Advantage Beef Programme
Watch: Update from UCD/ABP trial grazing dairy-beef cattle
Agriland recently paid a visit to the University College Dublin (UCD) dairy calf education and research facility located at UCD Lyons Farm, Co. Kildare, where professor of Ruminant Nutrition, Tommy Boland gave an update on the UCD Long-Term Grazing Platform Study.
The project in collaboration between ABP and BiOrbic, which has recently been completed, looked at ways to improve the profitability and the sustainability of dairy-calf-to-beef production systems.
The initiative looked at a range of different sward types and the performance of the cattle grazed on these.
Boland explained that the three sward types are:
- A ryegrass monoculture;
- A ryegrass/white clover sward;
- A six-species, multi-species sward.
He said: "We change the fertilisation rates on those swards depending on how much legume is present in the sward and that study has been running since 2019."
What trends have the research found?
The UCD professor explained that the trial, in association with ABP, has shown that the animals grazing the multi-species sward have finished five to six weeks earlier than the animals on the perennial ryegrass sward.
The trial involves bringing the three test groups of cattle to the same level of finish and to the same carcass-weight, which is approximately 315kg.
As well as finishing earlier, the the multi-species swards are receiving approximately 90kg of nitrogen (N)/ha/year, compared to the ryegrass monoculture, which is receiving 205kg/N/ha/year.
"We're growing about 25% more herbage on that multi-species sward compared to our ryegrass monoculture.
"When we look at things like the economic benefits and the carbon footprint of that beef, we're seeing positive impacts in terms of a higher rate of profitability on the multi-species sward, and a 15% reduction in the carbon footprint of the beef we're producing."
The professor explained the composition of the multi-species sward.
He said the sward contains two grasses; two herbs, which are chicory and plantain; and two legumes, which are red clover and white clover.
"What we've recorded in that multi-species sward is that the chicory and the plantain, they're lasting between two-three years in the sward," Prof. Boland said.
Sward rejuvination
Commenting on the role of the chicory and the plantain, Prof. Boland said: "We see those plants as being important."
To ensure these remain present in the sward, they are stitched in.
He said: "50% of each sward type is harvested for silage each year.
"And after that silage harvest, when we need to reintroduce the chicory or the plantain, we do a stitch-in introduction of seed after that."
The role of the UCD calf research facility
The UCD professor said that the calf research facility "is really a very important piece of the research and the practice puzzle here at UCD Lyons Farm.
"It allows us to integrate our dairy herd with the long-term grazing platform.
Prof. Boland said they are selecting genetics they want to breed to their dairy cows.
"Once we've looked after the dairy replacements question, we're looking at early and late-maturing [beef sire] genetics," he added.
"So we're going to turn those calves out now onto the platform in June of this year, and we'll track their performance right through to see how their early-life rearing is impacting on the performance at pasture and also the impact of those early versus late maturing-type genetics on the profitability on the environmental sustainability of our dairy-calf-to-beef systems."