Euro stars in action - selecting profitable cattle for finishing

2014 Journal_2014 Journal_Euro Stars in Action cattle for finishing 09/09/2014 14:05 Page 1

Beef HerdPlus

€uro-Stars in action

Selecting profitable cattle for finishing

Each animal has its own individual feed trough.

A picture of the inside of one of the two cattle sheds in ICBF’s Beef Performance Test Centre.

‘I am interested in buying that bull that you have advertised in the Journal, what is his tag number as I want to check his stars.’

‘That Stockbull over there is meant to have good figures,5 Stars is what I was told, whatever that means.’

‘The bull in the ring now has 5 stars for the Terminal Index – I suppose that means his cattle will make good finishers.’

The above comments are now increasingly common occurrences when it comes to pedigree beef bulls for breeding in Ireland. So given that there is so much talk about €uro-Stars – a fair question to ask is ‘If I am buying a bull for producing beef cattle for finishing, what difference will I see in the offspring of a bull that has good €uroStar figures and one that doesn’t?’

Journal 2014/15

The amount that each animal eats is measured for every animal.

ICBF continually answers the above question at its beef performance test centre in Tully, Co.Kildare, where offspring of AI Sires with varying €uro-Star figures for the ‘Terminal Index’ are purchased and reared through to slaughter.

Many different measurements are taken on these animals throughout their time in the Centre at Tully, but 2 of the most important are ‘Feed Conversion Efficiency’ and ‘Average Daily Gain’ as they affect farmers pockets on a daily basis.

The sheds in Tully have been specially designed to allow for the gathering of this data. All animals are individually identified when they are feeding and they can only feed on their own.

The amount that each animal eats in a day is measured. Each animal is also weighed regularly so the amount of feed that each animal requires, to put on a kilo of liveweight, can be calculated.

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Beef HerdPlus Animal Selection Animals are selected for purchase through the ICBF database.

The target is to get 15 progeny from each Gene Ireland Young AI Bull into the Centre. Each animal is DNA’d to confirm its parentage. Over 500 bulls and 100 bullocks have been slaughtered to date (Sept’ 14).

The majority of the animals are purchased from commercial suckler farmers that are participating in the Gene Ireland program, through the use of young AI Bulls. They would have contacted ICBF the year before, picked bulls that they liked out of the catalogue and inseminated a proportion of their herd with this semen.

Performance Test After the cattle are purchased they go through the following steps: • Acclimatisation Period (30 days) – This is the period where animals are sorted into groups of 5, fitted with an identification transponder & trained into the feeding system.

– They are also vaccinated for IBR, BVD, RSV, PI3, Blackleg & other Clostridial diseases.

• Diet – The animals are fed standard commercial concentrates & roughage.

– The concentrates has 14% protein (Energy Content; UFL:0.955 & UFV:0.935) – Bulls are fed ad-libitum concentrates & a small amount of hay.

Front Cover of the Spring 2014 Beef Gene Ireland Young Bull Catalogue – Bullocks are fed ad-libitum hay & 8kgs of concentrates.

– All animals are fed morning and evening.

• Performance Test Measures (90 days) – ‘Feed Conversion Efficiency’ & ‘Average Daily Gain’ is measured on every animal, as described earlier.

– Linear Scores, Scrotal Circumference, muscle, fat depth & intramuscular fat measurements are also taken on every animal.

• Health & Disease Traits – Lameness, Genetic Defect & Pneumonia data is also collected.

• Carcass & Meat Eating Quality – After they are slaughtered the following data is collected: Carcass Grades, Primal Yields, Colour, Ph, Composition & Sensory Analysis data.

• Genomics – All of the animals are genotyped using the customised IDB Version 2 chip (17k markers).

Pedigree Limousin bull ‘Carrig-A-Duff Daithi’ (Sired by Navarin), owned by Mick Costigan, Gurtacurra, Templemore, Co.Tipperary, with British Friesian cows. The female offspring from such matings have traditionally been a popular choice of suckler cow for beef farmers in Ireland.

Animals are bedded on peat and wear an electronic necklace to allow them into their own feed bin.

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Feed intake is recorded on every animal for the duration of their time in the Centre.

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Beef HerdPlus

All animals have outdoor access to a bark mulch pad.

An Electronic ‘Insentec’ feeding system has also recently been installed at Tully.

Animals are identified by an electronic tag instead of a necklace.

Lasers read the electronic tag as the animal goes to feed and the ID of the animals is recorded.

The length of time that each animal spends eating as well as the frequency of visits to the feed bin is also recorded.

The feed bin sits on an electronic weighing scales which measures the kgs of feed that the animal eats at each visit.

The ICBF Beef Performance Test Centre has been specifically designed to measure an animal’s Feed Conversion Efficiency Journal 2014/15

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2014 Journal_2014 Journal_Euro Stars in Action cattle for finishing 09/09/2014 14:05 Page 4

Beef HerdPlus Performance Centre Results The data recorded on the animals at Tully allows us answer the important question posed earlier i.e. what differences can be seen between the progeny of Sires with high & low ‘Terminal’ genetic indexes. The following table breaks down the performance results of 325 commercial bulls that were finished and slaughtered out of Tully in 2013.

TULLY COMMERCIAL CATTLE PERFORMANCE TEST RESULTS Commercial Slaughter Value* €uro-Stars

    

All

Animals

65 65 65 65 65 325

Liveweight at start of test (kg) 483 474 481 484 481 481

Liveweight at end of test (kg) 691 687 693 702 696 694

Age at Slaughter (Months) 16.2 16.4 16.4 16.5 16.6 16.4

Average Daily Gain (Kg/day) 1.94 2.05 2.03 2.16 2.21 2.08

Dry Matter Intake (Kg/day) 11.9 12.12 12.22 12.63 13.11 12.39

Carcass Weight (Kgs) 419 411 411 413 402 411

Kill Out %

High Value Cuts

Very High Value Cuts

60.6 58.8 59.4 58.9 57.8 59.3

115 111 107 110 107 110

28.3 27.5 26.8 27.3 26.0 27.2

*Commercial Slaughter Value is the ‘Terminal’ Index with the calving traits removed as these animals will not be used for breeding.

So it is a direct breeding value reflecting the genetic merit of the animal for finishing.

Table 1: Summary of the performance test results for 325 commercial bulls slaughtered out of Tully in 2013. When the performance of the 5 star and 1 star bulls are compared – very interesting results emerge.

The 5 Star animals: • Had very similar weights to the 1 star bulls at the start of test.

• Had very similar weights to the 1 star bulls at the end of test.

• Were fit for slaughter earlier than the 1 star bulls.

• Had slightly lower average daily gains than the 1 star bulls.

• Consumed less feed than the 1 star bulls.

• Had higher ‘Carcass weights’ and ‘Kill out %’ results than the 1 star bulls.

• Yielded more ‘High value cuts’ (Round & Sirloin) than the 1 star bulls.

Individual animal examples So, on average the group of 5 Star bulls were more profitable than the 1 Star bulls. When individual bull’s that make up these groups of high and low indexed animals are pulled out and examined in detail – the differences in performance are striking. The following 2 bulls demonstrate this point very effectively.

‘Bull 1’ & ‘Bull 2’ are both the same age, breed type & sex.

They were brought into the Performance Test Centre at the same time, from 2 different herds, and have been reared on the same diet, in the same shed & both received the exact same management. The only difference between the two animals is their genetics.

‘Bull 1’ is sired by a bull with a superior genetic merit rating for finishing cattle (Terminal Index) than that of ‘Bull 2’. His sire also has a better index for ‘Feed Intake’ than the sire of ‘Bull 2’. This difference comes to the fore during their 90 days on test as the following tables demonstrate.

• Yielded more ‘Very high value cuts’ (Fillet & Striploin) than the 1 star bulls.

Large differences have been found in the Centre, between animals, in terms of their ability to efficiently convert feed into Liveweight 4

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Beef HerdPlus

Bull 1

Bull 2

Very Similar Type of Animal Growth Rates Carcass Merit

Very Different Feed Efficiency Dry Matter Intakes

Very Different Genetics for: Terminal Index Feed Intake

UTL

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‘Bull 2’ ate 3Kgs/day more than ‘Bull 1’ in order to achieve the same growth rate!

CZH

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Beef HerdPlus

3Kgs/day x 90 days = 270 Kgs or

11 bags of meal at €10/bag = €110 Both bulls were slaughtered on the same day (August 18th 2014) and had very similar carcass grades and weights. So, both animals left you roughly the same margin – right?

Unfortunately, the similar carcass performances covers up the fact that ‘Bull 2’ was far more inefficient than ‘Bull 1’ at converting the feed he consumed into liveweight during his finishing period. On average he consumed 3Kgs more per day than ‘Bull 1’. Over the duration of the 90 day performance test – this equates to 270 kgs of concentrates.

Another way to look at this amount of feed is that it is the same as nearly eleven 25 kilo bags of meal. Using an average meal price of €10/bag shows that ‘Bull 2’ was €110 more expensive to feed over his finishing period than ‘Bull 1’. Scale this up to a pen of finishing animals with ‘Bull 2’s genetics and all of a sudden they are over €1000 more expensive to finish than a pen of animals with ‘Bull 1’s genetics.

It is important to note that the same example could be repeated for animals across all of the breeds. Sire’s similar to those shown in this example also exist in all of the other breeds.

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On Farm Results The previous example definitely answers our original question &demonstrates that real differences can be seen between the progeny of Sires with high & low ‘Terminal’ genetic indexes. However, one could argue that this was achieved in a very controlled Christy Watson environment. Would the same Teagasc B&T Advisor differences be found out on Naas, Co.Kildare farm? In terms of answering this question, Teagasc B&T Dry-Stock advisor Christy Watson, who is based in Naas, has done tremendous work on this question.

Following is a case study that Christy has written up on two finishers and how the high and low indexed animals performed on their farms.

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Beef HerdPlus Beef Euro-Stars - Essential tool For beef Finishers?

The Beef Eurostar system was introduced in 2007 by The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), to essentially identify the most profitable cattle in the Irish beef herd. The introduction in 2008 of the “Animal Welfare, Recording And Breeding Scheme For Suckler Herds” brought beef breeding to a whole new level. Now the sire of calves registered in suckler herds is identified, an essential link in genetic evaluation was created. At the launch of this programme in 2008 I remember speaking to farmers at public meetings and asserting that the whole scheme would be a success only if

we used the Euro-Star figures generated when making on farm breeding decisions. So after being in existence for seven years, what has the Euro-Star system to offer the beef finisher to identify the most profitable cattle?

To try and answer this question I examined the slaughter data for two of my clients who purchase all the cattle they finish on the open market. The data presented here is based on the cattle slaughtered in the calendar year 2011. The source of the data was the “ICBF HerdPlus Slaughter Report” for 2011.

This report shows the key slaughter data, Carcase Weight, Grade, Age at slaughter and Euro-Stars etc of animals slaughtered in the herd. This report is one of many excellent reports available to all farmers signed up to “Beef HerdPlus”.

FARM 1: 5 STAR V 1 STAR CATTLE PERFORMANCE SUMMARY Criteria   Difference 5 Star v 1 Star Purchase Weight (Kgs) 479 Kgs 496 Kgs +17 Kgs Purchase Price (€) €982 €987 + €5 Purchase Price (€/kg) 2.05 1.99 – 6 cent / Kg Slaughter Age (Months) 30 26 – 4 months Carcass Weight (Kgs) 353 Kgs 403 Kgs +50 Kgs Sale Price (€) €1,241 €1,478 +€237 Average Daily Gain (Kg/day) 1.0 1.1 +10% Beef Finisher John McDonald & his father Martin

Table 1: Summary of the main performance and financial differences between 5 star and & 1 star cattle on Farm 1.

Farm 1 John Mc Donald farms Cattle and Tillage in Maganey on the Kildare Laois border. The beef system is summer grazing with store cattle bought in spring from local marts and slaughtered in late summer early autumn. Small quantities of meals are fed at grass for the last 3-4 weeks before slaughter. The cattle are purchased on the basis of value for money and to ensure that they are fit for slaughter by end of summer. To answer the question I posed earlier, can the Euro-Stars be used to identify the most profitable animals, I sorted the slaughter data by Eurostar value and compared the performance of the One Star cattle versus the Five Star cattle (Table 1).

There was very little difference in weight at purchase between one and five star animals, just 17 kgs in favour of the five star animals, also purchase price was quite similar with slightly more paid for the five star animals. The real difference between one and five star animals begins to emerge when one looks at the slaughter performance.

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The five star cattle were fit for slaughter four months earlier than the one star’s and they had carcasses which were 50 kgs heavier indicating that they were much more efficient at converting feed consumed into carcass weight. The fact that the five star animals reached slaughter at a younger age makes a big contribution to reducing the carbon footprint of the beef enterprise on this farm. If these cattle were slaughtered on the farm of birth then the breeder would have been the beneficiary of this improvement in efficiency, with 50 kgs extra carcass for sale after four months less feed consumed.

As in any farming system it is all about profitability, here again the five star animals outperformed the one stars achieving a sale price of €1,478 or €237 more than the one star cattle. Daily liveweight gain indicates some of the difference between one and five star cattle , however the major gain with the five star cattle is in the efficiency of carcass gain. Over their lifetime, the daily carcass gain of the five star cattle was 30% higher than that of the one star cattle. The five star cattle had carcasses which graded on average U- as opposed to R= for the one stars, this again impacted in a positive way on the return to the farmer.

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Beef HerdPlus FARM 2: 5 STAR V 1 STAR CATTLE PERFORMANCE SUMMARY Criteria   Difference 5 Star v 1 Star Purchase Weight (Kgs) 382 Kgs 428 Kgs + 46 Kgs Purchase Price (€) €768 €845 + €77 Slaughter Age (Months) 19 17 – 1 months Carcass Weight (Kgs) 332 Kgs 419 Kgs + 87 Kgs Sale Price (€) €1,310 €1,723 + €413 Days on Farm 222 224 – 2 days Average Daily Gain (Kg/day) 0.92 1.30 + 41% Table 2: Summary of the main performance and financial differences between 5 star and & 1 star cattle on Farm 2.

Farm 2 The second farm operates a high input bull beef system, buying approximately 500 Weanling/Store bulls annually with bulls at grass for approximately 100 days before being housed for 100 days on a high concentrate finishing diet. Depending on the time of the year purchased and liveweight, some bulls might spend very little time at grass. When deciding on which bulls to buy this farmer aims to buy the best quality available, and indeed visually the bulls purchased appear to be very good quality. All of the bulls are continental crosses from the suckler herd and would represent all of the main continental breeds available in Ireland.

Table 2 summarises the difference in performance of one and five star bulls for essential slaughter traits and commercial value.

The first thing to note is that again at purchase the five star bulls were 47 kgs heavier coming onto the farm, and cost €77 more on average. The first indicator of the superior genetics of the five star cattle is the age at slaughter. The five star cattle were finished two months earlier, a very significant difference on a high input system where daily feed cost during the finishing stage can be up to €3/ head. The carcass is what the cattle finisher gets paid for. In general, provided the carcass meets market specifications, the weight is the primary contributor to sale price. Again the five star cattle achieved an extra carcass weight of 87 kgs, a huge difference in performance. Bearing in mind this extra carcass weight was achieved where the five star animals were two months younger at slaughter than their one star comrades.

All cattle both one and five star had the same opportunity to reach their potential at slaughter.

Days on the farm was the same for both groups, all cattle were managed the same, fed the same diet , received the same veterinary treatments etc. It is important to note that on both of these farms the farmers did not know the Euro-Star rating of the cattle they had in their herds, so any difference in performance is down to genetic ability and nothing to do with on farm management. Again as with the first farm the major difference between the one star and five star cattle is daily carcass gain , the five star cattle achieved a carcass gain which was 40% better than the one star cattle. When we look at the difference in sale value between one star and five star , carcass weight accounts for 83% of the difference with grade accounting for 17%. The five star cattle were on average grade U= with the one star cattle grading R=.

The difference in performance between the one and five star cattle is all the more dramatic when one considers that these cattle were purchased on quality and visually looked to be very good well shaped animals from the suckler herd. The real gain with the five star animals over the one star animals is when the animals are housed for the 70 –100 day final finishing high cost period. If we take the sale price and subtract the purchase price and then divide the answer by the number of days on the farm we get the daily increase in value of the animals while on the farm.

For the one star cattle this works out at €2.44/ day as opposed to €3.91/ day for the five star cattle. When daily indoor feed costs are €3/day, the one star cattle are losing money when indoors. When at grass the less efficient one star cattle are probably still showing a nett daily gain in value, however when housed they are losing the farmer money for every day housed.

The differences found between the progeny of 5 & 1 Star bulls in the Beef Test Centre were also found out on-farm 8

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Beef HerdPlus Sample of AI Sires with progeny in Farm 1 & Farm 2

AI Sire Details

Terminal Index

Feed Intake Index €uro - Stars

Rel Index %

Nbr of progeny gone through Tully

Avg Daily Feed intake of progeny

Avg Daily Feed intake of herdmates

€152 98%



€13 92%

58

10.7 Kg/day

11.0 Kg/day



€139 96%



€8 83%

19

11.8 Kg/day

12.0 Kg/day

Malibu



€131 96%



€29 82%

15

10.3 Kg/day

11.0 Kg/day

Imperial



€130 92%



€34 69%

4

11.0 Kg/day

12.0 Kg/day

€uro - Stars

Rel Index %

Doonally New



CH

Pirate

MBU

LM

IPI

LM

AI Code

Brd

Name

CF52

CH

PTE

HGR

LM Highlander



€129 96%



€29 84%

17

9.7 Kg/day

10.0 Kg/day

LNO

LM



€127 96%



€25 82%

20

10.7 Kg/day

12.0 Kg/day

Lino

Table 3: Summary of the ‘Terminal’ & ‘Feed Intake’ indexes for a sample of the AI Sires with progeny in ‘Farm 1’ & ‘Farm 2’.

Similar to the exercise completed earlier on the 2 Tully bulls – when the Sires of some of the 5 star progeny in both farms are examined it is very interesting that they have excellent €uroStar ratings for the ‘Terminal’ & ‘Feed Intake’ indexes. They have very high ‘reliability %’ figures attached to these indexes which is a result of large numbers of progeny being performance tested in Tully & slaughtered here in Ireland.

for seven years has a level of predictability that is robust when applied at commercial farm level. At present farmers purchasing cattle for finishing do not have ready access to the star rating of the cattle they are purchasing. From the data above it is clear that without this information farmers end up despite their best efforts buying some cattle that lose them money alongside cattle that have the genetic potential to make a profit.

Bearing in mind that feed efficiency was the big difference between the 5 and 1 star cattle on both farms, it is worth noting these differences were also picked up in Tully where it was found that the feed intake of the progeny of these AI Bulls was on average superior to that of their herdmates in Tully.

So with regards to buying blind (Genetically speaking) or selling without declaration of Euro-Star, some questions come to mind for the beef industry.

• As buyers/sellers, do you know what the €uro-Star rating means?

• As sellers, do you see a benefit to you in declaring the €uroStar ratings of the cattle you are selling?

• As buyers are you interested in knowing the Euro-Star rating of the cattle you are purchasing?

So in conclusion, from the performance on these commercial farms it is clear that the Beef Euro-Stars have a lot to offer the farmer who finishes cattle. The system after being in operation

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