conference here.

Tipperary Dairy Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm Open Day

Established to showcase best practices in breeding, rearing, and finishing dairy-beef animals, the open day explored integration, carcass qualities, genetics, calf rearing, and grassland management.

Read the proceedings from the Tipperary Dairy Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm Open Day here.

In tomorrow’s article on Teagasc Daily, Catherine Egan will reflect on significant events organized by the Future Beef team throughout 2025.