If the calf market of spring 2022 has taught us anything, it has to be that there is a clear divergence in price depending on the quality of calf on offer.

Absolutely, the increased costs of milk replacer and concentrates have had a negative effect on the overall domestic demand for calves, but good-quality calves were more insulated from this price reduction than poorer-quality calves.

The introduction of the sexed semen lab in Moorepark is another huge change this year.

It will see less cows bred to dairy sires and provides a massive opportunity for every dairy herd in the country to use high beef merit AI sires, identified within the dairy beef index (DBI), both earlier in the breeding season and in greater numbers.

Now is the time to have the discussion on what sires are delivering the goods and what bulls to leave out of the pot this year

The benefit the DBI has brought to beef selection for dairy herds is in identifying sires that will continue to deliver the key traits of calving ease and gestation length, while at the same time, delivering a calf with better beef genetics for the beef farmer.

With more of the herd now going to be mated to beef sires, selecting beef bulls deserves considerable deliberation.

Genetics companies have worked hard and must be commended for the improvements to the offering of dairy-beef sires made available over the last four years.

Also, for beef farmers that are purchasing calves from the same farm each year, now is the time to have the discussion on what sires are delivering the goods and what bulls to leave out of the pot this year.

Using the DBI

Looking at the overall DBI figure will tell you very little about what the bull will deliver, as the overall figure is a culmination of both the calving traits and the beef traits together. Farmers need to look within the index.

Calving ease and gestation length are always going to be the first figures dairy farmers look at when selecting beef sires.

However, when working within a certain calving ease range that suits the cow or heifer being selected for, it is really important that farmers look to maximise the beef value and the carcase weight figure of sires, as there can be a huge variation in what the bull will deliver in terms of beef value from a similar calving ease figure.

The sires outlined in Table 1 are a selection of those that will be used this year for the 2023 crop of Thrive programme calves.

The aim is to have a minimum value of beef figure of €50 and a positive carcase weight figure of at least 5kg.

As can be seen from the table, once you know the calving parameters that you are willing to work with, there are bulls of every breed that can deliver desirable beef traits.

However, in reality more than 80% of matings are going to be to early-maturing breed types and so the table is weighted more towards these breeds.

Angus and Hereford tend to perform really well on the calving index, but it is important to select these sires carefully, as what they deliver in terms of beef value can vary greatly.

One of the greatest problems identified within the Thrive programme is the issue of early-maturing heifers going over fat and out of specification at light carcase weights.

Smaller-framed dairy cows

This is where smaller-framed dairy cows have been mated to a beef sire, with low carcase weight figures resulting in an animal that will fail to meet minimum carcase weight specifications or be penalised for being overfat at light carcase weights.

It is really important that farmers look to maximise the beef value and the carcase weight figure of sires

As Teagasc has reported in recent years, less than 40% of dairy-beef farmers are still rearing calves over a five-year period.

Lack of profitability and poor calf quality have been cited as the two main reasons for this.

In the next couple of years, we will see a move to genomic tagging of all calves at birth which, combined with the new commercial beef value (CBV), will provide greater information to the calf buyer in the coming years.

If Ireland is to have a sustainable dairy industry in the future, it needs a sustainable beef industry.

For that to happen, the quality of the beef calf coming from the dairy herd must improve.