Sales_A4 30/10/2014 10:45 Page 1
€URO-STARS
IN ACTION In the Sales Ring For a producer of goods in any industry - providing what the customer wants – is one of the most basic and fundamental rules of thumb that must be followed. Breed Society Sales For pedigree beef breeders in Ireland though – where do €uro-Stars rank on the checklist of things to have got right before they head to a sale with a bull? If there was a strong message coming back from farmers that good €uro-Star ratings are something that they want – then one would expect the majority of bulls being brought to bull
sales to have above average €uro-Star ratings. If €uro-Star ratings were seen as irrelevant by both pedigree breeders and commercial farmers than the distribution of €uro-stars in bull sales catalogues would be largely random with no trend showing. Following is an analysis of the ‘Terminal Index’ €uro-Star ratings for pedigree beef bulls that were entered into a random selection of breed society bull sales in 2013 & 2014. In all of these sales – there was no minimum entry requirement set on €uro-Stars.
SIMMENTAL BULL SALE – ROSCOMMON – 2nd NOVEMBER 2013 Terminal Index €uro – Stars
Number of Bulls entered into the Sale 24 8 5 6 4 3 1 1 0 0 0
5
10
15
20
25
• 71% of bulls entered into the sale had at least 4 €uro-Stars for the ‘Terminal Index’. • 9 of the top 10 prices were paid for bulls with at least 4 stars for the ‘Terminal Index’.
‘Curaheen Drifter’ bred by David Wall, Newcastle, Co.Dublin was the top priced bull at the Irish Simmental Society’s Premier bull sale (November 2013), selling for €18,500. He was a 4.5 star bull for the Terminal Index & Carcass Conformation and was 5 stars for Carcass Weight.
Sales_A4 30/10/2014 10:45 Page 2
CHAROLAIS BULL SALE – TULLAMORE – 24th MAY 2014 Terminal Index €uro – Stars
Number of Bulls entered into Sale 22 15 14 7 4 4 9 7 4 6 5
0
10
15
20
25
• 67% of bulls entered into the sale had at least 3 €uro-Stars for the ‘Terminal Index’. • 5 of the top 7 prices were paid for bulls with at least 5 stars for the ‘Terminal Index’.
‘Macmelvin Ian’, bred by Shane Tully, Ballina, being sold for the top price of €8000 at the Irish Charolais Society’s Spring Premier Sale in Carrick-on-Shannon (March 2014). He had 5 Stars for the Terminal Index, Carcass Weight & Carcass Conformation. LIMOUSIN BULL SALE – ROSCREA – 10th MARCH 2014 Terminal Index €uro – Stars
Number of Bulls entered into Sale 62 34 9 13 5 6 5 5 2 4 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
• 72% of bulls entered into the sale had at least 4 €uro-Stars for the ‘Terminal Index’. • 9 of the top 10 prices were paid for bulls with at least 4.5 stars for the ‘Terminal Index’.
‘Castleboy Iarla’ bred by Peter Kelly, Kilchreest,Co.Galway was the joint top priced bull at the Irish Limousin Society’s Premier Bull Sale (March 2014), selling for €7100. He was a 4.5 star bull for the Terminal index & was 5 stars for Carcass Weight & Carcass Conformation.
2
Sales_A4 30/10/2014 10:45 Page 3
Hereford Bull Sale – Tullamore – 25th March 2014 Terminal Index €uro – Stars
Number of Bulls entered into Sale 22 15 14 7 4 4 9 7 4 6 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
• 73% of bulls entered into the sale had at least 3 €uro-Stars for the ‘Terminal Index’. • 9 of the top 10 prices were paid for bulls with at least 3.5 stars for the ‘Terminal Index’.
‘Corlismore General 700’, with Gary McKiernan, Corlismore Co.Cavan & purchasers James, Edward & Lewis Dilwyn, Hereford, UK. He was the top priced bull (€5000) at the Irish Hereford Society’s premier show & sale in Tullamore (March 2014). He was a five star bull for the Terminal index, Carcass Weight, Carcass Conformation & Docility.
Breed Societies deserve great credit for holding so many sales with catalogues printed with the €uro-Stars displayed. This allows farmers to compare bulls, not just on their physical appearance, which is of course very important, but also on the ‘figures’. It allows a very consistent message to be carried through the beef industry.
Pedigree Breeders are also playing a huge role in that they are including €uro-Stars in their sire selection decisions, before putting their pedigree cows in calf. Doing this, reduces the number of sires that they can pick from, however, as the previous tables have shown – it gives a commercial farmer a far wider selection of bulls with good €uro-Star ratings from which to pick from.
Farmers studying the €uro-Star details of Limousin Bull ‘Milbrook Filio’ when he was sold in Tully in 2011.
Pedigree Beef breeders are putting increased emphasis on having good €uro-Star figures on their stock at sale time. 3
Sales_A4 30/10/2014 10:45 Page 4
Commercial Heifer Sales The use of €uro-Star ratings when selling stock is not limited to just pedigree bulls. A number of crossbred heifer replacement sales are held around the country in increasing numbers. €uro-Star ratings are currently not always available at such sales. However members of three Teagasc Monaghan suckler discussion groups came together earlier this year to hold a commercial heifer sale in Ballybay Mart, on Thursday May 1st, which without doubt went the furthest to-date in terms of providing the purchaser with as much information as possible about the breeding heifers that were being offered for sale. All of the heifers: • Were pre-inspected on farm to ensure that they were physically sound. • Were weighed in the run up to the sale to ensure that they would be at the correct weight for bulling.
Top price on the night of €1310 went to Peter Fitzsimons for a Simmental heifer born on 29/1/2013 weighing 475kgs.
4
• Were scanned not in calf and certified suitable for breeding. • Had all of their sires recorded. • Had their €uro-Star ratings available in a catalogue on the day of the sale. The three discussion groups are facilitated by Mairead Kirk, Beef Advisor Teagasc Monaghan, who Mairead Kirk, Beef Advisor, Teagasc, Monaghan was the main organiser of the sale. The sale itself was a great success with a 92% clearance rate. This was an indication of the clear demand for quality heifers shown on the night. Prices averaged €1100 for yearling heifers weighing on average 421kgs. Mart Manager Sean Greenan said “Trade was strong with plenty of customers for the quality suckler heifers on offer”. Following are pictures of some of the heifers that were in the sale:
Top price per kg went to Martin Mc Nally who achieved €1280 (€3.04/kg) for a heifer weighing 420kgs born on 10/4/2013. The catalogue page for that heifer (Lot 31) is shown opposite.
Sales_A4 30/10/2014 10:45 Page 5
At the sale there were 4 pieces of information that buyers were concentrating on:
1. Age & Breed 2. Ancestry Information 3. Replacement Index 4. Milk & Fertility
Underlining the depth of excellent breeding information that can be behind a heifer with a high Replacement index €uro-Star rating such as this one, can be seen in the suckler cow report page of her dam (below). She is sired by a Maternally strong Simmental AI Sire – Hurtig.
She is a 5 Star cow for the ‘Replacement Index’.
She has an average calving interval of 365 days and has always gone in calf to AI.
Her progeny left excellent carcasses at slaughter.
5
Sales_A4 30/10/2014 10:45 Page 6
Members of the Monaghan discussion groups that bred heifers for their Replacement Heifer sale in Ballybay mart, pictured at an Open Day in the ICBF Beef Performance Test Centre with their Teagasc advisor, Mairead Kirk and some of the ICBF team.
The 6 heifers sold with 5 star maternal ratings averaged €2.62/kg while the four heifers sold with 1 star maternal rating averaged €2.56/kg. While not a huge difference, it is worth bearing in mind that commercial heifers having their €uro-Star figures available in marts is not something that purchasers are familiar with at this stage.
That said, over 10,000 suckler farmers are in Beef Herdplus and will have received the €uro-Star ratings of their animals in the post as well as having access to them online. So, if you are purchasing replacement females on-farm, it is well worth while asking for this information before making your final selection decisions.
However, plans are in place to roll out the presentation of this information in marts around the country and it is then expected that the same differential seen earlier at pedigree bull sales between 5 and 1 star bulls in terms of popularity and price will also be seen in the commercial suckler heifers.
€uro-Stars being available on commercial cattle in marts is something that would allow farmers make better breeding decisions. (photo: Irish Farmers Journal)
Commercial Replacement Heifer sales with €uro-Star figures available have been shown to be very popular events .
6
Sales_A4 30/10/2014 10:45 Page 7
The ICBF ‘Bull Search’
Beef Bulls Breed
Searches
Limousin
221,063
Charolais
190,520
Simmental
76,853
Hereford
75,387
Angus
75,186
Belgian Blue
53,441
Shorthorn
27,806
Saler
27,016
Parthenaise
26,420
Blonde d'Aquitaine
18,779
Aubrac
8,012
Speckled Park
1,782
Piedmontese
1,120
Maine Anjou
553
South Devon
524
Romagnola
440
Galloway
428
Wagyu
332
Dexter
145
Irish Maol
125
Highland
95
Stabiliser
69
MurrayGrey
42
Longhorn
11
Luing
10
Marchigianna
The ICBF ‘Bull Search’ facility on the ICBF website is another interesting place to see if a bull’s €uro-Star figures are being looked up by both breeders and buyers. In the increasingly technological world that we live in – a bull’s details are increasingly being looked up via a laptop or mobile phone before the decision is made to view him in the flesh. In 2013 for example the ICBF Bull Search facility was used over 1.3 million times to look up the breeding values of Beef & Dairy Bulls (Tables 1 & 2). Over 800,000 of these searches were for beef bulls.
6
Total
806,165
Table 1: Number of Beef Bull Searches by breed on the ICBF Bull Search in 2013
Dairy Bulls Breed
Searches
Friesian
238,768
Holstein
223,564
Jersey
42,444
NorwegianRed
10,797
Montbeliarde
9,831
MRI
5,478
Ayrshire
4,506
Swedish Red
4,393
Danish Red
2,688
Brown Swiss
985
Rotbunt
941
Normande
522
Total
ICBF Bull Search: Once you enter the tag number or AI Code of any pedigree beef or dairy bull and click ‘search’ – that bull’s €uro-Star, registration & ancestry details will be shown.
544,917
Table 2: Number of Dairy Bull Searches by breed on the ICBF Bull Search in 2013
7
Sales_A4 30/10/2014 10:45 Page 8
ICBF Bull Search – ‘Most searched for’ Beef Bulls – 2013 Bull Details Breed
€
Owner
Terminal Index (April 2013) €uro-Stars
€
Replacement Index (April 2013)
Nbr of Searches
€uro-Stars
AI Code
Name
HCF
Haltcliffe Dancer
Limousin
Powerful Genetics
€121
€135
3845
WGE
Wilodge Cerberus
Limousin
Powerful Genetics
€163
€176
3591
CF52
Doonally New
Charolais
NCBC
€141
– €38
3239
ADX
Ardlea Dan
Limousin
NCBC
€98
€116
3167
SYP
Sympa
Limousin
Powerful Genetics
€161
€236
3005
APZ
Curaheen Apostle Et
Simmental
NCBC
€51
€187
2958
LGL
Lisnagre Elite
Charolais
NCBC
€109
– €37
2938
APM
Ampertaine Commander
Limousin
Powerful Genetics
€134
€281
2853
OZS
Ozeus
Limousin
NCBC
€82
€139
2641
PTE
Pirate
Charolais
NCBC
€123
€71
2562
Table 3: Top 10 most searched for beef bulls on the ICBF website in 2013. ICBF Bull Search – ‘Most searched for’ Dairy Bulls – 2013 Bull Details AI Code
Name
EBI Breed
Owner
€
Nbr of Searches
LHZ
Lauragh Evert
Holstein
NCBC
€272
5136
WLY
Imleach Lucky Whistler
Holstein
Eurogene/LIC
€327
4175
ABO
Castleblagh Odie
Holstein
Dovea Genetics
€276
4114
PBM
Ballinaborta Primo
Holstein
NCBC
€272
3567
HMY
Highmount Kenny
Holstein
NCBC
€229
3229
DGC
Dungourney Cremin
Holstein
Dovea Genetics
€280
2913
RVJ
Raheenarran BCG Sochar
Friesian
Dovea Genetics
€227
2291
BGJ
Bagworth PF Grandeur
Holstein
Eurogene/LIC
€289
2195
WDS
Whinlea Dan Supersonic
Holstein
Eurogene/LIC
€258
2187
KSK
Ballybride Sherlock
Holstein
NCBC
€287
2185
Table 4: Top 10 most searched for dairy bulls on the ICBF website in 2013.
When the top 10 ‘most searched for’ beef & dairy AI bulls are analysed it is very interesting to see that the majority of these bulls also have excellent genetic evaluation figures. Genetic evaluation figures should always be seen as a tool to be used when making a sire selection decision, with the degree to which the information is being relied on, depending on the reliability % figures.
However, the previous tables definitely demonstrates that in Ireland, the use of genetic evaluation figures in this way is without doubt an extremely widespread and frequent occurrence across both beef & dairy bulls.
It is now commonplace in Ireland for the Genetic Evaluation figures of a Beef or Dairy Bull to be looked up online before a decision is made to view the bull. 8