An old saying that is often mentioned in discussions among farmers about cattle is: ‘An ounce of breeding is worth a tonne of feeding.’ But how much feed is better-breeding in livestock actually worth?
ABP Food Group’s research farm in Co. Carlow has put this very saying to the test.
It is seeking to identify how improved genetics can affect the feed efficiency in dairy/beef cattle by examining the impact of sire genetics on the progeny’s carcass weight.
Every year, a sample selection of the cattle from the ABP Demo Farm is sent to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation’s (ICBF’s) Tully Progeny Test Centre in Co. Kildare.
The cattle’s individual feed intake is measured and from the data gathered, the feed efficiency of each animal can be measured.
ABP’s agri-sustainability manager Stephen Connolly explained: “Feed efficiency is how much feed it takes for an animal to put on 1kg of liveweight gain.”
He explained that the feed efficiency calculation is important because “there is an opportunity to improve the environmental efficiency on every kg of liveweight gain through genetics, as well as saving money on expensive feed costs”.
Results from the ABP Demo Farm have shown that looking solely at the Aberdeen Angus breed, the progeny from the most-efficient Angus bull and the least-efficient Angus bull have a difference of 2kg of feed for every 1kg of liveweight gain produced.
This means that progeny from the least-efficient bull need 2kg more feed than the most-efficient bull to put on 1kg of liveweight gain.
The results are found to be similar across other cattle breeds on the farm, with some sire’s progeny more efficient at putting on weight than others.
While it may not seem like a large amount of feed on a day-to-day basis, the poorer-performing progeny would need an extra 200kg of feed to put on 100kg of liveweight gain.
For a farmer finishing 100 cattle, the progeny from the better-performing bull would need 20t less feed in total than 100 cattle from the least-efficient bull to put on 100kg liveweight gain/animal.
Connolly noted that 100 cattle bred off the more-efficient Angus bull would need €8,000 less in feed, at current feed costs, than the cattle bred of the least-efficient Angus bull (to gain 100kg liveweight).
The ABP sustainability manager further noted that continuing advances in genetics will further reduce the amount of feed needed to produce liveweight gain and the research highlights the importance of examining sire indexes and the Commercial Beef Value (CBV) when buying calves destined for beef production.