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While more and more suckler farmers are breeding their own replacements, there are still plenty of herd owners who purchase maiden heifers or in-calf females through weekly mart sales, at special breeding sales, or directly from other farms. Depending on the farm system, there are merits to both options. For example, in small herds where calves are traditionally sold as weanlings, purchasing in-calf heifers allows herd owners to operate a simple system using one terminal stock bull to maximise sale weight and value of calves. But for larger herds with two or more stock bulls, there is the option to run at least one bull with more maternal traits, with the purpose of breeding replacement heifers.
Aims
Regardless of which option farmers use, the aim should be the same – to replace older cows with younger animals that possess better genetics, better fertility and greater milk production.
This is easier said than done. When buying-in heifers, farmers know little about the background of these animals unless they are purchased from the same herds annually. When breeding heifers from within a herd, it can take up to 10 years before you see real benefits from using a maternal sire. Operating a higher replacement rate and calving heifers at 24-months-old can reduce this timeframe, but it will take at least three years until the new maternal sire’s daughters come into production.
Costs
Another important issue to consider is costs. Good-quality beef cows will typically generate a cull value of £1,000 to £1,200. Cows with more Holstein influence will make £100 to £300 less, depending on age and body condition when sold.
Young cows with more extreme beef characteristics are worth considerably more. Either way, cull cow value can go a long way to covering the cost of breeding, or purchasing replacements.
Table 1 outlines the typical rearing costs of heifers kept for breeding. Costs are based on a heifer born on 1 March and calving down at either 24 or 36 months of age.
In both cases, it is assumed that it takes £750 to bring a heifer calf through to weaning in October (to cover costs of keeping the cow as well as the calf).
To calculate the bull cost, it is assumed a bull is purchased for £2,500 with a cull value of £1,400. Add in another £365 to cover feed and miscellaneous costs each year. Assuming the bull serves 35 cows annually, for a three-year period, it comes to £20/cow/year.
Based on the example shown in the table, it costs approximately £1,132 to retain homebred heifers as breeding replacements to calve down at 24 months. This increases to just over £1,330 to calve a heifer down at 36 months.
Comparison
Both costs still compare favourably with the prices paid at special breeding sales for in-calf heifers. Several sales held in recent weeks have recorded sale averages of £1,500 to £1,700 for in-calf cows and heifers.
Of course, there are factors that are difficult to put a price on, some of which are discussed in the next piece.
Homebred heifers – the pros and cons
More often than not, breeding replacements from within the herd has more positives than negatives.
There is less risk of bringing in disease, and farmers can put their most productive cows to a maternal bull with the aim of getting replacement heifers. Knowing the background of your own animals, and using proven genetics, should result in the quality of cows being improved year-on-year.
Also, breeding heifers from within a herd does not necessarily mean you have to compromise on calf quality when using a maternal bull. There are numerous bloodlines within different breeds that combine good maternal traits along with high growth and conformation in calves. In smaller herds there is the option to use artificial insemination (AI) on a selection of cows to try and produce replacements, as well as using a bull combining both maternal and terminal traits.
Downside
The main downside of producing homebred heifers is the time it takes to get sufficient breeding females on the ground from a new herd sire.
A maternal bull purchased in spring to breed heifers will produce calves one year later. It will take another two years before his first group of daughters could calve down. Assuming the bull served 20 cows in his first season, there will most likely be nine or 10 heifer calves born in his first crop of calves. It is unlikely that all these animals will be suitable for breeding, leaving a small number of desirable replacement heifers to choose from.
Therefore, it takes a long time to breed more milk into cows if starting from a very low base. As a result, it may be more beneficial to use maternal bulls across the entire herd for a short period and operate a higher culling rate to bring more heifers into the herd annually. However, perhaps the main downside when using a stock bull to breed replacements is that the bull will have to be changed regularly to avoid inbreeding.
Purchasing replacements – the pros and cons
For some suckler farmers, buying-in replacements is the most practical policy as it creates a simple system, where only one stock bull is required.
As no daughters are being retained, it means the lifespan of the bull can be extended. This should allow the farmer to invest more into purchasing a quality bull with proven bloodlines.
For those farmers working on marginal land where early grazing is a challenge, it is more difficult to get sufficient weight onto heifers to allow them to calve down successfully at 24 months. Therefore, buying-in in-calf heifers could be an attractive option. Also, buying heifers on the point of calving will save on silage during winter and reduce the number of stocking groups at grass, especially if calving at 24 months is not practiced.
There is also the option to buy cows with calves at foot. This reduces the workload and risks associated with calving down bought-in heifers, and you get to see the quality of the calf being produced.
There are some farmers who specialise in producing for this market. Outside of that, there is a danger you buy someone else’s problem when purchasing a cow and calf outfit.
Negatives
But in general, disease is the biggest risk with bought-in animals, followed by the unknown background of the animal. A stylish heifer could be in calf to a hard-calving bull, or could end up with little or no milk.
Care should also be taken not to purchase heifers that are overfat.
Buying directly from the same farm each year is advisable, as a relationship can be established and it will reduce some of the outlined risks.
SHARING OPTIONS: