Agriland will host a new series over the coming weeks which will focus on selecting the correct beef sires to produce high quality dairy beef calves.
The ’Dairy Beef Index Series’ is a collaboration between Agriland Media and the Teagasc DairyBeef 500 team. The series will feature five articles.
The increased use of sexed semen on dairy cows and the increased demand for higher quality dairy beef calves, has created a greater focus on the selection of beef sires for use on dairy cows.
Once adequate numbers of cows have been served to meet the replacement heifer numbers required for the dairy farm, beef sires should be selected to produce high quality calves.
Dairy beef
The Teagasc DairyBeef 500 team, in conjunction with the Teagasc Dairy specialist team and programme advisors who work closely with dairy monitor farmers across five dairy processors throughout the country, namely Tirlan, Aurivo, Dairygold, Kerry and Lakeland, will host a series of five articles over the coming weeks.
The articles will focus on how dairy farmers are selecting bulls for the breeding season this year in order to produce high quality dairy beef calves from their dairy herds.
There will be a focus placed on achieving a high Commercial Beef Value (CBV) calf, while using the Dairy Beef Index (DBI).
The CBV is a tool that can be used by the purchasers of dairy-bred beef calves to determine the genetic potential of the calf.
While the DBI is a tool for dairy farmers, similar to the Economic Breeding Index (EBI), it can be used to select suitable sires that can be used on dairy cows.
The DBI comprises three main sub-indexes: calving sub-index, beef sub-index, and carbon sub-index.
62% of the weighting is towards the beef index, 31% is weighted towards the calving sub-index and the carbon sub-index is 7%.
The beef sub-index is comprised of seven sub-indexes: carcass weight; feed intake; carcass confirmation grade; spec fat; slaughter age; spec carcass weight and spec confirmation.
The highest weighting is carcass weight at 24%.
The calving sub-index is comprised of three sub-indexes: carcass weight, gestation and age at slaughter.
Gestation, calving ease and positive for carcass weight should all be considered when selecting beef sires for use on dairy cows.
Stay tuned to Agriland for the Dairy Beef Index Series.