Reducing Slaughter Age in cattle for more Sustainable Irish Angus Beef
Embedded Files
Our names are Jack Leamy, Michael Barry and Matthew Ryan and we are competing in the Certified Irish Angus schools competition, we are highly interested in sustainability and as such our project title is “looking at ways to lower the age of slaughter in angus cattle to improve environmental sustainability”.
About Certified Irish Angus
The certified Irish Angus Beef producer group is Ireland’s largest producer group and have been promoting excellence in Angus beef production for a quarter of a century.
The success of the Certified Irish Angus brand has relied on the commitment and passion of it’s 10,000 members, the expertise of their processing partners, ABP and Kepak and the commitment of their retail partner, Tesco Ireland and all who share their passion for excellence.
They have two unique schools competitions aim to educate second level students about the care and attention required to produce Certified Irish Angus Beef while also inspiring students to consider the Irish agri-food industry as a valuable career choice.
The Certified Irish Angus Producer provide bonuses of 30c/kg in the spring/summer and has an Elite Breed improvement programme which gives members benefits for using bulls such as Drumcrow Tribesman and Fellfort v Roger
Why Reduce the age of slaughter
When cows live ,they emit harmful greenhouse gasses, example methane which can lead to climate change. If we can kill cattle earlier while still making the same economic outcomes we can reduce this problem.
Earlier finishing of beef cattle not only has the potential to decrease the quantity of GHG emissions (predominantly methane – CH4) an animal emits over their lifetime, but can be economically advantageous by lowering total costs associated with rearing an animal, and thus is a key contributor to on-farm profitability.
In 2023, agriculture was responsible for about 37.8 % of Ireland’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making it the single largest emitting sector in the country
In Irish agriculture, methane makes up around 70 % or more of farm emissions.
Currently the average age of slaughter in Irish steers is 26 months of age. The target is reduce this down to 22-23 months by 2030. It is estimated that for every one-month reduction in the national average age of slaughter the reduction is equivalent to the emissions from approximately 100,000 cows.
Currently the age of slaughter is increasing as can be seen in the graph below :
Benefits of finishing cattle younger
When cows live, they emit harmful greenhouse gasses, example methane which can lead to climate change.
If we can kill cattle earlier while still making the same economic outcomes we can reduce this problem.
Earlier finishing of beef cattle not only has the potential to decrease the quantity of GHG emissions (predominantly methane – CH4) an animal emits over their lifetime, but can be economically advantageous by lowering total costs associated with rearing an animal, and this is a key contributor to on-farm profitability.
In 2023, agriculture was responsible for about 37.8 % of Ireland’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making it the single largest emitting sector in the country
In Irish agriculture, methane makes up around 70 % or more of farm emissions.
Currently the average age of slaughter in Irish steers is 26 months of age. The target is to reduce this down to 22-23 months by 2030. It is estimated that for every one-month reduction in the national average age of slaughter the reduction is equivalent to the emissions from approximately 100,000 cows.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse