High-quality beef on dairy hinges on sire selection and good breeding programs

This was the takeaway message from the Dairy Research Foundation Symposium at Taree in November, delivered by speaker Cameron Renshaw.

Fulton Market Group's Mr Renshaw, Elmore, Victoria, said it was important for farmers to set high-level objectives to take advantage of existing beef on dairy markets.

A profitable, good quality beef on dairy animal can make between 3.5 to four times the value of a purebred male Holstein calf.

"There are fundamental goals the dairy industry can set out to achieve that will make us more profitable and allow partnerships to be created throughout the supply chain," Mr Renshaw said.

"We need to be much more connected through the supply chain from the dairy farmer, backgrounder, feedlots, and processor to the consumer."

READ MORE:

A stumbling block for the dairy industry, Mr Renshaw believes, has been the natural disconnects from the beef sector, and only focusing on several key attributes, primarily fertility and calving ease. However, the dairy industry needs to understand what people downstream need in an animal.

For instance, backgrounders and feedlots are chasing feed efficiency, and processors focus on meat quality and carcase yield, a key metric being the ribeye size and shape and marble score, while consumers' expectations are based on cost, taste, tenderness, sustainability, and ethics.

"We talk about creating a market for crossbred animals, but in reality, if the business strategies in each of these links are done correctly, then we already have plenty of existing markets for the right beef on dairy animal," Mr Renshaw said.

"Primarily, the international high-value space is where we should be targeting."

Dairy farmers need to focus on using the right genetics to gain access to suitable beef on dairy markets, according to Mr Renshaw.

"Historically, the dairy industry is highly volatile and very restocker focused," he said.

"In the next five to 10 years, we will see that we as an industry need to reverse this trend and get our bobby calves to transition to a higher value animal that can align with supply chain integration that removes the year-on-year price discovery methods we see today.

"Every year, the bobby calf market goes up and down - it is very much a speculative market."

The need to solve the industry's underlying issue around non-replacement pregnancies has become more pressing.

"But the reality is, as the industry starts to gear up and better understand how to manage the opportunity - the beef on dairy program sees the initial change in thinking around having a beef cross calf instead of a Holstein calf," Mr Renshaw said.

"This shift in focus needs to happen at the point of conception rather than the point of calving."

READ MORE:

In the US, across the board, dairy breeding programs are made up of almost 30 per cent sexed semen to 70pc beef semen.

The increased use of sexed semen opens up a breeding gap for a pregnancy that is required, and we are starting to see that pregnancy is going to beef.

While there has been an increase in the uptake of beef semen used in Australia by dairy farmers, two questions remain: Is the correct beef semen being used? And, is the progeny being reared correctly to meet the market demand?

Addressing these questions is critical in the decision-making process for dairy farmers.

Farmers must look at ways to add value to the calf through genetics and management that everyone in the supply chain will want rather than making bull selections based only on fertility and calving ease.

The selection process must encompass hide color, polled, growth traits, eye muscle area, and carcase yield.

"Farmers must avoid using the wrong strategy that produces an un-economical animal for downstream in the supply chain," Mr Renshaw said.

"We must ensure we consciously select bulls that produce progeny that can match it on the beef on beef stage and meet the grids."

Mr Renshaw identified that the variety of beef breeds and sires being used posed a challenge for the dairy industry, which created consistency issues.

"The number one thing that processors and consumers love is consistency," he said.

"When the poultry and pork industry deliver protein to the market, it is done within a very tight spec; we have the ability to do that, but we must make sure it is achieved with correct sire selection and good joining programs."