In the coming days 2,000 suckler farmers subscribed to ICBF’s HerdPlus service will be the first to receive the new Weaning Performance Report.

It is based on calves born in the year proceeding 1 July 2016.

The report works on the concept of the 200-day weight, an international standard in suckler beef herds.

Weaning efficiency

The top and bottom calves from a weightgain point of view will be identified on the report.

Sires will also be ranked based on the performance of their calves.

The weaning efficiency measure will then be applied to all eligible cows in the herd.

ICBF weaning performance report: cow/sire section

A widely used variable internationally, weaning efficiency is simply the percentage of a cow’s own weight that she has produced in a 200-day-old calf.

The variable was trialled in the BETTER farm beef programme earlier this year and can help farmers focus on identifying their top cows.

Calves must have at least one weight recorded in the ICBF database between 100-300 days of age to have a 200-day weight generated. On-farm weights are preferable, but single mart weights are also included where no on-farm weight is available.

Cow weights

While cow weights are not compulsory for the report to be generated, the weaning efficiency section will not be included without them.

Cows must have at least one weight recorded between 0-300 days of the calf’s date of birth to be included in the report.

Comment – Ciarán Lenehan

It is well chronicled that maintenance costs for the typical Irish suckler cow are high.

Farmers need to know what they are getting from her when investing all of this money and effort to keep her. Around the world, on the best and most profitable operations, weaning efficiency is one of the top measures used in culling decisions.

It is not necessarily a tool to hammer continental-breed cows. In Clare, Sean Hayes was the top BETTER farmer when weaning efficiency was analysed, achieving the international gold standard of 50%. Sean’s herd is predominantly Limousin, with Charolais, Simmental and Belgian Blue cows littered throughout.

Variation

Already there has been huge variation found within farms. For example, on one of the pilot holdings a fourth lactation 644kg cow showed with a weaning efficiency of 55%, while a 720kg second lactation comrade of hers produced just 28% of her weight at 200 days.

The difference here is 148kg of weightgain and while other variables like sires come into play, the second calf essentially needs four to five months of extra feeding to catch the first. The lighter calf’s mother will also cost more to feed as she is a heavier cow.

Carbon

Striving for more efficient cows will obviously help the farmer’s bottom line, with calves off the farm at a younger age, having achieved more of their lifetime weightgain on the cow as well as lighter cows, which will incur less maintenance costs. A shift to this way of thinking will also have positive effect from a carbon emissions point of view – an area we are undoubtedly going to hear more about in the coming years. The bottom line – get weighing.

Read the Irish Farmers Journal in the coming weeks for more information on the new ICBF Weaning Performance report. To generate your own, use the reports section of the Herdplus website.

Read more

Introducing the weaning efficiency concept in the BETTER farm programme

Weaning efficiency league table

Sean Hayes - the top performer on weaning efficiency