ICSA Beef chair John Cleary has said while any investment in improving the calibre of dairy beef calves is to be welcomed, the newly announced Dairy Beef Welfare Scheme (DBWS) ignores the elephant in the room that too many farmers are still using Jersey/Kiwi cow genetics for their herd. “Dairy farmers who use sexed semen are doubling down on producing dairy cows that simply won’t be able to produce high merit beef calves,” he said.

“It is also worth noting that that an incentive of just €20 per eligible calf is unlikely to sufficiently motivate dairy farmers focused on maximising milk production to alter their breeding practices. In addition, the lack of any sort of acknowledgement that the purchasers of these animals will need extra support over the lifetime of these animals remains problematic.”

“That said, any value to be gleaned from the DBWS will be determined by the more widespread use of Commercial Beef Values (CBVs) when decisions are being made around what animals to buy for further feeding. By using the CBV, farmers are already making more informed decisions about what they are buying and how these animals are likely to perform, and it remains unlikely that calf to beef producers will want calves born from Jersey/Kiwi crosses. What we need to see is all marts – without exception – displaying CBVs on their boards.”

Concluding Mr Cleary said for beef finishers to fully embrace dairy beef the pricing structure on the grid will ultimately have to change. “Major changes will have to follow on the pricing structure within the beef grid system. Currently there are too many vagaries at play within the payment structure for dairy beef and this will need to be addressed.”

ENDS