A huge crowd of over 400 farmers attended this year’s Irish Grassland Association (IGA) beef farm walk on Tim Meagher’s farm just outside Roscrea, Co Tipperary.

Tim is a full-time beef and tillage farmer, farming 112ha of land made up of 87ha of grassland and 25ha of tillage.

The quality of cattle on the farm was some of the best I have ever seen and Tim’s system is a massive vote of confidence in the suckler cow in the west of Ireland producing top-quality weanlings.

It wasn’t only the cattle though - everything about Tim’s system is completed at a top level.

The farm is generating a gross margin of €1,650/ha before any support payments are added in.

The plan is simple - get as much gain from grass as possible for the length of time the cattle are on the farm - and the plan is working.

Tim is currently producing 89% of the liveweight gain on his farm from grass or clover swards and silage, with a lot of the remaining 10% coming from home-produced barley.

Heifers and bullocks are bought in September and October each year, weighing in the 500kg to 520kg bracket, in marts all across the west of Ireland such as Balla, Roscommon and Elphin.

These are then finished the following year from July to October, as they come fit for slaughter, with all cattle slaughtered under 30 months of age.

Carcase weights are generally over 400kg, with last year's bullocks averaging 481kg and grading a U=3=, with the heifers coming in at a carcase weight of 434kg and grading a U=3=.

This year’s bullocks are currently averaging 705kg and gaining 1.34kg/day since turnout in March. The heaviest bunch of bullocks on the farm is currently being supplemented with meal and will begin being drafted for slaughter inside the next three weeks.

Looking at the stock on the farm, Tim has an eye for quality and sources most of his cattle form marts in the west of Ireland.

Currently, there is 252 head of cattle on the farm - 160 bullocks and 92 heifers.

During the grazing season, the cattle are run in batches of roughly 40 to 50 head in a paddock system. There are approximately 43 paddocks on the farm, with strip wires used to subdivide paddocks up to four more times.

Tim has been working with clover swards for over 20 years and is now dipping his toe into red clover.

Tim has a simple way of oversowing, where he pops in 2kg of clover seed in a jug when filling the fertiliser spreader with 0:7:30. He does this on a continuous basis around the farm to keep re-energising his clover swards.

Speaking at the event, Dawn Meats' Paul Nolan was cautiously optimistic about the rest of the year in relation to beef price.

“We’ve seen some figures from the UK this week showing consumption is down and that’s likely on the back of prices going up in supermarkets. That said, on a global basis, beef supplies are down and that should help the price going forward.”

For more on Tim’s system and the IGA beef walk, pick up a copy of next week’s Irish Farmers Journal, in shops Thursday.