It is typical at this time of the year to get excited about choosing your bulls for your dairy replacement heifers, but with breeding closing in, there has to be a sustainable plan for your non-replacement calves.
There is an encouraging price being received for all types of calves this year, which may encourage farmers to use more conventional dairy straws and carry more Friesian calves.
This year is an exception for calf prices and, even though there is a good price being received for your dairy bull calves, your high-quality beef calves are still making a considerable difference in price.
So, with the introduction of tools such as the dairy-beef index (DBI) and commercial beef value (CBV), buyers now have an understanding of how to assess the quality of calves and predict their future performance.
Teagasc’s Fergal Maguire highlighted at a recent Teagasc breeding week meeting that while a lot of calves look the same at three weeks of age, the high CBV calf will out-perform the lower CBV calves in the months after.
CBV
Maguire said that the CBV tool helps both the dairy farmer and the buyer as it can assist in building a positive relationship between the two.
When the beef farmer buys the calves and sees their performance over the next couple of months in terms of feed efficiency, carcass weight and carcass conformation, they will be willing to be a repeat customer to the dairy farmer.
When Agriland spoke to a couple of the artificial insemination (AI) companies, the trend seems to be a further increase in sexed semen uptake which has lead to a further increase in dairy-beef bulls.
The AI companies have said that dairy-beef usage has increased again this year, as there is now evidence and proof of its benefits to produce high CBV calves and make good use out of the strong mart prices.
Calf prices this year proved the additional money that a high quality dairy-beef calf, with good performance indicators and in good condition at three-weeks-old, can bring to the farmer.
Dairy-beef
Careful consideration should go into the selection of dairy-beef bulls, as the bull choices will have a huge impact on the dairy beef finishers in terms of performance, grade and weight.
While it is important to go for an easy calving bull to limit any problems at calving – and you’re not going to get a dairy farmer to choose anything less – but it is also crucial for the dairy farmer to choose on beef traits also.
The DBI is made up of three elements: calving; beef; and carbon.
As with the Economic Breeding Index (EBI), focusing on one of these traits alone will create the risk of leaving another behind.
So, farmers should select a bull with a calving difficulty of comfortable handling, which will then allow for a focus on the beef index.
At a given calving difficulty, there can be a significant range in terms of carcass weight and calving difficulty.
While an easy calving bull is desired, there should also be a focus on having a bull with good carcass performance to strike a balance within the DBI.
Most farmers will set their calving difficulty at 3-4%, but maybe we should try to be more selective and pick bulls with a 5-6% calving difficulty to go onto bigger, more capacious, older cows, which leave more leeway for selecting better beef merits.
More calf buyers are focusing on purchasing calves from farms that are producing high CBV calves, as there has been greater exposure of the benefits they bring.
Dairy farmers that are breeding their best to sexed semen or conventional dairy AI to produce their replacements and putting dairy-beef straws to the rest will reap the rewards from returning future demand.
Not only that, but the dairy farmer will receive higher calf prices and have a more saleable calf at any age, which will in turn reduce the need for feed, labour and facilities.
All bulls selected should be discussed with your breeding advisor to see what suits your herd and what your calving difficulty can be set at to have a further focus on carcass weight and live weight gain.
Ideally, a buyer wants a calf at three weeks of age that is over 50kg, healthy and wants to leave the yard with your calves, confidently knowing that the calves will perform and have good carcass growth.
The CSP Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme will reopen for applications in April 2025 for new applicants, but farmers who applied in 2024 do not need to reapply as their participation in the scheme will automatically continue.
If you are a farmer and see merit in improving the quality of calves born on your farm, you should apply for the CSP Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme, as payment of €20 per eligible calf (up to a maximum of 50 calves per applicant herd can be earned.
