Brendan Murray is farming with his wife and children in Crookstown Co. Cork while also working off farm. Up until 2010, the farm was mainly a tillage enterprise before making the transition fully into sucklers. He is calving approximately 30 sucklers in a spring calving system. All the bull progeny are finished under 16 months of age. On average this year, they graded U- 3 = with a carcass weight of 383kg at 16 months. The heifers are either finished out of the shed between 17 and 18 months of age or retained as replacements within the herd. Some heifers are sold for breeding depending on their Euro Star figures. The herd is an active participant in SCEP, NGP and Gene Ireland.
The suckler herd is made up of a mix of mostly pedigree Saler and SAX cows. The average Replacement Index of the cows in the herd is an extremely impressive €159 which compares to the national average of €100. Brendan has paid particular attention to the sub indexes within his cows such as carcass weight and daughter milk. This has helped to maximise the performance of the progeny from his cows and gives him a more balanced type of cow. Cows are 100% AI bred. Brendan is really in a league of his own when it comes to breeding management with all cows calved this year in a 6 week period.
Charolais, Limousin and more recently Belgian Blue are used on the cows with replacements being bred using Salers. All sires selected rank highly on the Replacement and Terminal Indexes and have a good balance of sub traits. The average Replacement Index of the bulls used in 2024 is €162 while on the Terminal Index is €134. Brendan has been using Gene Ireland bulls since 2017. He is happy with the performance of the calves and to date they have been born with no additional difficulty.
Brendan’s stand out cow in the herd is testament to this success. Cow 257 (tag 372225689620257) is a SAX. She is sired by Gene Ireland graduate sire Spiddal Pat (SA4461). This well balanced cow was born in January 2021 and first calved at 24 months. She has a Replacement Index of €159 with a carcass weight figure of 25.1kg and a Milk figure of 6.6kg. To date, her calves, all of which are heifers, have all been sired by Gene Ireland graduate sires. Her first calf was sired by Highfield Odran (SA2153) and is now a first calved cow in the herd. Her second calf was sired by Ewdenvale Ivor (LM2014) and is being bred this year as a replacement heifer. And this years calf is sired by Novateur Des Princes De Ligne (BB8941). This heifer is Brendans heaviest calf for 2025 based on the weighing he carried out recently for SCEP. On average, the heifers have had an ADG at weaning of 1.27kg.
“Any farmers that are putting the time into their herds genetics are reaping the rewards. You need to examine the sub-indexes of both your cow and bull as well as looking at their overall Replacement and Terminal figures to see results on the ground “ – Brendan Murray
