Right calf

Facilitate informed breeding decisions so calves born fit the requirements of the beef and dairy industry.

Introduction

The most important goal of a farmer when breeding cows is an easy calving, ensuring that a cow can start a lactation or rear a calf without negatively impacting her ability to produce milk or get back in calf again. However, selecting sires on calving ease alone can result in calves not being well suited to their purpose and taking a long time to grow or finish.
There is a wide range of information available when choosing a sire, but it can be complex to understand, and there is a lack of independent guidance for dairy farmers selecting beef sires.
Advances in genetic selection mean there are bulls available with both favourable calving ease and carcase characteristics. Breeding choices are also a valuable tool when looking at reducing emissions and improving overall efficiency. The strategy aims to improve access to clear information on genetics (including dairy and beef sexed semen) to help farmers make informed decisions.

Why it matters

We know calves that have purpose are more likely to have good welfare outcomes. If breeding decisions are made with the calf’s purpose in mind, we can ensure they are more likely to be valued.

The higher value brought by well selected beef breeding decisions is not always seen by farmers making those decisions. The strategy wants to change this, working with industry to improve systems of recording and sharing data along the supply chain.
The aim is to create a positive feedback loop, from sire selection to carcase quality, where good choices are rewarded.

What success looks like

Success means farmers have access to clear advice and data to make breeding decisions which ensure calves are bred with purpose. They must also be rewarded for making these good breeding decisions.

Goal 1 Information is available to support farmers to make proactive breeding decisions for both dairy calf supply chain and beef calf supply chains.

Action

In order to breed calves with purpose, farmers need access to clear advice and data to make the best decision for their herd.

Create a template for an informed breeding checklist

GB dairy farmers are some of the best in the world at making use of sexed dairy semen, with 84% of dairy semen sold being sexed semen for replacements.

This enables a higher use of beef semen on the rest of the herd, with beef now representing 52% of all semen sold to dairy farms, ensuring calves born have a clear purpose and value.

To ensure these beef calves have optimum opportunities, a new template for an informed breeding checklist will ask farmers to consider the beef sire’s genetic potential to produce a good beef calf, with a route to market.

For some farms, male beef sexed semen may be a viable option, as male dairy-beef calves can reach finish grade faster than female dairy-beef calves. Alongside accessible information about sire genetics, this template will empower farmers to maximise the potential of their calves.

Industry to collaborate to develop a national register of beef sires for use in the dairy herd

For dairy sires, AHDB publishes a list of available sires, with measures of genetic merit.

Despite a wide range of similar tools for beef sires, there is not a single joined-up list, which can make it difficult for farmers to interpret different results.

A new national register of beef sires would aim to collate all this information to allow it to be more easily used.

Goal 2 Information is available within the supply chain to incentivise proactive breeding decisions.

Currently, the breed of a beef calf’s sire is the main determinant of the value of the calf. This is despite the fact that research shows that we typically see much more variation in genetic potential within a breed, than between breeds, meaning choosing the right bull is more important than choosing the right breed.

Therefore we need systems in place that allow the genetic potential of the calf to be communicated throughout the supply chain, ensuring the calf is valued accordingly. This will incentivise purposeful breeding decisions.

Actions

Enable named sires within cattle traceability systems

Recording sires improves information within Estimated Breeding Values (EBV)

Through work with Livestock Information and devolved cattle tracing systems, we aim to make it as easy as possible for farmers to record the sire at registration of the calf. This needs to be the case for both GB sires with UK eartags, but also for foreign sires, which are commonly used to produce dairy beef calves.

In conjunction with a new national register of beef sires, this will allow participants of the supply chain to view the named sire, estimate the genetic potential of the calf and value it accordingly.

Explore potential for national genomic testing

We know that the sire of a calf is only part of the story. A better tool to measure genetic potential is a genomic test. This is already available for dairy calves and the aim would be to offer a similar service for dairy beef calves.

We understand that delivering a genomic testing program is complex, and will consider the scientific and practical implications for farmers and stakeholders within the supply chain. We will interrogate costs and unintended consequences to ensure that such a program could deliver value to all stakeholders.

Conclusion

We know that calves which have purpose are more likely to have good health, welfare, and environmental outcomes.

If breeding decisions are made with the calf’s purpose in mind, we can ensure they are more likely to be valued. Therefore, we aim to ensure farmers have access to clear advice and data to make breeding decisions which ensure calves are bred with purpose. Alongside this, they must also be rewarded for making these good breeding decisions.

Once a calf is born, we know that it must also be raised well in order to achieve its genetic potential. For more information about the steps after breeding, read the Right Start and Right Route pillars.

The Right Calf pillar is led by AHDB.

Right Calf