Watch: Selecting dairy beef animals for slaughter

Drafting and selecting animals for slaughter is ongoing on Teagasc DairyBeef 500 farms and this management task will continue right throughout the spring.

When drafting animals, farmers need to ensure that cattle have an adequate covering of carcass fat; this will ensure animal value is maximised at slaughter time.

Market specifications require animals between 2+ and 4= for carcass fat score. Drafting animals too early, which do not have an adequate fat cover, or too late - when animals are too fat - can results in a price reduction. This occurs as animals will not meet market specifications and penalties will be applied or bonuses lost on the Quality Payment Scheme (QPS) or through breed-specific schemes.

Nationally, a relatively high percentage of animals are being slaughtered at excessively high fat scores, representing additional feed days, and associated economic and environmental costs. Once cattle reach the desired fat score of a 3+, the carcass weight potential of the animal is maximised and putting animals into any higher levels of a fat cover reduces their efficiency significantly in terms of average daily gain.

With the increase in input costs experienced across the sector this winter, keeping on animals and feeding on longer than required will provide very little of a return. For example an Angus or Hereford steer gaining 1.1kg/day live weight will equate to approximately 0.6kg of carcass gain. Given this, it is advisable that farmers monitor animals regularly  and any decision on holding cattle for longer must be made on the basis of the animal’s performance, the costs associated with keeping the animal and the potential increased return achievable from the market.

Remember fat cover in early-maturing breeds and heifers can change dramatically over a short period. With this in mind, it is advised to draft animals every 10-12 days to ensure animals don’t go overfat. When it comes to assessing the fatness of steers and heifers under calf to beef production systems, the primary areas we focus on at the shoulders, loin, rib and the tail head.

For bull beef producers, fat cover can be slightly more difficult to determine. The areas mentioned above are important areas to monitor for fat cover. However, other areas that give a good indication of fat cover in bulls are the cod – the area above the scrotum – and the brisket, the area between the front legs of the animal. Generally once fat starts to be laid down in these areas bulls are ready for slaughter. 

This article was originally published on Agriland as part of the 'Winter Beef Series'.