The Irish Grassland Association will host their annual summer beef event on Tim Meagher’s farm located just outside Roscrea, Co Tipperary on Tuesday 10 June at 6pm.

Tim was running a 90 cow suckler herd along with a flock of 200 ewes, but just over 10 years ago he moved to a store to beef enterprise. His focus was on getting as much grass into the diet as possible.

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, with all cattle slaughtered under 30 months-of-age.

Carcase weights are generally over 400kg. Looking at the stock on the farm, Tim has an eye for quality and sources most of his cattle from marts in the west of Ireland.

Current headcount

There are currently 252 head of cattle on the farm – 160 bullocks and 92 heifers. During the grazing season, the cattle are run in batches of roughly 40-50 head in a paddock system. There are approximately 43 paddocks on the farm, with strip wires used to manage paddocks correctly.

In the springtime, all cattle are grouped according to age to ensure easy management during the summer period.

In recent years, Tim has tried to reduce his dependence on purchased concentrates. Twenty-four hectares of spring barley is sown on the farm each year, with this grain fed to the finishing cattle at grass along with soya hulls and minerals. The straw is used to bed cattle over the winter months.

Tim places a huge focus on preserving top-quality silage as a winter feed. The target is to hit 75% DMD silage each year, however, due to weather conditions in 2024, silage quality ranged from 68% to 73% DMD on the three cuts harvested.

Tim first introduced clover to the farm in the early 2000s, 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 kilogrammes of beef sold off the farm. A slurry aeration system is also present on the farm.

The IGA beef event will take place on Tim Meagher’s farm outside Roscrea, Co Tipperary (Eircode E53 V054) on 10 June. Irish beef burgers will be served at 6pm, with the event kicking off at 6:30pm sharp and will conclude at 8:30pm.