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ANIMALS/
DIERE
Beef cattle selection for
effective production
Beef cattle, like other branches of farming, must produce the maximum high-quality sustainable outputs
with the minimum outputs – without harming the environment.
Effective cows are the foundation of profit. The qualities that contribute to effectiveness are the
following:
• Early reproduction (early in the calving season), calving ease and early reconception.
• Enough milk to ensure a heavy weaner.
• Low cow maintenance (mature body weight).
• Adequate post-weaning growth rate and retention of condition.
The commercial beef producer can improve the production effectiveness by:
• Getting rid of unproductive cows – both those that do not calve and those that produce poor calves.
• Ensuring that the next generation of replacement animals performs better than their mothers.
This means that well-adapted bulls that will give the replacement progeny a better average must be
used. Selection pressure must be applied more strictly with replacement bulls. Apply the following rules:
• Know where you are going with your cattle herd.
• Know what the shortcomings of your own female animals are.
o Are there calving problems?
– If these occur only with the calves of certain bulls, then it is the fault of the bull. Sell it.
– If it occurs in all the cows, regardless of the bulls, the fault lies with the cows. Purchase bulls to
correct the problem.
o Are the weaners too light even though the cows had sufficient feed?
– If it is a general problem, the cows do not have milk. Purchase bulls to correct the problem.
– If the calves of only certain bulls are light, the problem lies with the bull. Replace the bull.
• Insist on the BLUP breeding values of bulls and use these to select bulls that increase the genetic merit
of the herd.
• Consider bulls that will make a difference to the effectiveness of future breeding cows by checking the
following properties (summarised in an economic value, namely ‘cow value’):
o Female reproduction (breeding values for age, first calf and calf interval – summarised in a single
fertility value).
o Calving ease.
o Milk.
o Pre-weaning growth rate (growth vigour).
o Upkeep (on the basis of mature body weight).
• Furthermore, the properties required from the bull itself and in which his progeny should excel,
should also be emphasised:
o Scrotum circumference.
o Post-weaning and feedlot growth rate (GDT), as well as feed efficiency – summarised in an
economic value like ‘growth value’.
The BLUP breeding values provide the guidelines for selecting different animals and to support you in
selecting the right bull for your operations.
Table 1 and Table 2
are catalogue examples of bulls that
were offered at a public auction recently. The five factors that contribute profit for cows, namely calving
ease, milk, calf growth, upkeep, fertility and growth qualities (as ‘growth value’) are also indicated in
the catalogue.