Beefing up dairy-beef cattle

Donagh Berry

Industry impact: The expanding dairy herd, coupled with improving reproductive performance, will necessitate that a greater proportion of slaughtered cattle in Ireland will originate from dairy herds. However, the genetic antagonism in cattle between carcass merit and the extent of assistance required at calving demands an index that combines the desired genetic attributes from the perspective of the dairy producer (i.e., easy calving, short gestation) with those of the beef producer and industry as a whole (i.e., efficiency of growth of valuable meat). A profit-based breeding index with eight traits was developed, and subsequently deployed by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, to improve the carcass merit of the delivered calf with minimal consequences on the dairy cow. The suites of traits included reflect calving performance (65% of emphasis), carcass merit (26% of emphasis), feed intake (8% of emphasis) and management traits (1% of emphasis). The breeding index will be used by dairy farmers for selecting suitable beef bulls for use on their dairy females, but will also be used by beef bull breeders to breed the next generation of beef bulls demanded by dairy producers.

Correspondence: donagh.berry@teagasc.ie

Other contributors and collaborators:

Irish Cattle Breeding Federation and AbacusBio.

Funding: VistaMilk SFI Research Centre.