Dairy Beef Integration Project

The five year Beef+Lamb New Zealand dairy beef integration programme was set up by AgResearch to demonstrate the use of proven beef sires on a dairy farm and the performance of their offspring as they progress from the dairy farm to the calf rearer, beef finisher and beef processor. It aims to allay dairy farmers’ fears that use of beef bulls would compromise calving . The programme is in its last year and good results are available. The results show clear advantage and additional profit to dairy farmers from the use of proven beef genetics.

The NZ beef industry is increasingly reliant on calves sourced from the dairy industry (beef breeding cow numbers have been declining while dairy cows increasing). About two-thirds of beef kill is from animals sourced from a dairy farm. But surplus calves on dairy farms are not necessarily suited to beef production, i.e. many farmers use Jersey bulls, with the offspring largely ending up as bobby calves, and of those that use beef bulls, many do not consider their genetic potential for traits that will suit the dairy or beef industry, resulting in many poor performing cattle. Dairy farmers’ main concern when using beef bulls is the potential risk of calving problems. But beef bulls won’t increase the risk of calving problems if you use the right bull. There is a large variation within breeds for calf birth weight and calving ease, and farmers can select bulls based on the breeding values for these traits and for traits such as growth that will benefit beef production. Using these sires can potentially produce a surplus calf of greater value to the dairy farmer and beef industry.

The B+LNZ dairy beef integration programme used Ezicalve Hereford bulls that have good breeding values for calving ease, low birth weight and good growth and compared them to unrecorded Hereford bulls without breeding values (i.e. pot luck selection of bull genetics which is commonly done on dairy farms).

In 2011 and 2012, the lower 25% breeding worth Friesian and Kiwicross cows on the AgResearch Tokanui dairy farm were inseminated with with Ezicalve semen. After 6 weeks of AI, follow-up bulls were a mixture of Ezicalve and unrecorded Hereford bulls. The benefits to the dairy farmer were :

• Beef AI was relatively simple and about 20% cheaper than dairy semen.
• Dairy calves were only born from the high breeding worth cows, so any born should be good dairy replacements.
• Ezicalve sired calves had no problems with calving related to large calves, compared to about 4% calving problems for those sired by unrecorded beef bulls.

The outcomes for the calf rearer were :

• Despite the Ezicalve sires averaging a few kg lighter at birth, they took just as long as those sired by unrecorded bulls to reach 100 kg LW, so rearing costs would be similar.
• AI sired calves reached 100 kg earlier because they were born earlier, and this may be of greater value to the beef finisher.

The outcomes for beef finishers were :

• Data is yet to be analysed but looking at the raw data there are no obvious differences in the growth of Ezicalve or unrecorded sired cattle, despite the Ezicalve ones being slighter lighter at birth.
• Using unrecorded sires can give animals with a range of growth potentials, so it is a risk taken which could work out well or not so well.
• Cattle sired by AI averaged about 20-30 kg heavier than those sired naturally on any given date, as they were born earlier and hence have the potential to be finished earlier.
• Monitoring is still continuing, on carcass weights and characteristics as well.
• All cattle were also parentage tested to determine their sire and dam. Researchers will look at the effects of dam traits (e.g. breed, breeding worth, liveweight) on the performance of their progeny in beef systems.