Dairy Beef Index: What’sitallabout?

THE breeding season on dairy farms will get underway over the coming weeks.

Many farmers experienced at first hand a challenging market for dairy calves this spring which will influence their breeding decisions during the upcoming breeding season. Being able to sell calves quickly and easily is an important consideration with compactly calved growing dairy herds. Certainly minimising the number of dairy breed calves will help in this regard.

One of the questions that farmers will be asking now and ahead of the breeding season is, How will I select suitable Beef AI sires for my dairy herd? The answer to this question should include the use of a new index recently launched by the Irish cattle breeding federation which will aid dairy farmers in selecting suitable beef AI sires called the Dairy Beef Index (DBI).

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:

The index is expressed in euros (€) so that each €1 increase in DBI can be interpreted as a €1 expected increase in profit for that bull’s progeny. For example, a bull with a DBI of €100 and a bull with a DBI of €20. Based on the DBI the progeny born from the bull with a DBI of €100 are expected to generate €80 more profit compared to progeny sired by the bull with a DBI of €20.

Calving traits account for 64% of the average DBI value. The DBI selects for shorter gestation, easier calving and less calf mortality:

On the recommended bull file, lower values for all calving traits are more desirable so If a bull’s calving difficulty figure is 4% then 4% of his calves are likely to require considerable assistance at birth. Increasing calving difficulty indicates that more calves will require considerable assistance at birth.

Beef traits account for 36% of the average DBI value. The DBI selects for higher carcass weight and conformation, and more animals that meet minimum factory specifications (280 kg, O=). The DBI also recognises that some breeds are paid a premium slaughter price and the DBI selects for reduced feed intake, as well as quieter and polled cattle.

On the recommended bull file, higher values for carcass weight and conformation are more desirable.

When selecting beef AI sires using the DBI it is important to consider what components are contributing to an individual sire’s DBI value. Is the overall DBI value coming from the calving sub index or the beef sub-index? All AI sires currently on the active bull list now have a DBI value so it is important to become familiar with this new index so we can make more informed decisions when selecting Beef AI sires for the dairy herd so as to produce progeny that will hopefully leave us a higher margin based on a higher beef value.