At this time of year, farmers are presented with a category of stock that they don’t like to see – empty heifers. These animals are not in calf, but unlike their older sisters they are not producing milk either. Therefore, they’re not making any money. They were supposed to join the herd next spring but now they are in limbo, or should we say purgatory?

There are three options for these animals – sell them now, fatten them and sell them when fit or keep them to carry over for breeding next year.

Prices being quoted for these animals now range from €600 to €750 depending on size and breed

There is a fairly select market for these heifers now, mostly livestock exporters who will buy them and put them in calf to calve next summer and autumn. The vast majority of these heifers will be exported to the UK as there is more of a market, both in Northern Ireland and Britain, for summer- and autumn-calving dairy stock. Prices being quoted for these animals now range from €600 to €750 depending on size and breed, with higher demand for high-EBI Holstein Friesian type heifers.

When to sell

For farmers who are perhaps tight for grass or don’t have sufficient wintering capacity for extra stock, then selling now is probably the best option. The fattening option will suit farmers who have grass, silage and housing to carry over the empty heifers to beef. When they will be fit will largely depend on their age and on how well they have been fed.

Generally, a dairy heifer that has been pushed with meal should be fit at around 22 months of age, while a heifer that hasn’t been pushed with meal, or is undergrown will take much longer, at up to 26 or 27 months. This means it will be May or June next year before they are fit for slaughter. Of course, they can always be sold at any time up to that.

It all depends on how quickly the heifers can be got away

What is a factory-fit dairy heifer worth? Presuming she weighs 520kg at slaughter and kills out at 52%, then the carcase weight will come in at around 270kg. Depending on prevailing factory prices for heifers and their slaughter grading and conformation, this carcase would be worth between €900 and €1,000. This is between €150 and €300 more per animal than the current prices for heifers, but farmers need to deduct the extra costs involved in keeping the animals for longer such as meal, grass, silage and labour.

It all depends on how quickly the heifers can be got away. British Friesian types will finish quicker than Holstein Friesian types and both will have larger carcase size than Jersey crossbred types. If 3kg of meal is fed along with silage for the winter, the daily feed costs will be around €2.10 per day.

Carrying over heifers

The third option is to carry over the heifers and try to put them back in calf again next year. If considering this plan, you need to ask yourself why the heifers didn’t go in calf in the first place and is there a chance that they won’t go in calf the next time.

The other risk with this strategy is that you are recycling an animal that has potentially got poor fertility

For spring-calving farmers this means calving down the recycled heifers at three years of age, which we know is problematic as the heifers are usually too fat and there’s loads of evidence to say that production and fertility is lower in three-year-old heifers.

The other risk with this strategy is that you are recycling an animal that has potentially got poor fertility, by virtue of the fact that she didn’t go in calf the first time around. The exception to this is where it was found that there was a dodgy bull or some other issue.

Figures from the ICBF show that of the 382,000 dairy heifer calves born in 2017, just 58% calved within the optimum window of 22 to 26 months of age. At this stage, 79% have now calved. Of the remaining 21%; 8.8% died, 7.4% were slaughtered, 1.6% were exported and 3.2% are still alive but have not yet calved.

Read more

ICBF admit genomic inaccuracies for dairy stock

Dairy management: heavy rain causing problems