Spring 2020..... 1.5m Dairy calves.... discuss.

No its not cheaper to let someone else but them. Online beats it every time. Mind you I buy Friesian with whatever else I come across. But even before online I always knew the game. No point in going one day and thinking you could buy what you liked

Sums up the issues perfectly, abp reckoning it's the beef sires that might be the issue re 100kg deadweight difference between best and worst are as deluded as a certain young Rockstar dairy farmer

Unlikely they will do that though....unless they are put to the pin of their collars, too much inertia.

Here's hoping!

Matt Dempsey ( former editor of journal ) was writing a while ago about the difference between best and worst performing dairy beef animals ( 300 - 400 euro profit difference) He wants marts to display figures of beef genetic potential with calves. The problem with that is the price of "good" calves will go up and "bad " down, leaving you no better off. I still think if every dairy farmer produces good beef animals beef price in factory has to drop ( supply and demand ) hitting the suckler farmer

If the rumour is correct and that there will be a suckler cow reduction payment you will see numbers reduce. The lad breeding the middle of the road or poorer calf will be tempted by any sort of decent destocking payment. Many of these lads have been buying a few calves and bringing them to stores over the last few years.

The figures are not as bad as you would think. The average animal killed269kgs was probably a tad with an O+ and probably came into 1310-1335 euro before stoppages at a base of 4.7/kg

If they had taken out the lighter heifers before feeding and had left them until next spring you probably would have heifers hanging 290kg and coming into 1420-1450 euro.

Where I have issues with it is is it feasible to house heifers in August/September and use straw as a lie back. With hot weather would a paddock be as feasible. Will the average farmer have silage to consider this option. We're the cattle fed much ration during there first summer and winter.

If you add a 100 euro sub 24 month slaughter premia the figures are impressive.

Sucklers numbers are naturally declining. Similar to @Siamsa Sessions I was listening to that beef edge podcast the other day, while moving stock ( have to cut the lawn in a few mins). The chap was rearing 120 calves was saying the he knows what time it will take with calf rearing from when he rocks into the yard til he leaves. Sucklers you don't have that comfort. More part time work, eroding margins on low output and the age profile is the key reasons for the sucklers decline. Here my herd is reducing. Won't go completely, due to pride in breeding and rearing good stock. Nothing beats the feeling you get seeing a calf get to his legs and take his first suck. You nearly pause for a few mins, and as buff Egan would say "soak it in man"

Looks like suddenly Goodman is absolved of all blame from the beef lads and now it's the big greedy dairy farmer. Sure god love us. I wonder who's next to get the blame.

Smaller carcass also means more 5th quarter for Larry and there is a train of thought that this is very profitable for meat factories..

He’s a waffler, says a lot about teagasc as a organization when he's able to get the top job, nice man but not the sharpest and absolving themselves of all responsibility is a pure cop-out

Exactly …..statement some cop out ……..dairy cows the way Tegasc recommend us to breed them are too small …500 kg and under ..very hard get any sort of decent beef ainmal who will kill out well from that

Jaysus boys...you get all hot and bothered, and you all doing the right thing..

Don't worry one whittle about the lads with the difficulty....poor lads and lassies having been led astray by the inept advisory😴

Thing is, they are the early movers, the quick adapters...they'll be gone out the gap before trouble arrives in.

As an aside, I don't have a issue with the slaughter of non commercial dairy cross (JE/JEx/Kiwi) bull calves as long as it's done under the control of DAFM in an approved facility but I appreciate and understand that the majority of people don't feel the same. I do have an major issue when

• calves are unsold and left overnight in marts across the country because their owners refuse to collect them.
• calves are given away in their droves and unfortunately we've read in the newspapers about instances with high death rates on farms who've taken in these calves.

I'm not advocating the slaughter of these calves but I reckon that is the best outcome for them until the JE/JEx/Kiwi cows are removed from the national herd iykwim.