The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) and the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) are holding a Beef Conference on Wednesday June 10 at CAFRE Greenmount Campus in Antrim.

The event, titled ‘Driving productivity, delivering sustainability’, will examine ways to achieve economically and environmentally sustainable beef systems. It runs from 9:30am to 5pm, with a technical session of industry speakers in the morning and a farm visit after lunch. Evening farm tours will also be available from 6pm to 7pm.

Martin Kirk, CAFRE Beef and Sheep Technologist, will outline key management decisions for optimising suckler cow productivity. He highlights three main areas: fertility and breeding management, replacement heifer management, and animal health management.

On fertility, the CAFRE lowland suckler herd consists of 100 spring-calving Stabiliser-bred cows. The aim is to breed moderate-sized, efficient cows that produce replacement females with improved genetics, good fertility, and high health status. Cows are grouped into breeding batches of about 30, using Stabiliser bulls or artificial insemination with terminal sires, while replacement heifers are bred via AI with easy-calving sires selected for maternal traits. Breeding starts in mid-May and lasts ten weeks, yielding a compact calving period and a current calving interval of 371 days.

Cow efficiency is measured by the calf’s weaning weight as a percentage of the cow’s mature body weight. The target is 40-45 percent. The CAFRE herd averages 41 percent, based on a mature cow weight of 680kg and a 200-day calf weight of 278kg. Additionally, mothering ability, temperament, udder quality, and milk yield are recorded at calving and throughout the year to inform future breeding selections.

For replacement heifers, home breeding relies on rigorous record-keeping to select animals based on genetic merit, including maternal calving ease and their dam’s cow efficiency. Recent genotyping will enhance genomic evaluations. The goal is a first calving at 24 months, requiring a daily liveweight gain of 0.8kg. Heifers are bred via fixed-time AI, with those not selected moving to beef groups. The herd currently calves heifers at an average of 24.1 months.

Animal health is managed through a vet-derived annual plan that guides vaccinations, antibiotic use, and parasite control. Standard Operating Procedures govern antibiotic decisions, and faecal testing precedes anthelmintic treatments to reduce unnecessary use.

The conference aims to help farmers adopt these practices to improve both profitability and sustainability.