The Thrive dairy calf to beef programme was set up in spring 2019 following the purchase of 102 calves in 2018 for a contract-rearing demonstration farm in Cashel, Co Tipperary. A further 142 calves were purchased in 2019. The purpose of the project is to highlight the role genetics has to play in running profitable dairy calf to beef systems.

The project also aims to bridge the knowledge gap that exists on beef farms around calf rearing and managing dairy beef calves. There are a number of issues regarding the use of some bulls on the dairy herd. One is carcase weight. In the quest to achieve minimum calving difficulty and short gestation, carcase weight has been forgotten about and this is a key driver of profitability in a dairy calf to beef system. This project aims to highlight these issues and change the mindset on the genetics currently being used.

The calves were purchased from a number of different farms and moved farm-to-farm to the unit in Tipperary. All calves purchased are by easy-calving, short-gestation Hereford, Aberdeen Angus, Limousin and Belgian Blue bulls.

Drafting

With recent grid changes, drafting has become even more important than before. There are now several different permutations and combinations including a zero, €0.12/kg or €0.20/kg in-spec bonus depending on grade and fat cover. Influencing the grade in the final weeks before finishing is difficult. However, this final phase is where all the movement takes place on fat cover. Within the QPS grid, we are targeting anything from a 3- to a 4=. Staying within this range means we are hitting the desired level of fat from a processor point of view and maximising bonuses. While there is still a bonus for a 4+, this drops to €0.12/kg, something we want to minimise.

The drafting process

All heifers were put into the crush area and handled going through the crush. They were assessed for level of finish at three points.

First they were handled in the loin to make sure they had a good cover of flesh over the rib and handled firm in this area.

Secondly they were handled around the tailhead.

Many of the heifers had ample flesh around this area with some starting to protrude beyond the tail. The tail needs to be sitting neatly around the fleshy pin bone area.

The third point was at the shoulder. Dairy beef cattle can be quite sharp and hard at the shoulder and it’s a good area to determine level of cover. Again, you are looking for a softness over the shoulder blade with a level of flesh cover there.

Finally, all animals were weighed. We tried to keep the drafting weight as close to 500kg as possible. There were heifers in the group lighter than this but we need to get a decent carcase weight to cover costs.

In-spec importance

Hitting in-spec targets for processors has never been more important. While the inclusion of the O- and 4+ is welcome, farmers should really be targeting the maximum €0.20/kg bonus.

Base quotes can be a long way off what is actually paid so farmers need to

include potential grading payment on the QPS grid, an in-spec payment once criteria such as quality assurance, farm movements and residency are met and then add in any breed or producer group bonuses.

The 5- heifers in this batch of heifers stand out like a sore thumb in terms of reduced price. There were three in total, two Herefords and an Angus. One Hereford got paid €3.31/kg, one got paid €3.19/kg and the Aberdeen Angus got paid €3.31/kg. There is no in-spec bonus or breed bonus paid on 5- or greater on fat cover.

Interestingly, when the animals were handled five days before slaughter, we were a fat subclass too low for a lot of the heifers. Another interesting point was that the recent changes in the in-spec payments meant an increase of €21.80 per animal but the two-week delay in slaughtering meant a loss of €42.95 was incurred when feed costs were counted in.

It’s vital to be aware of the difference between these traditionally bred animals and continentals. The one Limousin heifer in this batch graded a 3- on fat. Continental suckler-bred stock or dairy-bred stock will take a lot more meal feeding at a reduced risk of going over-fat. Once farmers are aware of this and draft regularly, it should be OK.

The next conundrum that we face is the remainder of the Aberdeen Angus and Hereford heifers.

They are handling really well, similar to the heifers just slaughtered. The problem is that some of these heifers only weigh 480kg so will struggle to meet the 240kg minimum carcase for the Aberdeen Angus bonus. We can’t risk any more 5- cattle so there are a further 15 heifers booked in for slaughter next week. These heifers will be weighed at the end of this week and will probably be drafted at a lower weight to avoid any more losses on falling outside of spec.

Management

All calves were moved on to the farm in Cashel at three to four weeks of age and reared on artificial milk replacer. The calves were then grazed during the summer of 2018 in a simple paddock grazing system with concentrates fed at the shoulders of the year.

They were housed in November on slats and fed a diet of 72DMD silage and 2kg of a 15% protein ration from November until January. Heifers were turned out again, this time split up from steers, and grazed in a paddock system spending roughly three days in each paddock before moving to fresh grass.

Concentrates

Concentrates were re-introduced at the beginning of September as weather conditions deteriorated. Concentrates were fed to the full group of 42 heifers at the rate of 3kg/head/day for a total of 31 days or 93kg per heifer. At €250/t, this came to a total cost of €23/head.

Some will question the meal feeding and will be correct to do so. The idea was that the meal would go in two to three weeks out from slaughter just to firm the cattle up a little, and help kill-out and grading.

The original plan was to slaughter in the second week of September.

Interestingly, heifers were weighed on 13 September and seemed to do very little in terms of weight gain for the last two weeks of September. The theory is they were laying down fat during this period and hence didn’t register a decent weight gain on the scales.

Lifetime performance

Average lifetime performance was 0.86/kg/day since birth. We would be targeting 0.9/kg/day since birth. Average carcase weight is coming in at 272kg.

We would have budgeted on hitting an average carcase weight of 280kg so we will fall short of this when all heifers are slaughtered. Kill-out is averaging 52% but ranges from 51% to 54%. Conformation grades were pretty much as expected, though fat cover was probably a subclass higher than estimated at an average of 4=.

Read more

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Beef Management: cutting costs, finishing dairy beef and slurry deadlines

Farm Finance: maximise your payments from beef schemes