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Maurice Hearne keeps 85 autumn-calving sucklers on 60ha near Dunmore East in Waterford. The herd calves from August to October and is currently running at a calving interval of 372 days, 3.5% mortality, 0.93 calves/cow annually and a culling rate of 14%. The cow of choice here is one with dairy genetics, typically first cross beef from British Friesian or Holstein Friesian cows, although there are a number of second crosses and fully continental-bred cows in the herd too.
Maurice Hearne keeps 85 autumn-calving sucklers on 60ha near Dunmore East in Waterford. The herd calves from August to October and is currently running at a calving interval of 372 days, 3.5% mortality, 0.93 calves/cow annually and a culling rate of 14%.
The cow of choice here is one with dairy genetics, typically first cross beef from British Friesian or Holstein Friesian cows, although there are a number of second crosses and fully continental-bred cows in the herd too.
Maurice wants milk – it’s the reason for the dairy genes in his herd. His herd’s replacement index is four stars on average at €91.
The BDGP has gotten us all crooning over the replacement stars figure. However, for me, serious suckler men need to focus within this and look for milk and fertility in replacement stock.
Many high index replacement figures are driven by calving difficulty and carcase traits. While the latter is important, it is not one of our main concerns when producing cows.
Beware of bull
Coincidentally, one of Maurice’s stock bulls is the perfect example of this. As can be seen in the table below, he has a massive overall replacement index value of €155. Yet look at the traits we want in our replacements: milk is negative (-1kg) and fertility/calving interval is positive at 0.79 days (want a negative figure to reduce calving interval).
You’d be forgiven for thinking you were on to a winner purchasing a bull with such a high replacement index figure. In reality, I would sooner go for a bull with a reduced overall index figure, which was strong for milk and fertility if his job was to breed future cows for me.
Minimal beef impact
One of the downsides of using dairy genetics in a suckler herd is obviously the potential reduction in calf quality coming from the dam. However, what we have seen in the Derrypatrick Herd at Teagasc Grange and right through nine years of the BETTER farm programme is that on finishing farms the reduction in the value of our end product (beef carcase) is minimal.
Maurice finishes his males as bulls, with a proportion done under 16 months of age. One of the underlying principles of a profitable bull beef system is a heavy weaning weight. Maurice uses terminal sires on his milky cows and the result is excellent calf weight for age.
His 2016 autumn-calf crop weighed 319kg, on average, at 200 days of age this spring. In this week’s main BETTER beef article we have pulled our autumn-calving BETTER farmers together and ranked them based on 200-day calf weights.
Where does Maurice rank? Find out in the Irish Farmers Journal this Thursday.
Farmers at this week’s Teagasc national sheep conferences were told that thin ewes are a continual drain on productivity and increase the risk of disease establishing.
This is a subscriber-only article
Maurice finishes his males as bulls, with a proportion done under 16 months of age. One of the underlying principles of a profitable bull beef system is a heavy weaning weight. Maurice uses terminal sires on his milky cows and the result is excellent calf weight for age. 
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