THOUGHTS FOR 2012

Throughout 2011 Simon Marsh, the Senior Lecturer at Harper Adams University College, has produced a series of monthly articles for the 'Farmers Weekly' on Simon Frost's single suckled calf production at Hopping Farm, Youlgrave, Derbyshire.

Final comments from Simon Frost.

"Things need to change in the beef industry.  While cow and calf health, nutrition and genetics are all vital elements for profitable beef production, without efficient animals we are on a loser.

            The Livestock Auctioneers Association must get involved and promote - at point of sale - cattle sired by parents with known EBVs.  The LAA and the current auction ring marketing methods could be viewed as an impediment to the effective sale and promotion of calves by high EBV bulls.

            Currently, catalogue entries and rostrum announcements often only mention facts such as membership of farm assurance schemes, reared at 1,500 feet, vaccinated for orf/blackleg/pneumonia, taking creep feed/never had creep.

            And there has been a reluctance on the part of some auctioneers to update their knowledge of desirable carcass traits - and it has meant a perpetuation of the belief that hindquarters are the most valuable part of the animal.

            Auctioneers may - and do - argue that they merely facilitate an agreement between buyer and seller, thereby conveniently exempting themselves from taking responsibility for how they influence buyers' decisions.

            There is a marvellous opportunity for members of the LAA to embrace the concept and meaning of EBVs, and to realise it should be encouraged as an entity and included in the information available to ring-side purchasers.

            Put simply, if a pen of suckled calves has been vaccinated for pneumonia, and they are also by a bull with high EBVs for muscle and growth rate, the purchaser knows that not only will they be much less likely to contract pneumonia, but they are also more likely to grow efficiently and finish at the desired weight and classification.

            Alan Dore, who buys my calves, says he would welcome EBV information for cattle he buys out of the ring.  So if finishers could purchase cattle sired by bulls with known EBV status, they would be paying for productive capacity rather than overtly pretty cattle - although the two traits are not mutually exclusive.

            This would offer stability to their businesses as output and profitability could be gauged more accurately.  This effect should then cascade into suckled calf producers' decisions, encouraging them to focus on purchasing bulls with known EBVs, and in turn should act as a stimulus to pedigree breeders to re-orientate their considerable efforts towards producing terminal sires that are fit for purpose.

            Unfortunately, this will be achieved neither easily nor quickly, but the beef industry needs to move further towards operating in an environment that fosters the uptake and use of science and factual knowledge rather than gut instinct and  smoke and mirrors."