Half of young bulls killed in North aged over 16 months

Cow vaccination, milky suckler cows, separate grazing, no maintenance-only diet at any time, high quality concentrates and excellent quality silage — these are the demanding requirements if you want to produce under-16-month bull beef, according to Northern Ireland advice.

You have to achieve average daily gain from birth of 1.33kg/day — but Dr Norman Weatherup of the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) says this is not a very demanding target for healthy suckler bulls, to produce a finished carcase of 360 kg by 450 days of age (15 months).

The young bull kill in Northern Ireland increased 20% in 2013.