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Abstract
With the abolition of EU milk quotas in 2015, the Irish dairy sector is positioning itself for substantial
expansion which will result in an increase in calves from the dairy herd available for beef production. A
wide range of beef cattle production systems are possible for these extra calves reflecting differences in
breed, gender and finishing age. The Grange Dairy Beef Systems Model was used to simulate beef
production from male and female calves born to Holstein-Friesian dairy cows bred to late maturing, early
maturing and Holstein-Friesian sires and finished at different ages. The most profitable system was
finishing steers at 28 months of age with the least profitable system being finishing male animals as bulls at
16 months of age. All systems were sensitive to beef, calf and concentrate price variations. The main
implications from this study are that, irrespective of the system, maximising the proportion of grazed grass
in the diet and the percentage of live weight gain from grass while also maintaining a high carcass output
per hectare are the main drivers of profitability. Other issues such as land and labour charges, bonus
schemes and variations in beef, calf and concentrate prices are important and can differ considerably
depending on farm circumstances. Therefore, these issues need to be considered when deciding between
different dairy calf-to-beef systems.