The Agriland Spring Calf Series is in association with Teagasc DairyBeef 500.

By Tommy Cox, DairyBeef 500 advisor

Earlier this week as part of the DairyBeef 500 Spring Calf Series, we took a look at the important areas that need to be examined in calves prior to purchase to ensure a healthy trouble-free animal arrives on farm.

Sourcing a healthy animal is a fundamental aspect of a successful dairy-calf-beef enterprise but just as crucial an area is sourcing a calf that has the genetic potential to perform well from birth right through to slaughter. 

The old saying an ‘ounce of breeding is worth a ton of feeding’ is certainly relevant to dairy beef systems where higher inputs costs and reduced carcass performance is generally the result with calves of a poor genetic make-up.

Given the huge increase in input costs experienced across the sector in the past 12 months, the price paid now for a dairy beef calf must be reflective of their genetic potential.

Spring Calf Series – CBV

Appearance alone is a poor predictor of beef potential. How often does it happen, where two identical-looking calves are bought from the same source at the same age and are treated the exact same way throughout their whole life, but when they reach slaughter age, have very different levels of performance?

A new tool to assist farmers in selecting animals for beef production is the Commercial Beef Value (CBV) which was launched by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) in late 2021.

The CBV is a tool for non-breeding beef farmers, which gives an insight into an animal’s genetic merit for beef production based on its parentage.

Compromising five key traits, including: Carcass weight; carcass conformation; carcass fat; docility; and feed intake, when used as a selection tool for identifying high-merit animals at purchasing, it may allow for the identification of faster growing, better shaped, more feed-efficient and more docile animals.

In order for a CBV to be generated for a calf, they must have a sire recorded when registered.

Purchasing calves with an unknown sire, one is most certainly in the dark as to their genetic potential with the majority of DairyBeef 500 participants becoming more reluctant to purchase calves with no sires recorded.

DairyBeef 500 farmers purchasing calves directly off farm have now started to request information on the CBV in order to try and improve the quality of the calf they are buying.

The CBV value is available through the profile section of the ICBF Herdplus account and it is planned to be included on mart boards in the future.

How does CBV work?

CBV values are expressed as a euro value and will be generated for all cattle that are likely to be finished, including male and female (non-pedigree) stock bred from beef cows, dairy-bred male and female calves sired by a beef bull, and male calves sired by a dairy bull, provided a sire is recorded.

Animals are assigned to one of three different breed types under the CBV, which is dependent on sire and dam breed. These are: Beef x beef; beef x dairy; and dairy x dairy.

Similar to the Terminal and Replacement Index, animals are assigned a star rating of one to five, with a five star animal being in the top 20% of the national population within that breed type, whereas a one star animal is within the bottom 20%.

Star ratingSucklerBeef x dairyDairy x dairy
Five star>€302>€124>€44
Four star>€265>€79>€30
Three star>€228>€61>€18
Two star>€178>€44>€1
One star<€178<€44<€1
Threshold commercial beef values per star rating and animal type

So, for instance, if we look to buy a Friesian bull calf and two are presented, one has a CBV of -€80 and another has a CBV of +€5.

The calf with a value of €5 has better beefing characteristics than the one at -€80 and should deliver €85 more than the calf with the lower value.

This extra value will come as a result of possibly better feed efficiency, carcass weight, conformation etc.

Teasgasc study

A study completed by Teagasc Grange examined how animals of varying CBV values performed at slaughter when managed under an intensive grass-based system.

Two animal types were examined – dairy x dairy (Holstein Friesian steers) and beef x dairy (Angus-sired animals).

Overall, Holstein Friesian steers classified as being five star within the dairy x dairy breed type produced 33kg heavier carcasses at slaughter when compared to their one star comrades.

For the Angus-sired steers (classified as the beef x dairy breed type), these animals were 27kg heavier at slaughter. Carcass and fat scores for both one star and five star animals of both category were broadly similar.

Making calves more marketable

For breeding farms, aiming to maximise the CBV, the use of high-merit sires from the Terminal Index and Dairy Beef Index (DBI), should be a priority to aid in the marketability of animals.

Within both these indexes, attention should be given to both carcass and feed sub-indices, while balancing calving difficulty, gestation length and other traits that may be of importance to the breeding farm.