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A farm consultant is urging dairy farmers to focus on value, not cost, when it comes to choosing beef bulls.
AgFirst consultant and beef specialist, Bob Thomson, says the majority of dairy farmers mate early calving cows to high BW AI dairy bulls, breeding the remainder of the herd to service bulls or beef AI.
“When it comes to mating the balance of the herd it’s possible to claw back a significant proportion of the cost of mating by selecting proven beef bulls which are easy calving and short gestation.
“We need to challenge traditional cost thinking – selecting proven beef bulls (easy calving and short gestation) could mean up to 4-5 extra days in milk and generate a dairy-beef calf which is worth more. It’s a win-win-win – safe calving, more days in milk and a calf in demand by the beef industry.”
Whether you choose AI or service bulls is up to you, says Thomson, but breeding values should be part of the decision. There are often big differences between the Estimated Breeding Values (EBV’s) of the bulls on the hoof and AI and buying bulls with no records is a can be very risky.
“As dairy farmers you can choose to take some of the risk out of your business by selecting beef bulls which will generate income in three streams – easier calving, more days in milk and a high-value dairy-beef calf,” says Thomson.
“Genetics companies and beef breeders have those bulls but you have to do your homework.”
Thomson says the beef industry relies heavily on the dairy industry for beef finishing cattle and there needs to be more collaboration across the industries.
“The dairy industry has grown at the expense of beef. In the last 10 years, the number of dairy cattle has grown by 31% (from 5.15m in 2004 to 6.7m in 2014). Over the same period, there was an 18% drop in the number of beef cattle. There are now five million dairy cows but only 1 million beef cows.
“There are currently 660,000 finishing cattle of beef origin on farms, 420,000 of dairy-beef finishing type and 420,000 which are dairy-beef bulls – that’s 840,000 of dairy origin.”
Beef+Lamb NZ Genetics are aware of the need for greater clarity around the Breeding Values of beef sires for both dairy farmers and beef farmers, says Thomson. The organisation is currently investing in a dairy-beef programme, which is testing, and comparing established and young beef sires to promote greater awareness of the attributes needed by the dairy and beef industries.
He says while insights from the programme will gradually filter to the dairy and beef industries, in the meantime the national beef herd statistics are unlikely to change and the dairy industry will continue to be a significant source for the country’s beef finishing animals.
“Calf rearers, beef finishers, meat processors and exporters are looking to the dairy industry for animals with genetic merit for growth and carcase attributes. Discovering beef bulls that meet the needs of the dairy farmer and the beef farmer is an opportunity for the industry as a whole. But it all starts with the dairy farmer’s choice of beef semen, whether delivered on the hoof or in a straw.
“And while it’s fully appreciated that things are tough on the dairy farm right now, the value of dairy-friendly beef genetics still outweighs the cost.”
