Selecting the correct beef sires for your dairy herd deserves significant consideration. The days of choosing the easiest calving beef bull and being confident that there will be a beef farmer ready to pay for that calf at three weeks of age are long gone.
Choosing sires based on a single trait can have a negative impact on other important traits. This is the case when farmers select beef sires on their calving ease figure alone – often at the expense of carcase weight and conformation.
Many beef farmers have felt the impact of this over the past few years and it is now a case of ‘one bitten, twice shy’, as some farmers are reluctant to return to dairy calf-to-beef systems
It is for this reason that there has been a gradual decline in the average carcase weight achieved by dairy-beef cattle over the last number of years.
This has a negative effect on the overall profitability of the system for the beef farmer. Many beef farmers have felt the impact of this over the past few years and it is now a case of ‘one bitten, twice shy’, as some farmers are reluctant to return to dairy calf-to-beef systems.
It is for this reason that the ICBF, in conjunction with Teagasc, developed the Dairy Beef Index (DBI), which was launched for the first time in January 2019. The Index aims to help dairy farmers find beef bulls that have superior beef genetics, without compromising on important calving traits such as gestation length and calving ease.
The Dairy Beef Index
The Index itself is comprised of two sub-indexes – Calving Value which accounts for 49% of the overall DBI and Beef Value which makes up 51% of the DBI. The traits within each index are shown on the second bar graph in Figure 1.
Each sire is given a euro value for both Calving Value and Beef Value sub indexes. These are then added together to give the overall DBI Value.
Using the Index
Dairy farmers need to look beyond the overall DBI figure in order to get the best use out of the Index. Similar to selecting your dairy sires, you should establish a team of beef bulls that will cover every eventuality.
To do this, I’d suggest breaking the herd up into the following groups:
Heifers: The heifers on your farm should, by and large, be genetically superior to the mature cows in the herd. Therefore in order to accelerate the genetic gain in the herd, heifers should be mated to a dairy sire.Where this is not the chosen option, calving ease has to be the deciding factor here when selecting a beef sire. We need to look for ‘Low Risk’ sires in the Heifer Calving Difficulty trait, as well as keeping an eye on the actual calving difficulty percentage and the reliability of that figure.
Table 1 lists the 10 top-ranked active sires from the March 2020 DBI genetic evaluations released by the ICBF last week.
While this is only a small proportion of the bulls available, for demonstration purposes, I would select a bull such as Ulsan for heifers, ranked second on the list with a DBI of €143, made up of €45 of a Calving Value and €98 of a Beef Value.
The key things here is that he is rated as ‘Low Risk’ for heifer calving difficulty, with a Heifer Calving Difficulty figure of 5.3% on the new split-calving evaluation, alongside a reliability figure of 59%, which is quite high for Heifer Calving Difficulty figures.
Early calved mature cows: Just because a cow is being served in the first few weeks of the breeding season does not automatically mean that she will be mated to a dairy sire. You need to ask yourself: Do I want a replacement heifer from this cow? Cows that have had any issues in the past, such as high SCC, or cows of lower EBI should be mated to a beef sire even if it is in the first week of the breeding season.
When selecting a bull for these mature cows, you can afford to concentrate more on what the Beef Value will bring to the table. The Limousin bull Ewdenvale Ivor (LM2014) by Dovea, with a DBI of €139 (-€9 Calving Value, €149 Beef Value), brings a hefty 31kg of carcase while only being 4.1% for calving difficulty. Where he is let down on the Calving Value side is on gestation length, where he is +3.1 days. However, given that this cow is being served early in the breeding season, that is not overly concerning.
If you are confident that she is a fit and able calver, you might be tempted to go for a Belgian Blue bull such as NCBC’s Ross Alo (ET), with a DBI of €128 (-€45 Calving Value, €173 Beef Value). He has a massive 32kg Carcase Weight figure, however with a Cow Calving Difficulty figure of 7.6%, you want to know in advance which cows to select this bull for.
Late calved mature cows: For this batch of cows, I would place a lot more emphasis on traits such as Gestation, as you don’t want this cow moving any later in the season. A bull such as Du Stordeur Flaneur (SFL) from Bova AI has a DBI of €134 (-€11 Calving Value, €145 Beef Value), a gestation figure of -1.4 days and a Cow Calving Difficulty figure of 6.4%, and thus could be suitable for some mature cows in this group. Different bulls will bring different attributes to the table, depending on what each individual cow needs. Over the coming days, it is well worth taking the time to speak to your local AI technician and studying the DBI active bull list on the ICBF website.
The DBI is a tool to help dairy farmers improve the Beef Value of calves, with minimal impact on calving traits.Selecting bulls on calving ease alone can result in poorer beef traits such as carcase weight and
conformation.It is important to look beyond the overall DBI value and
select bulls with specific traits you
require.Select a team of bulls for the various groups of cattle outlined.
Selecting the correct beef sires for your dairy herd deserves significant consideration. The days of choosing the easiest calving beef bull and being confident that there will be a beef farmer ready to pay for that calf at three weeks of age are long gone.
Choosing sires based on a single trait can have a negative impact on other important traits. This is the case when farmers select beef sires on their calving ease figure alone – often at the expense of carcase weight and conformation.
Many beef farmers have felt the impact of this over the past few years and it is now a case of ‘one bitten, twice shy’, as some farmers are reluctant to return to dairy calf-to-beef systems
It is for this reason that there has been a gradual decline in the average carcase weight achieved by dairy-beef cattle over the last number of years.
This has a negative effect on the overall profitability of the system for the beef farmer. Many beef farmers have felt the impact of this over the past few years and it is now a case of ‘one bitten, twice shy’, as some farmers are reluctant to return to dairy calf-to-beef systems.
It is for this reason that the ICBF, in conjunction with Teagasc, developed the Dairy Beef Index (DBI), which was launched for the first time in January 2019. The Index aims to help dairy farmers find beef bulls that have superior beef genetics, without compromising on important calving traits such as gestation length and calving ease.
The Dairy Beef Index
The Index itself is comprised of two sub-indexes – Calving Value which accounts for 49% of the overall DBI and Beef Value which makes up 51% of the DBI. The traits within each index are shown on the second bar graph in Figure 1.
Each sire is given a euro value for both Calving Value and Beef Value sub indexes. These are then added together to give the overall DBI Value.
Using the Index
Dairy farmers need to look beyond the overall DBI figure in order to get the best use out of the Index. Similar to selecting your dairy sires, you should establish a team of beef bulls that will cover every eventuality.
To do this, I’d suggest breaking the herd up into the following groups:
Heifers: The heifers on your farm should, by and large, be genetically superior to the mature cows in the herd. Therefore in order to accelerate the genetic gain in the herd, heifers should be mated to a dairy sire.Where this is not the chosen option, calving ease has to be the deciding factor here when selecting a beef sire. We need to look for ‘Low Risk’ sires in the Heifer Calving Difficulty trait, as well as keeping an eye on the actual calving difficulty percentage and the reliability of that figure.
Table 1 lists the 10 top-ranked active sires from the March 2020 DBI genetic evaluations released by the ICBF last week.
While this is only a small proportion of the bulls available, for demonstration purposes, I would select a bull such as Ulsan for heifers, ranked second on the list with a DBI of €143, made up of €45 of a Calving Value and €98 of a Beef Value.
The key things here is that he is rated as ‘Low Risk’ for heifer calving difficulty, with a Heifer Calving Difficulty figure of 5.3% on the new split-calving evaluation, alongside a reliability figure of 59%, which is quite high for Heifer Calving Difficulty figures.
Early calved mature cows: Just because a cow is being served in the first few weeks of the breeding season does not automatically mean that she will be mated to a dairy sire. You need to ask yourself: Do I want a replacement heifer from this cow? Cows that have had any issues in the past, such as high SCC, or cows of lower EBI should be mated to a beef sire even if it is in the first week of the breeding season.
When selecting a bull for these mature cows, you can afford to concentrate more on what the Beef Value will bring to the table. The Limousin bull Ewdenvale Ivor (LM2014) by Dovea, with a DBI of €139 (-€9 Calving Value, €149 Beef Value), brings a hefty 31kg of carcase while only being 4.1% for calving difficulty. Where he is let down on the Calving Value side is on gestation length, where he is +3.1 days. However, given that this cow is being served early in the breeding season, that is not overly concerning.
If you are confident that she is a fit and able calver, you might be tempted to go for a Belgian Blue bull such as NCBC’s Ross Alo (ET), with a DBI of €128 (-€45 Calving Value, €173 Beef Value). He has a massive 32kg Carcase Weight figure, however with a Cow Calving Difficulty figure of 7.6%, you want to know in advance which cows to select this bull for.
Late calved mature cows: For this batch of cows, I would place a lot more emphasis on traits such as Gestation, as you don’t want this cow moving any later in the season. A bull such as Du Stordeur Flaneur (SFL) from Bova AI has a DBI of €134 (-€11 Calving Value, €145 Beef Value), a gestation figure of -1.4 days and a Cow Calving Difficulty figure of 6.4%, and thus could be suitable for some mature cows in this group. Different bulls will bring different attributes to the table, depending on what each individual cow needs. Over the coming days, it is well worth taking the time to speak to your local AI technician and studying the DBI active bull list on the ICBF website.
The DBI is a tool to help dairy farmers improve the Beef Value of calves, with minimal impact on calving traits.Selecting bulls on calving ease alone can result in poorer beef traits such as carcase weight and
conformation.It is important to look beyond the overall DBI value and
select bulls with specific traits you
require.Select a team of bulls for the various groups of cattle outlined. 
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