Teagasc Dairy Breeding Policy Advice and Calf Management for the 2019 Breeding Season

Teagasc are acutely conscious of the importance of maintaining the high reputation that Irish farmers enjoy in the management of animal welfare. The welfare and value of dairy calves, in particular, are profoundly affected by the breeding strategy of dairy farmers and by the calf management protocols that are operated on dairy farms.

The 2019 breeding season is due to start on most dairy farms over the next month and it is important that dairy farmers have a clear breeding policy as it will have a significant influence on their farm profitability. All breeding policies should have three main objectives:

1. Continue to use high EBI AI genetics to increase the EBI of your herd;
2. Match the number of dairy breed female calves born to specific farm requirements;
3. Maximise the use of beef crossing in the dairy herd increasing the potential value of the resulting calves by selecting beef AI bulls using the Dairy Beef Index.

Use high EBI AI

The Irish dairy industry has benefited enormously from the increase in the EBI of the national herd since its establishment in 2001. However there are still significant benefits to be obtained by further increasing herd EBI. This is clearly demonstrated in the Teagasc Next Generation herd. Analysis of farm data across a range of different herds has shown that each €1 increase in herd EBI results in a €2 increase in profit/cow /lactation. Therefore this spring, dairy farmers should select a team of AI bulls with an average EBI of greater than €270 from the ICBF Active Bull List taking cognisance of relatedness, reliability and herd size.

Maiden heifers are ideal candidates to select when breeding the next generation of replacement heifer calves.  They usually have the highest EBI and can be managed to mostly calve in the first two weeks of the calving season.  As a result, the calves born are high EBI, early born and compactly calved.  The choice of suitable AI sires for replacement heifers has increased over the last number of years without compromising on EBI.  Also select cows that are early calving, high EBI and performing well.  In compactly calved herds that are not increasing in size, this means that a proportion of the mature cows can be bred to beef AI from the start of the breeding season. 

Reduce the number of dairy breed calves required

Dairy cow numbers have increased significantly over the last 5 to 6 years. This rapid increase in the size of the national dairy herd is currently slowing down. Many dairy farmers can generate sufficient dairy replacements in the first 3 to 5 weeks of the breeding season.  The precise number of replacements required however depends on whether the size of individual herds is increasing or stable, how fertile the herd is and how successful the farmer is at calving heifers at two years of age. 

This spring farmers experienced at first hand a challenging market for dairy calves which will influence their breeding decisions during the upcoming breeding season.  Being able to sell calves quickly and easily is an important consideration particularly in compactly calved and in larger dairy herds.  Reducing the number of low value dairy calves born will help. This can be achieved in three ways:

1. Calving over 90% of dairy heifer calves born alive at 2 years of age. Currently more than one third of dairy heifer calves born fail to calve at 2 years of age.  Approximately half of these never calve and the remainder calve at around 3 years of age.  Increasing the proportion calving at 2 years of age will reduce the number of heifers calves required and increase the number of cows available for breeding to beef AI.
2. Dairy farmers should seriously consider using sexed semen where bulls of very poor beef merit are being used. It’s important to note that if you use sexed semen that conception rates could be lower.  This can be managed by using sexed semen early on in the breeding season on the more fertile, earlier calved cows and on maiden heifers.
3. Only use beef stock bulls for the last few weeks of the breeding season. Many dairy farmers use AI for 8 to 10 weeks, with the remaining 2 to 4 weeks a stock bull is used. It’s important that the stock bull used should be of beef genetics, easy calving and short gestation.

In recent years there has been a trend away from using stock bulls and using more AI; this is preferable due to greater genetic reliability and lower disease and health and safety risks.

Use the Dairy Beef Index (DBI) to select beef AI bulls 

The DBI is a breeding goal to promote high quality beef cattle bred from the dairy herd with minimal consequences on the calving difficulty or gestation of the dairy cow.  The DBI ranks beef bulls, for use in the dairy herd, according to their genetic merit for calving and carcass performance traits.  Expressed in euros, each €1 increase in DBI can be interpreted as a €1 expected increase in profit for that bull’s progeny.  When selecting beef AI sires using the DBI, it is important to consider what components are contributing to an individual sire’s DBI value when selecting suitable bulls for dairy heifers and dairy cows.

In Teagasc herds, the breeding policy in 2019 is as follows:

• The number of low value dairy calves will be reduced in the 2020 calving season by using a greater proportion of beef semen.
• Beef semen will be selected using the Dairy Beef Index - easy calving bulls, short gestation with good beef merit.
• Only sexed Jersey semen will be used in the upcoming breeding season, as well as conventional HF and beef semen.

Calf welfare

Once calves are born next spring, it is important to have excellent feeding and management of all new born calves, including surplus or beef calves.  The Teagasc Calf Rearing Manual, and calf rearing videos, which are available on the Teagasc web site (https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/beef/calf-rearing), are an excellent source of information on best practice in rearing calves.