The objective of the study is to assess the terminal beef performance of dairy-beef cross and purebred dairy calves sired by bulls of divergent genetic potential for terminal traits. Three treatments groups have been assembled:
Dairy-bred Holstein/Friesian male calves – from high EBI sires.Beef-bred (Aberdeen Angus) male dairy calves – high terminal index.Beef-bred (Aberdeen Angus) male dairy calves – low terminal index.A 40ha farm, composed of 120 calves in a calf-to-beef system (40 of each breed type) is being established. It is planned to finish all males as steers, the pure dairy animals at 23-24 months of age and the two Angus dairy crosses at 22-23 months of age.
All calves were born to Holstein Friesian dairy cows (crossbred cows not considered), which were bred to AI sires between 27 March and 25 June 2017.
Sires used had a maximum calving difficulty of 3.5% and a minimum terminal reliability of 60%.
The high beef merit Angus sires use were WZG, AA4057, AA2037, FPI and ZLT.
Lower-index sires were ZTP, AA2123, KYA, SYT, JGY and GZA. Holstein sires used were FR2239, FR2339, FR2385 and FR4021.
Calves were purchased at about three weeks of age and offered milk replacer at a feeding rate of either 4-8l/day or 0.5-1.0kg milk powder/head/day.
Calves had free access to water, calf ration and roughage (straw). When weaned after seven weeks on milk replacer, calves in both groups had similar liveweight, on average 88kg.
The calves that were offered the higher level of milk replacer had eaten 35kg of calf ration, while those offered the standard rate of milk replacer (four litres) had consumed 50kg of calf ration.
Irish Farmers Journal/Teagasc/ICBF Live Demo.
The objective of the study is to assess the terminal beef performance of dairy-beef cross and purebred dairy calves sired by bulls of divergent genetic potential for terminal traits. Three treatments groups have been assembled:
Dairy-bred Holstein/Friesian male calves – from high EBI sires.Beef-bred (Aberdeen Angus) male dairy calves – high terminal index.Beef-bred (Aberdeen Angus) male dairy calves – low terminal index.A 40ha farm, composed of 120 calves in a calf-to-beef system (40 of each breed type) is being established. It is planned to finish all males as steers, the pure dairy animals at 23-24 months of age and the two Angus dairy crosses at 22-23 months of age.
All calves were born to Holstein Friesian dairy cows (crossbred cows not considered), which were bred to AI sires between 27 March and 25 June 2017.
Sires used had a maximum calving difficulty of 3.5% and a minimum terminal reliability of 60%.
The high beef merit Angus sires use were WZG, AA4057, AA2037, FPI and ZLT.
Lower-index sires were ZTP, AA2123, KYA, SYT, JGY and GZA. Holstein sires used were FR2239, FR2339, FR2385 and FR4021.
Calves were purchased at about three weeks of age and offered milk replacer at a feeding rate of either 4-8l/day or 0.5-1.0kg milk powder/head/day.
Calves had free access to water, calf ration and roughage (straw). When weaned after seven weeks on milk replacer, calves in both groups had similar liveweight, on average 88kg.
The calves that were offered the higher level of milk replacer had eaten 35kg of calf ration, while those offered the standard rate of milk replacer (four litres) had consumed 50kg of calf ration.
Irish Farmers Journal/Teagasc/ICBF Live Demo.
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: