BCCS September Newsletter 2022

Northern Ireland
Charolais To The Fore On
Derrynoose Farm
Among the major decisions for a suckler farm is the
purchase of a new stock bull. With this comes a
huge range of factors that must be considered. These
include the farming system, breeding females in the
herd and the end product for the marketplace. The
Charolais breed is the first choice for top breeders,
given their prolific growth rate, exceptional carcass
quality and returns that top the marketplace week on
week.
The winners of the 2021 NI Charolais Suckler Herd
Competition were Co Armagh farmers Gerard and
Pearse McGinnity from Derrynoose. Gerard and
Pearse run 50 Limousin cross Charolais cows which
Gerard and Pearse McGinnity pictured with Peter Mackle from Natural
are calved indoors operating a straw bedded calf
Nutrition, the sponsor for the NI Charolais Club Spring Spectacular Show
creep area. Cows are calved from November to the
and Sale in March, looking at this year’s calves.
end of March. Replacement heifers are bought in
and calved at 3 years old. Cows and calves are grazed
on a paddock grazing platform which ensures a fresh
supply of grass is always ahead of the cows. Calves are creep
fed no more than 2kg/day- ‘little and often’ up until they are
sold.
A major emphasis is put on producing quality weanling calves,
this is done through carefully selected cows combined with
the use of a top Charolais bull to achieve optimum output.
The farm business aims to have top quality weanling calves
ready for Autumn suckler sales. Pearse regularly weighs
the calves to ensure bull calves are coming to the market at
370kg and heifer calves 400kg. McGinnity’s quality calves are
sold through Markethill Livestock Mart where they achieve
excellent prices for their stock- 22 bull calves were sold last
year averaging £1090.
Calves currently on the ground are bred out of Montgomery
Lonto and his dam is by Dingle Hofmeister. The McGinnity’s
purchased their bull at a NI Charolais club sale held in
Dungannon in 2017. Pearse commented on the quality of
the calves, how they are born with little issue and when they
hit the ground they continue to grow and thrive all the way
through to weaning. The NI Charolais Club would once again
like to congratulate Gerard and Pearse McGinnity on their
success in the suckler herd competition and for allowing us to
visit and showcase their farm. We visited the McGinnity’s farm
along with Peter Mackle from Natural Nutrition, the sponsor
for our Spring Spectacular sale in March. Peter commented on
the quality of calves on display and how ‘any farmer would be
happy with calves like that on the ground’.
The NI Charolais Club is holding its Spring Spectacular show
and sale on Friday 4 th March at Clogher Livestock Market. The
show has been generously sponsored by Natural Nutrition.
The show will begin at 4pm followed by the sale commencing
at 7pm. A quality entry of 55 bulls and 5 females will be on
display. Online bidding will be available through MartBids,
please ensure you register to bid with Clogher Mart prior to
the sale by contacting the office. Catalogues are available on
the British Charolais website www.charolais.co.uk.
A selection of Charolais calves born on the farm this year.
Quality Charolais calves which will be sold as weanlings at the
Autumn Suckler sales.
Gerard and
Pearse
McGinnity
with a
selection of
this years
Charolais
calves
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- No bull works harder for the farmer, the plate and the planet -
September newsletter 22.indd 88 16/09/2022 15:01:35