Once-bred heifer systems

Author(s):  
I Rigby

Major changes are taking place in the UK beef industry, as a result of the reduction in dairy cow numbers due to milk quotas. Similar reductions are taking place throughout Europe and have resulted in a strong export market for UK calves. Consequently in 1988 there were 800,000 fewer calves available for beef production than there were when quotas were introduced. This downward trend is forecast to continue and by 1990 the EEC will no longer be self-sufficient for veal and beef.At times of calf shortages the concept of once-bred heifer beef (producing one calf out of a heifer otherwise destined for slaughter as clean beef, and then slaughtering her shortly after calving) has been considered as a way of generating extra calves and meeting the shortfall. Historically low fertility in young heifers, and high levels of dystokia have limited the commercial uptake of the technique. In addition returns have been low because heifers that have produced a calf are not eligible for Variable Beef Premium payments and, being unfamiliar with this type of slaughter animal the meat trade has regarded tham as cull cows and paid a reduced price.

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 38-39
Author(s):  
Bradley J Johnson ◽  
Luke Fuerniss

Abstract The U.S. cow inventory includes approximately 31 million beef cows and 9 million dairy cows, so flow of cattle from dairies into beef production influences the traditional beef industry structure. Dairy-influenced cattle have historically entered the beef supply chain as cull cows and calf-fed Holstein steers. Culled dairy cows account for approximately half of the cows harvested in the United States annually. Fed steers and heifers of dairy influence are estimated to account for 15% of annual steer and heifer slaughter. Advancements in data availability, genomics, and reproductive technologies have enabled more precise selection of dairy replacement heifers and more pregnancies to be allocated to a terminal sire. Recently, the use of beef semen to breed dairy cows that are not desirable for producing replacement heifers has become more widespread. Beef-on-dairy calves are often moved to calf ranches shortly after birth where they are weaned and grown before transitioning to traditional grow yards or feedlots. In comparison to traditional range beef production, calves of dairy origin are weaned at a younger age, have more restricted mobility early in life, and are fed a delivered ration for a greater number of days. While carcasses of dairy-originated fed cattle excel in subcutaneous leanness and marbling, calves originating from dairies typically experience greater morbidity, poorer feed conversion, and poorer dressed yields compared to native fed cattle. Future opportunities to optimize beef production from the dairy herd include refining sire selection to consistently produce high quality calves, reducing variation in calfhood management, and identifying optimal nutrition and growth technology programs for calves from dairies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_4) ◽  
pp. 46-46
Author(s):  
Genet Mengistu ◽  
Marcos Cordeiro ◽  
Getahun Legesse ◽  
Sarah Pogue ◽  
Amanda Taylor ◽  
...  

Abstract This study estimated movement of feed between regions of Alberta to meet the needs of the beef sector in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016, and included barley and wheat grain, grass hay and grass-legume hay, which can be cost-effectively transported. Feed demands of beef and other livestock (i.e., dairy cattle, chickens, pigs, sheep, bison, horses, turkeys and other poultry) were estimated using county-level inventories from Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development and Statistics Canada, and aggregated to 7 land-use regions: Lower Athabasca, Upper Athabasca, Lower Peace, Upper Peace, North Saskatchewan, Red Deer and South Saskatchewan. Feed requirements were sourced from literature and expert opinion pertinent to Canadian context, and feed demand estimated using annualized feeding days and dry matter (DM) intake. Feed available for beef production was estimated from crop yields minus other livestock feed use. Average feed demand for beef production across Alberta was (tons of DM) 2.71 M, 0.68 M, 2.21 M, and 1.95 M for barley and wheat grain, grass hay, and grass-legume hay, respectively. North Saskatchewan, Red Deer and South Saskatchewan accounted for 90% of the total demand for barley and wheat grain and 81% of grass hay and grass-legume hay. South Saskatchewan had the largest feed deficit and required feed movement in all years. Across years, barley grain deficits ranged from -94% to -31%, grass hay deficit from -142% to a surplus of 1.6% and grass-legume hay deficits from -167% to -15%. Unmet deficits at provincial level occurred for barley grain (2006), grass hay (2001) and grass-legume hay (2001, 2006). Wheat was surplus in all years, ranging from 17% to 90%. Feed movement is critical to support beef production in Alberta, and is highly variable depending on crop yield in different regions. This analysis enables the beef industry to assess provincial feed sourcing and environmental footprints.


Author(s):  
Julie Hennessy

Stella Artois, an AB InBev brand, is the world's best-selling Belgian beer. In early 2017, Ricardo Tadeu, AB InBev Zone President for Africa, is planning the brand's entry into its next export market: South Africa. The case explores Stella's introduction strategies into three of its export markets—the UK (1976), the US (2000), and Mexico (2016)—examining the drivers of the brand's success as well as its failures. Students will analyze the brand's previous launches to determine what made it successful in some markets and not in others. They will apply these learnings to develop a strategy for the brand's introduction to the South African market. Beyond the central discussion of growth through international expansion, the case addresses issues of brand positioning for premium products, changing consumer perceptions, the use of cause marketing, category development and maturity, and competitive strategy.


2007 ◽  
Vol 2007 ◽  
pp. 108-108
Author(s):  
E. Rius-Vilarrasa ◽  
L. Bunger ◽  
K. Matthews ◽  
C. Maltin ◽  
A Hinz ◽  
...  

Accurate estimates of carcass composition and eating quality are critical to the introduction and the success of a value-based marketing system (VBMS) and to help address increased consumer demands for leaner meat with higher quality. Currently in the UK, carcass composition is assessed by a subjective carcass classification system based on the EUROP conformation system, and a visual assessment of fat cover using a numeric fat score (“MLC Scoring”) (Anderson, 2003). Objective, image analysis based systems to classify carcasses into current classification categories have been studied (Allen and Finnery, 2000) and are in use in the beef industry in the EU. However, the introduction of automatic technologies such as VIA may also have considerable potential for prediction of lean meat yield of the carcass. There is growing interest in the possibility of developing payment criteria which are based on carcass meat yield. Therefore, the present research project investigated the potential of VIA technology to predict meat yield in terms of saleable meat yield (SMY), saleable primal meat yield (SPMY) and the carcass components leg, chump, loin and shoulder in lamb.


2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 ◽  
pp. 267-267
Author(s):  
M Lewis ◽  
B. G Lowman

Reducing costs for unit output, be it per kg liveweight gain, per kg carcass gain or per kg saleable meat yield will be essential for the future of the UK beef industry. Traditionally emphasis has been placed on reducing feed costs per unit output and data from MLC’s Beefplan shows that between 65 – 82% of the variable cost of UK beef systems are accounted for by feed costs. However, with fixed costs being similar to total variable costs, it is also important to reduce the major components of fixed costs specifically associated with the production of feed and feeding it which are labour and machinery. As far as nutrition/feeding of beef cattle is concerned, there are a number of areas where a reduction in costs can be achieved using existing knowledge but in other areas there are obvious gaps in knowledge which require further research. However, there appears to very little research into aspects of the nutrition/production of beef cattle going on, or being published, in the UK. (Only 4 out of a total of 113 papers presented at this conference are on nutrition/production of beef cattle.)


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-228
Author(s):  
Shigeki Matsuda

Abstract In Europe, falling fertility rates are regarded as part of a second demographic transition precipitated by changing values. Low fertility rates in developed Asian countries, however, are thought to be due to decreasing marriage rates, as a result of worsening young men’s employment. This study proposes the hypothesis that men in non-regular employment – those with low incomes and those who are unemployed – have lower probabilities of getting married. Male employment was analyzed using a logistic regression of micro data for 20- to 49-year-old men in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the UK, France, and Sweden. The study’s findings generally supported the hypothesis and clearly confirmed that there is a relationship between employment and marriage in Asian countries, and especially in Japan.


2014 ◽  

Beef Cattle Production and Trade covers all aspects of the beef industry from paddock to plate. It is an international text with an emphasis on Australian beef production, written by experts in the field. The book begins with an overview of the historical evolution of world beef consumption and introductory chapters on carcass and meat quality, market preparation and world beef production. North America, Brazil, China, South-East Asia and Japan are discussed in separate chapters, followed by Australian beef production, including feed lotting and live export. The remaining chapters summarise R&D, emphasising the Australian experience, and look at different production systems and aspects of animal husbandry such as health, reproduction, grazing, feeding and finishing, genetics and breeding, production efficiency, environmental management and business management. The final chapter examines various case studies in northern and southern Australia, covering feed demand and supply, supplements, pasture management, heifer and weaner management, and management of internal and external parasites.


2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 61-61
Author(s):  
C P Ferris ◽  
D C Patterson ◽  
D J Kilpatrick

Fertility traits have been included within breed selection programmes for the Norwegian Red (NR) dairy cow population in Norway for over thirty years. As a consequence, a 60 day non-return rate to first artificial insemination (AI) of 72.5% was recently calculated for NR cows in Norway (Garmo et al., 2008). In view of this long term breeding programme, and current fertility performance within Norway, there is considerable interest in the NR breed as a means of overcoming the high levels of infertility that currently exist within the Holstein-Friesian (HF) breed. However, farming systems within Norway are very different from those within the UK, with herd sizes in particular being much smaller. Thus an experiment was established on 19 commercial dairy farms to compare the fertility performance of cows of the NR and HF breeds.


2007 ◽  
Vol 2007 ◽  
pp. 236-236
Author(s):  
J. J. Hyslop ◽  
D. Fleming ◽  
G. J. Hill

Since de-coupling of CAP subsidy schemes from actual animal production, lowering the costs of finishing cattle production systems is one of the key challenges facing the beef industry. One of the largest costs associated with finished cattle production from spring-born suckled calves is the costs of over-wintering the weaned steer calf once the suckling phase is over. The capital tied up in buildings is a major component of these costs in countries such as the UK where the relatively harsh winter environments have traditionally led to many weaned suckled calves being housed and fed conserved forages over the winter months to ensure adequate performance. Previous work (Hyslop et al, 2006) has shown that under appropriate field conditions, non-lactating, spring calving suckler cows can be out-wintered on both grazed kale or turnip based-systems with an acceptable degree of animal performance. The objective of the current study was to determine liveweight (LW) changes in weaned spring-born suckled calf steers when managed outdoors on kale-based grazing systems during a short winter feeding period and to assess the dirtiness of steers hides at the end of the kale grazing period.


1995 ◽  
Vol 1995 ◽  
pp. 25-25
Author(s):  
C.J.C. Phillips ◽  
P.C. Chiy ◽  
J.A. Avezinius

Fertilisers are usually evaluated by their effects on herbage DM yield and occasionally herbage composition. Rarely are the effects on animal production considered, even though there is evidence for example that increasing the sodium (Na) contents of herbage can increase the milk yield of dairy cows (Chiy and Phillips, 1991), and that dietary sulphur (S) contents in excess of l-2g/kg DM will lead to reduced intake and productivity in ruminants (Raisbeck, 1982). In the UK the use of sulphur fertilizer is widely advocated, since herbage growth is often restricted by deficiency now that industrial emissions have been reduced. Sulphur fertilizer increases herbage S content, but Na fertilizers can affect herbage S content and S utilization by ruminants (Chiy et al., 1994). The effects of Na and S fertilizers were therefore studied with particular emphasis on herbage composition and dairy cow production.


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