Page 35 - NZ Hereford Magazine 2023

Beef finishers and dairy farmers

benefit from superior beef genetics

Words and photos: B+LNZ Genetics

When used across dairy cows, superior beef genetics can
improve gross margins for finishers and improve feed
conversion efficiency – this was one of the conclusions in
a report summarising the findings of the Beef + Lamb New
Zealand Genetics’ Dairy Beef Progeny Test.
Written by farm consultant Bob Thomson, the report
summarises the findings of a whole-farm modelling process,
where the progeny of the highest-ranked beef bulls from
the Dairy Beef Progeny Test (DBPT) were compared with the
progeny of average bulls.
These showed a 15% growth advantage at 400 and 600
days compared with the average bulls. This would improve The cattle in the progeny test are born, reared and finished at
gross margin returns by between $211 and $261/hectare and farms on Pāmu’s Wairakei Estate.
improve feed conversion efficiency by up to 9%. This in turn
would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “Either way, the value of the surplus calves can be raised
The modelling demonstrated that when the top 10 to 15% of significantly by dairy farmers utilising high genetic merit beef
DBPT bulls for marbling (intramuscular fat) were compared bulls over the dairy cows that are not required to generate
with the average DBPT bulls, there was a 27% improvement. their dairy replacements,” Bob says.
This correlated with an increase in the strike rate with beef Jason Archer, INZB science lead, says one of the challenges for
quality supply programmes. the industry is to make sure the information dairy farmers need
The modelling also compared one winter and two winter when selecting recorded, high genetic worth bulls is presented
finishing policies and highlighted clear advantages and simply and its relevance to the beef-cross dairy system is clear.
disadvantages to both. The ranking of DBPT bulls did not At an NZ Herefords field day in December, it became clear
change between the two policies. The one-winter system some of the terminology used in the beef industry did not
occupied one-third less land area than two winters, with 15% translate directly to that used in the dairy industry.
more feed conversion efficiencies. The disadvantage was in BW, for example, means birth weight to beef farmers and
lighter carcass weights. breeding worth to dairy farmers.
He says out of the 20-25 numbers presented in bull
Clear communication needed catalogues, there are four that are of greatest relevance to dairy
farmers: calving ease, gestation length, carcass weight and IMF
Dairy farmers could be faced with a ‘no bobby calf kill’ policy (intramuscular fat). Of these, calving ease and gestation length
in the future, and if that were to happen, they would either are important to the dairy operation, while carcass weight and
have to produce calves that have value as a beef finishing IMF are important to the finisher of the calves.
animal or reduce cow numbers to accommodate the rearing of “Revenue from surplus calves is only a small part of a dairy
surplus calves. business and this reinforces the need to communicate clearly

Year 2023 HEREFORD MAGAZINE 33