Calves coming from the national dairy herd have the potential to a be part of low carbon profitable beef systems.
This is according to Dr. Laurence Shalloo from Teagasc, who spoke at the Sustainable Dairy Future Conference today (Tuesday, December 5).
The two-day event is organised by the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) and ICOS Skillnet, and is hosted by University College Cork (UCC).
According to Dr. Shalloo, calves still offer significant opportunities for further genetic gain potential.
Dairy beef
With increased usage and availability of sexed semen within the Irish dairy industry, the potential for calves coming from the dairy herd is significant.
Shalloo noted that within the Dairybeef500 programme, the top farmers are achieving profits in the region of €1,200-1,500/ha – which is competing with dairy farmers.
This is aided by tools which are available to farmers such as sexed semen, dairy beef index (DBI) and commercial beef value (CBV).
But Shalloo believes that these tools can be used further to increase the profitability of these farms.
In 2021, around 60,000 sexed semen straws were used within the Irish dairy sector. This has increased to just below 300,000 straws in 2023.
Calves
The DBI was launched in 2019, and had a significant update in 2022 when age at slaughter was added.
Shalloo said that this is important to ensure that emissions targets are achieved for the sector going forward.
He also noted that the CBV is going to be key for beef farmers to have confidence in the calves they are purchasing.
Shalloo said that the CBV is a useful communication tool between the dairy and beef farmer.
“We are very confident now, looking at some of the data around the CBV and what we are seeing in terms of age of slaughter and carcass weight – that it is very robust in predicting the outputs at farm level.”
He pointed to research from Teagasc Grange, which compared high-value Angus, low-value Angus and Friesian with 70 to 80 days in terms of age slaughter – with no different in carcass weight.