I am not the only one with some cattle still out grazing and doing no damage, though we are bringing them into the sheds as space becomes available. But as we sell bulls before they hit the 22-month age limit, it is becoming clear that something has happened this year that we have not encountered before – bulls that are reaching 22 months or within a few days of it that have performed far below what we have been used to in previous years.
With the buoyant trade for the high-quality weanlings in the autumn of 2015, we consciously dropped the quality criteria for buying in – we are now paying the price. The average carcase weight is down and the margin between buying and selling is down. A few weeks ago, I went to a Glanbia agribusiness morning on beef production. There were a number of speakers but it was the pure production orientation from Martin Ryan, Gain Feeds technical support manager, that really impacted on me.
Martin produced a table that I had never seen laid out with such precision before. I had always known that better conformed cattle killed out better than poorly conformed ones but as can be seen from the points that we reproduce here, the relationship between conformation and kill-out is very clear.
At a constant liveweight of 700kg:
The typical O+ has a kill-out rate of 51% or 357kg. The R+ a kill-out of 55% or 385kg. A U- a kill-out of 56-57% or 395kg.A U+, a kill-out of 61% to 62% or 423kg.These are substantial differences and if like me you were accustomed to a U= to U+ carcase, it’s a severe jolt when you go to an R= to U-.
I had always worked on the assumption that bulls had the capacity to improve the grade and kill-out of the adult animal but it’s clear from this year’s experience that this only goes so far. The basic genetic ability of the animal also counts. As a buyer of weanlings, it is clear that unlike our dairy farming colleagues, we do not have enough details on the genetic potential of the animals we buy – either as regards merit of the sire animal or the type and size of the dam.
I am not the only one with some cattle still out grazing and doing no damage, though we are bringing them into the sheds as space becomes available. But as we sell bulls before they hit the 22-month age limit, it is becoming clear that something has happened this year that we have not encountered before – bulls that are reaching 22 months or within a few days of it that have performed far below what we have been used to in previous years.
With the buoyant trade for the high-quality weanlings in the autumn of 2015, we consciously dropped the quality criteria for buying in – we are now paying the price. The average carcase weight is down and the margin between buying and selling is down. A few weeks ago, I went to a Glanbia agribusiness morning on beef production. There were a number of speakers but it was the pure production orientation from Martin Ryan, Gain Feeds technical support manager, that really impacted on me.
Martin produced a table that I had never seen laid out with such precision before. I had always known that better conformed cattle killed out better than poorly conformed ones but as can be seen from the points that we reproduce here, the relationship between conformation and kill-out is very clear.
At a constant liveweight of 700kg:
The typical O+ has a kill-out rate of 51% or 357kg. The R+ a kill-out of 55% or 385kg. A U- a kill-out of 56-57% or 395kg.A U+, a kill-out of 61% to 62% or 423kg.These are substantial differences and if like me you were accustomed to a U= to U+ carcase, it’s a severe jolt when you go to an R= to U-.
I had always worked on the assumption that bulls had the capacity to improve the grade and kill-out of the adult animal but it’s clear from this year’s experience that this only goes so far. The basic genetic ability of the animal also counts. As a buyer of weanlings, it is clear that unlike our dairy farming colleagues, we do not have enough details on the genetic potential of the animals we buy – either as regards merit of the sire animal or the type and size of the dam.
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