BDGP: Participants in BDGP will have received a letter this week about their animals that have been selected for genotyping in 2020. You need to genotype 60% of your reference animals every year so if 15 cows was your reference number you need to genotype nine animals to comply with the scheme. ICBF will have selected animals in your herd for genotyping based on the animals in your herd in January 2020.
However, you don’t have to stick to this and you have a number of options:
1 If you are happy with the selection they have made, you can go to the ICBF website and click the “happy with selection” button. This will ensure tags are dispatched in the first batch in February if you want to tag animals before turnout.2 If you wish to select alternative animals in your herd, this facility is available on the ICBF website. You must make this alternative selection before this Friday 31 January. 3 The final option is to defer your tag selection until later in the spring when more animals have been born on your farm. This could be a better option where male calves have been selected for genotyping. These will have little value to you for your breeding programme. Remember heifer calves born in spring 2020 will not be eligible for the 31 October 2020 deadline as they will be under 16 months. BDGP herds must have 50% genotyped four- or five-star animals by 31 October 2020. It’s important to check the herd’s status before making decisions on this year’s tag selection.
Compensatory growth: Compensatory growth occurs when animals are moved on to a diet rich in energy, eg spring grass after a period of restricted intake or growth. The target growth rate for weanlings over the winter months is somewhere between 0.5kg/day and 0.7kg/day in order to avail of maximum compensation after turnout.
On many farms weanlings will have been offered 1-2kg/head/day over the winter months to achieve target growth rates and this supplementation can now stop in advance of turnout. If weanlings gain too much weight over winter months and become fat, it has been shown that they subsequently lose this fat at grass and the extra weight is not carried through to slaughter or sale at the end of the second grazing season.
Weanlings should be offered a silage-only diet from now until turnout. The earlier they are turned out, the higher the compensatory growth will be.
Calving difficulty changes: In the pedigree section this week, Shane Murphy goes into the changes around the calving difficulty figures on pedigree bulls and how they will be presented this spring in pedigree catalogues. The calving difficulty figure has been broken down into a beef cow figure and a beef heifer figure to better reflect the figure depending on the animal on which you are using the bull. It’s important to familiarise yourself with the changes before going to a sale.
BDGP: Participants in BDGP will have received a letter this week about their animals that have been selected for genotyping in 2020. You need to genotype 60% of your reference animals every year so if 15 cows was your reference number you need to genotype nine animals to comply with the scheme. ICBF will have selected animals in your herd for genotyping based on the animals in your herd in January 2020.
However, you don’t have to stick to this and you have a number of options:
1 If you are happy with the selection they have made, you can go to the ICBF website and click the “happy with selection” button. This will ensure tags are dispatched in the first batch in February if you want to tag animals before turnout.2 If you wish to select alternative animals in your herd, this facility is available on the ICBF website. You must make this alternative selection before this Friday 31 January. 3 The final option is to defer your tag selection until later in the spring when more animals have been born on your farm. This could be a better option where male calves have been selected for genotyping. These will have little value to you for your breeding programme. Remember heifer calves born in spring 2020 will not be eligible for the 31 October 2020 deadline as they will be under 16 months. BDGP herds must have 50% genotyped four- or five-star animals by 31 October 2020. It’s important to check the herd’s status before making decisions on this year’s tag selection.
Compensatory growth: Compensatory growth occurs when animals are moved on to a diet rich in energy, eg spring grass after a period of restricted intake or growth. The target growth rate for weanlings over the winter months is somewhere between 0.5kg/day and 0.7kg/day in order to avail of maximum compensation after turnout.
On many farms weanlings will have been offered 1-2kg/head/day over the winter months to achieve target growth rates and this supplementation can now stop in advance of turnout. If weanlings gain too much weight over winter months and become fat, it has been shown that they subsequently lose this fat at grass and the extra weight is not carried through to slaughter or sale at the end of the second grazing season.
Weanlings should be offered a silage-only diet from now until turnout. The earlier they are turned out, the higher the compensatory growth will be.
Calving difficulty changes: In the pedigree section this week, Shane Murphy goes into the changes around the calving difficulty figures on pedigree bulls and how they will be presented this spring in pedigree catalogues. The calving difficulty figure has been broken down into a beef cow figure and a beef heifer figure to better reflect the figure depending on the animal on which you are using the bull. It’s important to familiarise yourself with the changes before going to a sale.
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