NCBC Beef programme manager Rose Goulding visits a number of dairy farms throughout the country to show the role that dairy farmers play in ensuring viable and profitable calf-to-beef systems.
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NCBC Dairy-Beef Series Episode 2 featuring dairy farmer Eamon Coughlan
NCBC Beef programme manager Rose Goulding visits a number of dairy farms throughout the country to show the role that dairy farmers play in ensuring viable and profitable calf-to-beef systems.
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In this second episode, Rose talks to dairy farmer Eamon Coughlan based in Glanworth, Co Cork, where the benefit of using beef sires from the Munster Bovine and Progressive Genetics Dairy Beef panels is clearly evident.
Cow and heifer selection for dairy beef:
Eamon Coughlan is farming with his wife, Michelle, their family and his father, Ned, near Glanworth where they are currently milking approximately 440 cows in this spring's calving herd.
Their herd EBI currently stands at €230. Prior to cow numbers stabilising in recent years, the Coughlans bred almost everything to dairy.
However, for the past two years, they have been a lot more selective on which cows they breed to dairy, and this has increased the number of cows available to take a beef straw.
Prior to the breeding season, Eamon identifies the top 50% of his best performing cows in the herd and breeds them to high-EBI dairy sires in order to ensure that he can continually make genetic gain within his herd.
Working closing with his Munster Bovine AI Technician, John Coughlan, he identifies the cows and heifers suitable for dairy beef straws.
Using a selection of breeds from the NCBC Dairy-Beef programme, his choice of sires has been very successful, resulting in minimum calving difficulty this calving season.
Some of the sires used in 2022 include the following:
Eamonn only retains his Friesian heifers, with the remainder of the dairy-beef calves sold off at two to three weeks of age.
Eamon has a repeat customer for the majority of his Friesian bull calves, with the remainder going to export or the mart. Ultimately, there are plenty of selling options open to Eamon with the quality of calf that he is producing.
Healthy vaccinated calves of high genetic merit are an essential part of retaining repeat customers for Eamon's dairy-beef calves
All of the cows bred to dairy-beef are vaccinated with Rotavac prior to calving and the calves are vaccinated with Rispoval when they are one week old, which results in a superior product Eamon sells to his customer.
Healthy vaccinated calves of high genetic merit are an essential part of retaining repeat customers for Eamon's dairy-beef calves.
Sire selection
Looking ahead to 2023, Eamon is going to follow a similar plan he used for the 2022 breeding season.
The maiden heifers get one round of AI, and they follow a PG programme. The breeds are selected and, taking 2022 as an example, he uses Charolais and Belgian Blues on the larger cows, Limousin thereafter and, finally, Angus for the smaller cows.
All of the dairy-beef sires used in 2022 were highly reliable sires and Eamon is adamant that reliability in terms of calving ease is a critical success factor for his breeding plan.
Maximising calf value
Eamon’s main goal is to maximise the value of his calf crop and the value of the product that he is selling to his calf purchasers.
By using the best genetics and reliable NCBC sires, Eamon can be assured that he is producing a product that is desirable and is a win-win for both parties - he gets maximum value for his calves and the calf purchaser gets a superior-quality product.
NCBC’s role in delivering Ireland's best dairy-beef sires
Rose Goulding, beef programme manager with NCBC, explains that the entire focus of the NCBC Dairy-Beef Breeding programme is to identify sires that have minimum calving difficulty and maximum carcass weight.
Whether selling them as calves, as stores or as finished animals, they will be profitable for the dairy farmer
“The dairy-beef sires available through Progressive Genetics and Munster Bovine, with very high carcass weight, deliver progeny with very good calf value and have very good live weight gain throughout their life.
"Whether selling them as calves, as stores or as finished animals, they will be profitable for the dairy farmer," she said.
The dairy-beef panels that you will find in the Progressive Genetics or Munster Bovine catalogues are sires that have been proven in the dairy herd.
There is a considerable amount of data available on these highly reliable sires, and Munster Bovine and Progressive Genetics can be sure how these sires will perform on their customer's dairy herd.
Herdowners can also be assured of the following when using beef sires for their dairy herds from Ireland's largest dairy beef programme:
Minimum calving difficulty
Shortest gestation
Maximum value for calf crop
Top choice for 2023
A fantastic NCBC-proven bull is available through Progressive Genetics and Munster Bovine, suitable for use on maiden heifers as follows on the page linked below:
Advice from Rose Goulding on selecting beef sires for the dairy herd to maximise profits:
“Decide which breed you wish to use.
"Use the panels available in the Munster Bovine and Progressive Genetics Dairy Beef panels to select the appropriate sires for your maidens, second-calvers, cows and mature cows. Then select the highest carcass weight and beef sub-index within your calving range.
"Finally, record the sire of the calf at birth – otherwise the CBV will not be available.”
In this second episode, Rose talks to dairy farmer Eamon Coughlan based in Glanworth, Co Cork, where the benefit of using beef sires from the Munster Bovine and Progressive Genetics Dairy Beef panels is clearly evident.
Cow and heifer selection for dairy beef:
Eamon Coughlan is farming with his wife, Michelle, their family and his father, Ned, near Glanworth where they are currently milking approximately 440 cows in this spring's calving herd.
Their herd EBI currently stands at €230. Prior to cow numbers stabilising in recent years, the Coughlans bred almost everything to dairy.
However, for the past two years, they have been a lot more selective on which cows they breed to dairy, and this has increased the number of cows available to take a beef straw.
Prior to the breeding season, Eamon identifies the top 50% of his best performing cows in the herd and breeds them to high-EBI dairy sires in order to ensure that he can continually make genetic gain within his herd.
Working closing with his Munster Bovine AI Technician, John Coughlan, he identifies the cows and heifers suitable for dairy beef straws.
Using a selection of breeds from the NCBC Dairy-Beef programme, his choice of sires has been very successful, resulting in minimum calving difficulty this calving season.
Some of the sires used in 2022 include the following:
Eamonn only retains his Friesian heifers, with the remainder of the dairy-beef calves sold off at two to three weeks of age.
Eamon has a repeat customer for the majority of his Friesian bull calves, with the remainder going to export or the mart. Ultimately, there are plenty of selling options open to Eamon with the quality of calf that he is producing.
Healthy vaccinated calves of high genetic merit are an essential part of retaining repeat customers for Eamon's dairy-beef calves
All of the cows bred to dairy-beef are vaccinated with Rotavac prior to calving and the calves are vaccinated with Rispoval when they are one week old, which results in a superior product Eamon sells to his customer.
Healthy vaccinated calves of high genetic merit are an essential part of retaining repeat customers for Eamon's dairy-beef calves.
Sire selection
Looking ahead to 2023, Eamon is going to follow a similar plan he used for the 2022 breeding season.
The maiden heifers get one round of AI, and they follow a PG programme. The breeds are selected and, taking 2022 as an example, he uses Charolais and Belgian Blues on the larger cows, Limousin thereafter and, finally, Angus for the smaller cows.
All of the dairy-beef sires used in 2022 were highly reliable sires and Eamon is adamant that reliability in terms of calving ease is a critical success factor for his breeding plan.
Maximising calf value
Eamon’s main goal is to maximise the value of his calf crop and the value of the product that he is selling to his calf purchasers.
By using the best genetics and reliable NCBC sires, Eamon can be assured that he is producing a product that is desirable and is a win-win for both parties - he gets maximum value for his calves and the calf purchaser gets a superior-quality product.
NCBC’s role in delivering Ireland's best dairy-beef sires
Rose Goulding, beef programme manager with NCBC, explains that the entire focus of the NCBC Dairy-Beef Breeding programme is to identify sires that have minimum calving difficulty and maximum carcass weight.
Whether selling them as calves, as stores or as finished animals, they will be profitable for the dairy farmer
“The dairy-beef sires available through Progressive Genetics and Munster Bovine, with very high carcass weight, deliver progeny with very good calf value and have very good live weight gain throughout their life.
"Whether selling them as calves, as stores or as finished animals, they will be profitable for the dairy farmer," she said.
The dairy-beef panels that you will find in the Progressive Genetics or Munster Bovine catalogues are sires that have been proven in the dairy herd.
There is a considerable amount of data available on these highly reliable sires, and Munster Bovine and Progressive Genetics can be sure how these sires will perform on their customer's dairy herd.
Herdowners can also be assured of the following when using beef sires for their dairy herds from Ireland's largest dairy beef programme:
Minimum calving difficulty
Shortest gestation
Maximum value for calf crop
Top choice for 2023
A fantastic NCBC-proven bull is available through Progressive Genetics and Munster Bovine, suitable for use on maiden heifers as follows on the page linked below:
Advice from Rose Goulding on selecting beef sires for the dairy herd to maximise profits:
“Decide which breed you wish to use.
"Use the panels available in the Munster Bovine and Progressive Genetics Dairy Beef panels to select the appropriate sires for your maidens, second-calvers, cows and mature cows. Then select the highest carcass weight and beef sub-index within your calving range.
"Finally, record the sire of the calf at birth – otherwise the CBV will not be available.”
This week beef editor Adam Woods takes a look at autumn bull management, feeding weanlings, dealing with frost on beef farms and previews next week's IFJ suckler mart event in Kerry.
The trends are due to more sexed semen being used, more beef semen being used and a levelling off in herd expansion.
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