Beef Open Day on Award Winning Delaney Farm

A major beef open day will take place on the farm of the Bord Bia Beef Producer of the Year 2006 in Portlaoise on Tuesday next, 1 May. Award winning beef producers Jim, Frances and Liam Delaney, will open their farm at Derrygarron, Portlaoise, County Laois for all drystock farmers to visit and see first hand the enterprise systems that have made this family farm so successful.

Running an 80 cow suckler beef herd, the Delaneys finish all the progeny off the farm. All of the bulls and heifers are finished at a young age increasing the efficiency of production and the quality of the beef produced. Over 70% of the concentrate feed used on the farm is home grown, which gives the Delaneys greater control over the quality of the feed used and the performance of the animals on the farm. The use of whole crop barley, kale and rape on the farm during the winter period has provided low cost alternative winter feeds to grass silage.

Good financial control through the use of the Teagasc eProfit Monitor has lifted margins on the farm. Gross margin per hectare has increased by over €1,000 in a four year period, reaching €1,473 per hectare in 2005. The net margin has increased to €694 per hectare. These improvements have been achieved through higher output per animal and higher output per hectare.

The Delaneys are active members of the Teagasc Laois Beef Discussion Group and were involved in the Dawn Meats/Teagasc beef partnership. The beef producer of the year awards are sponsored by Teagasc, Bord Bia, and the Farmers Journal.