Early maturing dairy crossbreds can return €800
Published 15/07/2015 | 02:30
Early maturing crossbreds from the dairy
herd have the potential to return more than €800/ha when finished at 21
months in a pasture based beef system, according to new Teagasc data.
However, five years of pain-staking research at Grange and Johnstown Castle has found that the early maturing crossbred calves only have a marginal lead over dairy breeds in calf to beef production, with the latter returning a net margin of €774/ha at 21 months.
The findings
were outlined by Robert Prendiville to the Irish Grassland Association
as the latest figures from ICBF show that calvings from the dairy herd
were up by 116,000 this year. The 11pc increase comes on the back of six
consecutive years of increased calf numbers from the dairy herd, up a
massive 335,000, or 40pc on 2010 levels.
Mr
Prendiville said that in 2012 approximately two-thirds of dairy cows
were mated to dairy sires, with 22pc bred to early-maturing breeds and
the remainder to late-maturing continental breeds.
"With
the plentiful supply of replacement heifers on dairy farms and the
adoption of sexed semen by some farmers, there will still be a large
supply of mainly Holstein-Friesian bull calves coming from the dairy
herd, at relatively low values," he said. Four systems for dairy
calf-to-beef returned margins ranging from €67/hd for bull beef to
€258/hd for steers finished at 21 months. But the results come with the
warning that systems are sensitive to changes in calf prices,
concentrates, and the finishing date in relation to securing the highest
price per kilo.
Finishing bulls
at 19 months produced a carcass weight of 320kg, which was similar to
steers finished at 24 months. However, the lower beef price of 336c/kg
for bulls compared to 387c/kg for the steers reduced the margin for
bulls to €124/hd, with steers at €201/hd, or €434/ha and €503/ha,
respectively. Grading generally O=2=.
Progeny
Separate
trials at Johnstown Castle also looked at early maturing crossbred
progeny from the dairy herd, with Hereford and Angus heifers and steers
finished between 19 months and 26 months, and grading O=/O+ and 3-/4-.
Pasture-based
production for both February- and April-born calves, finished at either
21 months or 26 months, was the most profitable at €273/hd and €320/hd,
respectively. Net margin per hectare was highest at €819 for
February-born calves slaughtered at 21 months. The least profitable
system was 21 month indoor finishing of April-born calves at net margins
of €98/hd and €294/ha.
The
research team concluded that various finishing systems can be a success
on dairy calf-to-beef enterprises provided a high proportion of total
lifetime gains come from grazed grass, but with the caveat that
profitability is vulnerable to variations in calf prices, concentrate
costs, and the all-in selling price of beef.
Indo Farming
http://www.independent.ie/business/farming/dairy-calf-to-beef-systems-prove-their-profit-value-31373428.html
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