The net margins from a range of different beef production systems have been outlined at the Teagasc open day BEEF2024 which is taking place at Teagasc, Grange, Co. Meath today, Wednesday, June 26.
The theme of the event this year is ‘securing your future in beef farming’ and the first of the two main stands on the day focus on this.
Teagasc’s Paul Crosson, Pearse Kelly, Aidan Murray and Mark McCabe are in attendance at the two main stands which outline current trends in Irish beef production systems.
The table below outlines the financial targets for high-performance beef production systems:
The table uses the assumptions of beef price at €5.00/kg, protected urea fertiliser at €550/t and a concentrate price of €350/t.
The information provided to those in attendance noted that the source of beef cattle has changed substantially in the past decade with a sharp increase in dairy beef coinciding with a reduction in suckler cows.
While the composition of the national beef kill has changed significantly, the key principles underpinning profitable farm systems “are largely the same” for suckler and dairy-beef systems, according to Teagasc.
Interestingly, it was also highlighted that there is a greater desire for improved labour efficiency among beef farmers and to improve their work-life balance.
Many beef farmers are working off-farm with either full-time jobs or part-time jobs and so farm work is left until evenings or weekends.
A Teagasc survey noted that over 30% of part-time beef farmers are working 40 hours/week or greater off farm.
BEEF2024
The event features four Technical Villages. The first is focused on Grassland and Forage and features live displays. Attendees then have the option to visit either the Suckler beef or Dairy calf to beef village or both, depending on their interest.
After this, farmers can visit the Advisory, Education and Opportunities Village to get more information about specific areas of interest.
There are a number of panel discussions covering key topics across a range of beef cattle production systems. These are taking place in the forum centre and are staged throughout the day.
Keynote speakers include:
- Pat McDonagh, managing director of Supermacs;
- Ciaran Fitzgerald, economist;
- The DairyBeef 500 forum takes place at 12:30p.m and the Future Beef forum will take place at 1:30p.m.
The concluding forum of the day is titled: ‘Securing your future in beef farming’ and will take place at 2:30p.m.
In this forum, the main opportunities and challenges facing the sector and beef-farm families will be discussed, in particular, farm succession and inheritance.