Breeding variety and a compact calving season – one suckler farmer’s route to beef profits

Niall O’Meara is achieving impressive results with the beef breeding programme on his farm in Galway

Farming wasn’t his choice of career when he left school, but late starter Niall O’Meara is thriving in the beef game.

“I never studied agriculture in college because I didn’t think I’d end up in farming”, says Niall, who won the FBD Euro-Star €200 competition two years ago.

“I worked on building sites in Dublin, then as publican then as a haulage control technician before settling as a farmer when my uncle gave me land.”

Despite coming to farming slightly later than most, Niall is glad he returned to the land he operates a one-man suckler beef farm in east Galway, with some help from his son Jack and daughter Kate.

“I got around a bit and got a lot of life experiences but I’m glad I went farming, it’s a good lifestyle and offers great flexibility, which was very helpful when the kids were growing up.”

Breed variety

Based in Killimor, he farms 60 acres and has a herd of 35 suckler cows, which is made up of a variety of breeds, Charolais, Angus, Simmentals, Limousins and Saler. The mix reflects the emphasis he places on breeding.

“We start breeding on November 7 every year. The bulls we use are all maternal; there are no terminal bulls used,” he says.

“It’s all about getting replacement heifers and R-grade bulls for the male progeny.

“Once the calves are in the shed in November, they are creep-grazed for the winter. Cows and calves go out of the shed in spring and the calves are weaned at the end of March or the start of April. The bulls are sold at a year old at approximately 500kg, a weight we’ve achieved in four out of the last six years.

“The breeding weight of the females is 475kg at 14½ months of age.

“Any female that doesn’t go in-calf is sold the following spring, between 18 and 22 months.”

Niall’s calving season will run for approximately 10 weeks from the end of August to mid-October, something he has worked hard over the last few years to reduce.

“I was 100pc AI for several years, but I bought a Simmental stock bull,” he says. “I did this so I could use him to reduce the calving spread, which was at 16 weeks. I’ve reduced this down now so I can go back to using 100pc AI now.”

When it comes to heat detection, Niall uses a vasectomised bull with a chain ball as well as tail paint.