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The debate on what is the most suitable type of suckler cow is a contentious issue with producers favouring a multitude of breeds.
The Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) has brought an increased focus on the selection of suckler herd replacements.
Farmers participating in the programme have two key targets to hit – have at least 20% of the applicant’s reference number of animals genotyped four or five star on the replacement index by 31 October 2018 (heifers/cows over 16 months of age) and secondly have at least 50% of the reference number of animals genotyped four or five star on the replacement index by 31 October 2020.
One route of meeting these targets is to source crossbred replacements from the dairy herd where milk and fertility figures will in many cases lead to animals possessing a four or five star rating on the dairy herd.
Replacement route
This replacement route raised much discussion at last Friday’s ICBF beef industry event held in Tully Performance Test Centre, Kildare.
The ICBF’s Andrew Cromie said that while beef cross replacements from the dairy herd will be available in greater numbers and can provide an option of incorporating milk into suckler herds, the changing focus of breeding in a large percentage of Irish dairy herds presents challenges in achieving the type of replacement that is best suited to suckler beef production.
“Currently about 25% of the suckler herd are these crosses from the dairy herd.
"The challenge that we particularly see in taking this approach is that if we talk and look at the dairy farmer their primary motivation around beef from the dairy herd is very definitely short gestation and easy calving and while that delivers for them it may not necessarily deliver the type of suckler cow we need in the future”.
Cromie highlights a focus on short gestation and easy calving as having a negative impact on the carcase traits that are desired within the replacement index for suckler cows.
“It will certainly serve a short term requirement but long term we would prefer to see using the fantastic resource which is the Irish suckler herd and beef pedigree breeders as generating genetic gain in the traits that are important. Those traits are carcase weight, milk and fertility and cost of feed.
"We are very confident with G€N€ Ireland and the BDGP programme that this is a more sustainable model that will really drive us to achieve the type of suckler cow we need in the future," Cromie said.
The ideal cow debate
This ideal cow, Cromie predicts, is going to be a smaller type of cow that eats less that is going to have good milk, be fertile and have a good quality calf that meets the requirements through to slaughter for beef producers.
The secret in achieving the breeding goals highlighted above from with suckler breeding is finding sires and breeding lines that are balanced for the desired traits and do not result in foregoing one attribute to achieve another.
“The challenge we have is bringing everything that is required for profitability into one index such as the replacement index.
"Very often the traits are working against each other so if you take traits such as carcase weight and conformation those are traits that go together whereas if you bring milk into the picture those are two sets of traits that are working against each other.
As you breed and improve carcase weight there is a risk of breeding milk out of cows.
This, Cromie says, has left the suckler herd with cows that have lots of size and capacity but poor milk and fertility with the replacement index being used to address and turn this around. “What we are trying to do with the replacement index is find these ‘curve-bender’ bulls that have all these traits”.
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