THE first group of farmers graduated last week from the Teagasc Dairy Calf to Beef course run as part of the Teagasc Dairy Beef 500 programme which began last October – and Teagasc says places on the next course are now available.
The main purpose of the courses was to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and competence to effectively plan, establish, and operate a successful dairy calf to beef enterprise.
The five-day course was run by members of the Teagasc DairyBeef 500 team. Students got the opportunity to visit DairyBeef 500 demonstration farms in their region, along with visiting the Dairy calf to beef unit in the Teagasc Animal & Grassland, Research and Innovation Centre in Grange County Meath. The participants also visited the newly established Ballyvadin demonstration farm in Tipperary – which is a venture run by Carbery in association with Dawn Meats, and is leading the way in dairy to beef.
They also visited the Dawn Meats factory in Grannagh, County Waterford.
As well as visiting farms, the course covered different topics over the five days including choosing the right calf-to-beef system for each individual’s farm, calf rearing, required infrastructure, grassland management, winter nutrition and assessing finished animals.
The last days of the courses were held in late August with 37 students having the course in the South-West and a similar course for the South-East region.
There will be more regional calf to beef courses starting again shortly and Teagasc advises anyone interested register using the following link https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/beef/dairy-calf-to-beef/dairy-calf-to-beef-course/ or contact Fergal Maguire on 085 1585993 for more info.
