Tim Meagher previews the Irish Grassland Beef Event on his farm

The Beef Edge

Tim Meagher from Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, who will host this year’s Irish grassland Association Beef Event, is on this week’s Beef Edge podcast to discuss his farm system, while Paddy Casey from the Irish Grassland Association highlights what to expect at the event.

It will take place on Tuesday June 10th, with the event kicking off at 6:30 pm sharp and will conclude at 8:30 pm.

Tim operates a store-to-beef system on 88 ha of grassland and 24 ha of tillage. When he took over the reins, he pushed suckler cow numbers to 90 – they were predominately Limousin which were crossed with a quality Charolais stock bull; heifers at the time were ran with an Angus bull. Separately, weanlings were also purchased from the west of Ireland. At the time, the farm was also home to roughly 200 ewes.

However, over a decade ago, Tim moved to simplify the operation and focused on moving to a traditional store-to-beef enterprise, prioritising on incorporating as much grass into the diet as possible.

Looking at the stock present on the farm, it’s evident that Tim - who does all the purchasing from marts in the west of Ireland - has a keen eye for quality. Heifers and bullocks are bought in September and October each year weighing in the 500 – 520 kg bracket. These are then finished the following year from July to October as they come fit for slaughter; all cattle are slaughtered under 30 months-of-age.

Currently, there is 252 head of cattle on the farm - 160 bullocks and 92 heifers. During the grazing season, the cattle are run in large batches of roughly 40-50 head in a paddock system; there are roughly 43 paddocks on the farm. Strip wires are also used to achieve desired clean outs and to manage paddocks correctly.

In the springtime, all cattle are grouped according to age (January, February, March and April-born calves) to ensure easy management during the summer period.

Tim places a huge focus on preserving top-quality silage as a winter feed. If he can hit 75% plus DMD silage, he can cut out the need for meal over the winter. However, due to weather conditions in 2024, silage quality ranged from 68% to 73% DMD on the three cuts harvested last year.

As part of the operation, Tim places a big focus on animal health to ensure all animals reach peak performance during their stay on the farm. Vaccination and dosing are carried out when required, and Tim has invested in state-of-the-art handling facilities to manage animals efficiently and safely.

Tim first introduced clover onto the farm in 1998 and now both red and white clover play a pivotal role in silage production and on the grazing platform. Since incorporating clover into the system, he has reduced the reliance on chemical nitrogen (N), while not negatively impacting the kilograms of beef sold off the farm.

A slurry aeration system is also present on the farm. Tim places a huge emphasis on health and safety and outlined his handling facility and technologies he uses to be safe and labour efficient

Paddy Casey said that the Irish Grassland Association National Beef Event is an event not to be missed. Following such a fantastic event on Martin Shaughnessy’s farm in Mayo last year, Paddy says really it’s a very social evening for all beef farmers.

Everyone is invited to the free event kindly sponsored by FBD Insurance and the move this year from a suckling farm to a finishing farm will showcase the top quality stock that Tim is purchasing in the west and finishing efficiently with grass key to his system.

Further details available at:

https://www.irishgrassland.ie/event-detail/beef-event-2025/

For more episodes from the Beef Edge podcast, visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/thebeefedge

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