ICBF Beef Breeding Journal 2015-16
Where did all the milk & fertility go? Really, its not that anything was deliberately done to reduce the average Irish suckler cow’s ability to have a calf every year or have enough milk to rear a calf. Its more that terminal traits are every beef cattle person’s primary concern. A Beef animal’s first assessment is with the naked eye. It is only human nature to base your first impressions of a bull by how he looks. Muscle
✔
Weight
Daughter Milk
✔
?
Carcass Conformation
?
Daughter Fertility
✔
Docility
✔
?
Daughter Survival
The comments above were printed beside a random sample of Beef AI Bulls in AI catalogues over the last 20 years. These comments were nearly always accompanied by a fantastic picture of the bull. It is completely normal that the physical conformation of a beef bull is described to potential customers as these are the traits that matter when you are breeding beef cattle for the mart or the factory. AI Companies, Breed Societies and Pedigree Breeders delivered what they were asked to deliver – well muscled beef bulls!
‘Unfortunately, it is the ‘invisible’ traits that are also just as important to a beef farmer.’ 1