The Irish Cattle Breeding Federations’ (ICBF’s) Dairy Beef Index (DBI) breed percentiles for January 2023 has shown Aubrac bulls to be the top-performing beef breed across all percentiles.
The DBI is a tool to assist dairy farmers to make informed choices when selecting beef bulls to use on their cows.
It assists Irish dairy farmers in producing beef cattle from the dairy herd that are more saleable as calves and profitable at slaughter.
The news comes as spring-calving is well underway and dairy herds are now gearing up for the breeding season.
The DBI is also designed to select beef sires and breeds that have minimal consequences for dairy farmers on calving difficulty or the gestation length of the dairy cow.
The table below shows the ICBF’s DBI breed percentiles for January 2023:
According to the table (above) Aubrac has taken the top position across all four percentile categories in the ICBF index.
Interestingly, the percentiles show that the breed has exceeded other breeds by a significant margin in monetary terms.
The ICBF’s DBI tracks several key traits that are important in dairy-beef breeding.
These include:
- Ease of calving;
- Gestation;
- Calf mortality;
- Carcass conformation and fat score.
Chairman of the Irish Aubrac Cattle Breed Society, James Donnelan said: “At this time of year, dairy farmers are making critical breeding decisions, for both replacements and for beef-cross sires.
“As far as possible, it is best to take decisions supported by solid data. The latest ICBF DBI is confirming Aubrac as the top-performing beef choice for dairy farmers.
Donnelan, who farms organic Aubrac cattle in Co. Galway said: “Choosing Aubrac sires will mitigate calving risk and the length of gestation, while providing the dairy farmer with high-quality beef calves that have a market and will make excellent beef cattle in terms of conformation and kill-out percentages.
“Aubrac beef is also gaining in popularity for its flavour among consumers,” he added.
The Aubrac breed
The Aubrac breed originated in the mountainous regions of the Auvergne and France’s Massif Central.
This cattle were bred to survive harsh terrain and thrive on a meagre diet. They are also easy calving, with high feed conversion rates.