Dairy farmers are now able to access beef genetics that have proven their worth in a dairy beef system through Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Dairy Beef Progeny Test.
LIC's partners with B+LNZ Genetics, which coordinates the Dairy Beef Progeny Test (DBPT), and through this relationship, LIC has selected Hereford and Murray Grey genetics that have proven to deliver on low birth weight, calving ease, gestation length as well as growth rates.
The bulls selected by LIC were Beechwood In Time 7, a Hereford bull bred by North Canterbury breeders Rob and Mary Ann Burrows and Torrisdale Quercus, a Murray Grey bull bred by Barry McDonald.
The Burrows say Beechwood In Time 7 is a good medium size bull with a fantastic temperament and sound conformation.
“He has plenty of meat which supports his Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) for Eye Muscle Area which at 8.3, puts him in the top 2% for New Zealand.”
Similarly, Barry McDonald’s Murray Grey bull, has tremendous EBV figures across the board including low birth weight, short gestation and good growth. He also has a great temperament.
“His stand-out figures are his carcass attributes which are in the top 1% for Eye Muscle Area and the top 2% for intramuscular fat (marbling),” says Barry.
B+LNZ Genetics Beef Specialist Anna Boyd says the bulls were selected for inclusion in the DBPT in the 2020/21 matings based on their EBVs. The performance of their progeny within the DBPT has shown that their beef EBVs remained accurate when tested in a New Zealand dairy beef system.
“Dairy farmers can have confidence that the bulls will perform and deliver on low birthweight, short gestation and calving ease while knowing that the bulls will also add value to the rearer and finisher.”
Ms Boyd says as part of the DBPT, both bulls have had a huge amount of data collected on the performance of their progeny. LIC has access to this analysed data via regular reports, to ensure the bulls selected were the cream of the crop across all the sires evaluated in the DBPT.
While the bulls’ progeny carcass data has yet to be made available (the 2021-born animals are currently being processed), Ms Boyd says because the accuracy of the bulls EBVS remained true for all the calving and growth traits, she has full confidence that the processing data will also reflect the bulls’ EBVs for carcass traits.
LIC's Beef Genetics Products Lead, Paul Charteris, says it is important that the cooperative is selling genetics from proven bulls and most importantly, bulls that have been proven for use across New Zealand crossbred dairy cows.
The Dairy Beef Progeny Test is a national asset says Charteris.
“ With eight years-worth of data accumulated and around 170 beef bulls tested based on the performance of more than 4800 progeny, this type of data is especially valuable as the importance of dairy-beef continues to grow for New Zealand.”
The cows in the DBPT are all NZ crossbred cows which represent 75-80 percent of this country's dairy herd.
Mr Charteris says data from the DBPT gives both LIC and their customers assurances that they confidently can use the beef genetics to add value to their non-replacement calves.
He says LIC has seen a significant increase in demand for beef bulls in the past five years, reflecting overseas trends.
Mr Charteris says there can be a lot of unknowns when using beef bulls, especially unrecorded beef bulls, across dairy cows and in many cases, it’s a matter of just hoping for the best.
Using bulls, whose progeny have proven themselves through the DBPT, minimises the risks associated with using beef genetics across dairy cows.
“Through the DBPT, we are only selecting the best of the best – which is a lot better position to be in than hoping for the best," says Mr Charteris.
This progeny test is coordinated by B+LNZ Genetics, run in partnership with LIC with scientific leadership from Massey University. The program is run at Pāmu’s Wairakei Pastoral Complex where calves in the progeny test are finished under commercial conditions with assessment of rearing, growth and carcass traits, as well as calving ease and gestation length. Traits that are important to both dairy and beef farmers.