Almost 300 farmers gathered at Corrin Mart, Fermoy, Co. Cork on Wednesday, December 6, for the ABP Food Group Advantage Beef Programme dairy-beef breeding event.
It was positive to see that dairy farmers made up approximately 50% of the crowd which demonstrates “there is a massive appetite from dairy farmers to produce better-quality calves for the beef farmer,” according to ABP’s agri-sustainability manager Stephen Connolly.
He continued: “Similarly, dairy calf to beef farmers are interested in learning more about how to purchase high genetic-merit calves for their beef-production systems.”
Chris Daly from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) was speaking on the night.
He explained to farmers how the Commercial Beef Value (CBV) works, and demonstrated how it will appear on mart boards in spring 2024. He said it will be a useful tool to assist farmers who are purchasing calves for beef production in the spring.
It was explained that a significant number of dairy-beef calves will be genotyped though the National Genotyping Programme and all these calves will have a CBV value displayed.
Below is an example of how the CBV will appear:
Each animal will receive a ‘€’ figure and a star rating from one to five. Calves are divided into three categories. These are: Suckler, Dairy x Beef and Dairy x Dairy.
The reason for dividing calves by category is to ensure a Friesian bull calf is not being classified in the same star rating as a suckler-bred calf.
For farmers that purchase specific breeds, the table below will outline the euro figure to aim for within each star rating:
The ICBF figures were then put to the test with a livestock demonstration on the night.
It was demonstrated how a low CBV animal and a high CBV animal can look the same at three weeks of age, but will be very different types of animals when they reach finishing age.
Two Angus cattle were shown on the night. One had a CBV of €20 and the other one had a CBV of €111. Both cattle were purchased as calves by the ABP Demo Farm for €225. The calves were the same age and weight, and looked virtually identical as calves.
Both of these cattle received the same treatment throughout their lifetime, and neither were effected by any setbacks.
After the event in Fermoy, the animals were sent to ABP Cahir for processing. The animal with the higher CBV had a carcass weight that was 64kg heavier than the animal with the lower CBV.
This equated to a €328 price difference between the two animals highlighting the importance of using the CBV to purchase calves in Spring 2024.
A live demonstration was also given with two Limousin cattle which demonstrated a similar outcome.
There were three-different dairy cow types demonstrated on the night also. A discussion on beef-sire selection for these different types of dairy cows took place.
It was explained that higher carcass-value bulls will be needed on the lower carcass-value cows to generate a calf that is of an acceptable quality.
Farmers were reminded that when using the Dairy Beef Index (DBI) to select bulls, particular attention should be given to the beef sub index and carcass weight values. It was noted that the highest DBI bull will not necessarily generate the best-quality calves and the beef sub-indexes should also be thoroughly be examined.
The event drew to a close with a panel discussion featuring five farmers
The farmers explained their different systems and how they utilise genetics on their farms and the benefits that using better beef genetics has created.
A number of companies including: JFC; Volac; Bonanza; Agritech; Irish Hereford Prime and Certified Irish Angus sponsored prizes from milk replacer to Artificial Insemination (AI) straws on the night.
A number of the farmers involved in ABP’s breeding programme were in attendance on the night also.
Refreshments were offered to all in attendance on the night and farmers had the opportunity to chat to a range of trade and industry stands including Teagasc representatives and staff from leading AI companies before and after the event.