A series of on-farm calf rearing events focused on offering farmers practical management advice and tips is set to take place next week, from Monday, June 23 to Thursday, June 26.

The events will take place on farms in counties Donegal, Carlow, Tipperary, and Westmeath.

While most spring-2025-born calves will have been weaned off milk by now, farmers who have experience calf rearing will know that maintaining a good average daily live weight gain is essential from now until housing if calves are to reach their target growth rates into next year.

These events will take place at the following farms:

Monday, June 23: Gareth Peoples, Tullyannon, Carrigans, Co. Donegal (F93 HK20);
Tuesday, June 24: Tipperary Calf to Beef Demonstration Farm, Fethard, Co. Tipperary (E91 E0X3);
Wednesday, June 25: ABP Demo Farm, Clonegal, Co. Carlow (Y21 R884);
Thursday, June 26: Irvine Allen, Williamstown, Co. Westmeath (N37 T327).

The events are all scheduled to commence at 7:00p.m and will be followed by refreshments on the night.

The on-farm events aim to provide an opportunity for farmers to share advice and tips on maintaining good calf performance and there will be technical experts on-hand to focus on topics including:

How to maintain recommended average daily gain to achieve optimal performance;
Mid-season grass management and achieving good silage quality;
What farmers need to know about parasite control at grass and in advance of housing;
The key health tasks to avoid a growth check in your cattle.

The events taking place are titled the 'CalfCare 25 Summer Events Programme', and this is being run with the help and support of the co-ops and meat processors in each region.

CalfCare is a collaborative roadshow by Animal Health Ireland (AHI) and Teagasc’s DairyBeef 500 campaign.

CalfCare aims to promote best practice in calf care and the potential of beef production from the dairy herd.

With the support of Volac Milk Replacers Ireland Ltd’s Feed For Growth initiative, the summer event series will provide farmers with expert knowledge on calf rearing and the maintenance of mid-season animal health.

The AHI CalfCare programme manager Michelle McGrath explained why the summer calf rearing events have been initiated.

She said: “These new events represent a natural addition to the highly successful January events we’ve been holding around the country over recent years.

Commenting on the introduction of the Summer Events schedule, Teagasc’s DairyBeef 500 Programme Co-ordinator, Alan Dillon, said: “These events will be a new venture for AHI and Teagasc in highlighting the importance of mid-season management for calves.

"The first 12 months of life is where ground is often lost in calf-to-beef systems and these events will help address some of the issues facing farmers.”

Teagasc dairy specialist, Stuart Childs, added: “The milk feeding phase of calf rearing is only setting the foundations for future growth and while extremely important, the subsequent management of stock is vital to achieving appropriate levels of daily gain required to achieve the weight targets for the different systems.

Una Hickey, national sales manager of Volac Milk Replacers Ireland Ltd, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting the Summer Event series through our Feed for Growth initiative which provides practical advice, support, resources and tools to help farmers grow better cows and dairy-beef animals".