Misleading data on pedigree bulls is costing suckler farmers up to €10m every year.
This is the finding of an investigation into bull performance by the Irish Farmers Journal. Some breeders are manipulating data on the key maternal traits of calving difficulty.
Inspections under the Gene Ireland beef breeding programme identified 136 pedigree cows on which C-sections were carried out. But over half of these C-sections were not declared by the breeding herd owners.
Further, in a quarter of these cases, the breeder claimed that the calving was “unassisted”.
Worryingly, the breeders within this elite programme are considered to be the country’s most progressive.
We can also reveal that more than 500 pedigree herds have between one and five dairy-bred cows on the farm. That can facilitate the cross-fostering of pedigree calves on to cows with higher milk yields, improving the calves’ growth rates, thereby boosting the milk yield figures of the direct bloodlines. Suckler farmers are willing to pay more for bulls whose daughters will have plentiful milk.
The IFJ investigation – based on analysis of ICBF data – has also found serious deficiencies in the fertility, functionality and management of bulls bought by commercial suckler farms. Thus:
Some 10% of bulls sold by pedigree breeders to commercial suckler farmers never produce a calf.Another 6% produce no more than 10 calves before being culled. Just 60% of bulls bought by commercial suckler farmers produce more than 50 calves over the course of their lifetime.Suckler farmers buy approximately 15,000 pedigree bulls every year at an average price of €3,000, a total annual investment of €45m. The estimated financial loss is incurred as a result of bulls producing no or few calves; disruption to the calving pattern after culling of a bull; more calving difficulties than expected and daughters with lower than expected milk supply.
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10% of beef bulls fail to produce any progeny
Misleading data on pedigree bulls is costing suckler farmers up to €10m every year.
This is the finding of an investigation into bull performance by the Irish Farmers Journal. Some breeders are manipulating data on the key maternal traits of calving difficulty.
Inspections under the Gene Ireland beef breeding programme identified 136 pedigree cows on which C-sections were carried out. But over half of these C-sections were not declared by the breeding herd owners.
Further, in a quarter of these cases, the breeder claimed that the calving was “unassisted”.
Worryingly, the breeders within this elite programme are considered to be the country’s most progressive.
We can also reveal that more than 500 pedigree herds have between one and five dairy-bred cows on the farm. That can facilitate the cross-fostering of pedigree calves on to cows with higher milk yields, improving the calves’ growth rates, thereby boosting the milk yield figures of the direct bloodlines. Suckler farmers are willing to pay more for bulls whose daughters will have plentiful milk.
The IFJ investigation – based on analysis of ICBF data – has also found serious deficiencies in the fertility, functionality and management of bulls bought by commercial suckler farms. Thus:
Some 10% of bulls sold by pedigree breeders to commercial suckler farmers never produce a calf.Another 6% produce no more than 10 calves before being culled. Just 60% of bulls bought by commercial suckler farmers produce more than 50 calves over the course of their lifetime.Suckler farmers buy approximately 15,000 pedigree bulls every year at an average price of €3,000, a total annual investment of €45m. The estimated financial loss is incurred as a result of bulls producing no or few calves; disruption to the calving pattern after culling of a bull; more calving difficulties than expected and daughters with lower than expected milk supply.
Read more
10% of beef bulls fail to produce any progeny
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