Vets and consultants are urging suckler farmers to quantify how good their cows really are at rearing beef by looking at a calf's 200-mean solar day weight as a pct of moo-cow weight at weaning.

Vet Kaz Strycharczyk of Black Sheep Farm Health believes tracking this key performance indicator (KPI) is a good way of agreement suckler moo-cow efficiencies.

On almost farms, an ideal target is for a moo-cow to wean 50% of her weight, he says. Therefore, a 700kg cow should produce a 350kg calf at weaning.

See also: Advice on weaning and creep feeding suckled calves

However, this indicator varies hugely. Blackness Sheep Subcontract Wellness ran a competition with seven of its spring-calving suckler herds.

Herds varied in size from 30 to 200 cows but were more often than not native breeds. Farmers were asked to weigh cows and calves at weaning.

Results showed:

  • Average calf to cow ratio ranged from 41-63%
  • Within herds, the best performing cows reared 57-101% of bodyweight
  • The worst performing cows weaned 24-42%.

Think about cow size

Heavier cows don't always produce the biggest calves and aren't always the most efficient.

For instance, two cows may each produce a calf that's the same weight at 200 days. And, if ane dam is heavier, she is costing more to feed and is less efficient than the lighter cow.

This will impact margin. Nevertheless, the smaller cow is only more efficient if she calves hands, holds condition and gets dorsum in calf.

Independent consultant David Hendy references one subcontract where moo-cow size varied from 500kg to 870kg. The smallest cow produced a dogie 33% heavier as a percentage of cow weight.

This would exist impossible to establish without weighing cows and calves at weaning.

Calculating performance at weaning can help you:

  • Decide the right size of cow for your private farm
  • Plant the optimum weight or breeding for the farm
  • Amend herd uniformity to help with feed efficiency and create an fifty-fifty batch of calves.

Below, Mr Hendy sets out how to calculate your herd'due south efficiency and Mr Strycharczyk explains why this is important and what y'all should exercise with the results.

How to summate a calf's 200-day weight as a pct of cow weight

Weigh all cows and heifers with their calves at weaning using the following calculations:

1. Work out your 200-twenty-four hour period baseline average weaning weights

As calves may be different ages at weaning, this removes whatsoever variability and makes the figures comparable yr-on-year.

(Boilerplate weaned calf weight ÷ boilerplate age in days at weaning) ten 200 days = 200-day baseline boilerplate weaning weight

For example: (350kg ÷ 240 days) x 200 days = 292kg

2. Summate the percentage sum of arid cows and dead calves (calf mortality from birth until weaning)

Per centum of barren cows + percentage of dogie mortality = X%

For instance: five% + 5%  = 10%

Take that number from 100% to get a figure for the percentage of in-calf cows and live calves

For case: 100% – 10% = 90%

iii. Calculate the 200-day true average weights of calves

200-twenty-four hours baseline average weaning weight x percentage of in-calf cows and alive calves = Xkg

For example: 292kg x 90% = 262.8kg

iv. Work out herd's average 200-twenty-four hour period dogie weight as a ratio of cow weight

(200-twenty-four hour period average weight of all calves ÷ boilerplate weight of all cows) x 100 = 10%

For example: (262.8kg ÷ 650kg ) 10 100= 40.4%

How to use the figures

The key is to collect data for your farm and compare it year-on-twelvemonth with a view to improving.

A weaning percentage of 40% should be a minimum target. If your herd is under this:

  • Look at individual cows producing below boilerplate and ask why. Is information technology age, breed, or bull, for example? Can this be used to inform culling policy?
  • Tin can fertility be improved? Target weaning 95 calves for every 100 cows put to the bull.
  • Are the calves suffering from a worm burden or disease challenge?
  • Look at above-average cows and employ this as part of your selection criteria for breeding replacements.

Key considerations

The KPI is only one factor influencing convenance decisions and should not be looked at in isolation. Attributes such as expert feet, udders and temperament are key.

"On this measure, what yous're looking for is a moo-cow consistently rearing a dogie heavier than the boilerplate while not going lame, getting in calf, and with a expert temperament," says Mr Strycharczyk.

It'south besides of import to consider:

  • Was it a proficient year for grass growth? Were cows in particularly practiced condition?
  • Did you creep-feed? If you fed creep i yr and not the next, the figures won't be directly comparable, but the data could be used to highlight the benefits of creep on dogie weight to moo-cow weight ratio.
  • If you take variable breeds, which performed all-time on your organization?

Case study: Dan Burling, Chain Farm, Over, Cambridgeshire

Dan Burling

Dan Burling © Terry Burling//

Farm Facts: Concatenation Farm, Over, Cambridgeshire

  • Farmed by Dan Burling, his brother, Stuart, and father, Brian
  • 500ha (i,236 acres) grazeable area for cattle – rough, low-input RSPB ground
  • 500ha of arable – mostly milling wheat
  • 280 leap-calving Stabiliser cows
  • sixty% of heifers kept as replacements. Most of the balance sold for breeding
  • Virtually males finished every bit bulls and sold deadweight to Woodheads or Dunbia
  • Bull finishing weights of 370-380kg deadweight at 12-13 months, grading R4L (mostly low Us)

For Dan Burling, who farms with his brother, Stuart, and male parent, Brian, understanding calf weight as a percentage of cow weight helped confirm that convenance a smaller, more uniform herd was the correct path.

The suckler herd was mainly large, Salers-cross cows put to a continental balderdash to produce a large carcass calf. Calving bug were an ongoing problem.

Subsequently using a Stabiliser bull on some of the cows, Mr Burling realised that the smaller females brought large benefits: calving ease and dogie vigour improved and more cows could be carried on the same area of land.

The Stabiliser-cross calves also finished quicker. Every bit a effect, the decision was made to move to a Stabiliser herd.

Nifty to make informed decisions based on information, he joined AHDB Beefiness & Lamb'due south Progressive Beef Group and began benchmarking various parameters, including calf weight as a percentage of cow weight.

The figures showed that the continental-cross cows weighing 800kg weaned 40% of their bodyweight, on average, compared to nearly fifty-52% for smaller, Stabiliser-type cows of about 650kg.

"Information technology highlighted that the correct matter to practise was to have a smaller cow," Mr Burling recalls.

Prior to making breed changes, average cow size was higher and there was variability between cows.

This meant cows oftentimes had to be split and fed according to size and weight. .Now, cows boilerplate well-nigh 650kg and the herd is more even, which has helped feed efficiencies.

Mr Burling stresses that because of its relatively low heritability, farmers should not expect at weaning weight as a ratio of moo-cow weight in isolation or put too much emphasis on it.

Correcting all figures to a 200-day weight is also important to allow fair controlling. Torso status score should likewise be noted at the same time as weighing.