Introduction

Within the sheep industry it is recognised that sale rams are frequently overfed for breeding purposes and this is detrimental to their health, fertility and longevity. In 2012, EBLEX produced a booklet that aimed to share information on the production of rams that were ‘fit for purpose’ and after consultation with the beef industry it was decided to replicate the publication for beef producers.

EBLEX, in consultation with industry experts, have drafted a booklet – Fit for Purpose Bulls, which will be launched at Beef Expo in May. British Cattle Breeders Club offers a great opportunity to obtain industry feedback to improve the draft before the final document is made available to all. A draft is available from Liz Genever and comments are welcomed.

What is a Fit for Purpose Bull?

The definition of a fertile bull is one that ‘can impregnate by natural service at least 90% of 50 normal, cycling and disease-free females within 9 weeks’. Recent Stocktake data from EBLEX suggests that the average cow to bull ratio is 30 to 1, and previous EBLEX work on commercial beef farms has shown that only 7% of herds have a calving period of less than 10 weeks.

Longevity is another important consideration, as it will have an impact on bull cost per calf. There are few industry targets on how many seasons a bull should work. Recent data from an EBLEX survey shows that over 35% of breeding bulls bought in the last five years have been culled or have died, with poor mobility being the main cause for culling.

Data from 18,658 beef breed bulls born between January 2000 and December 2003 from the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) database was used to estimate the working life of a bull. It was found that the average lifespan of bulls (with a date of death recorded) was 6.3 years, with relatively small differences between the most numerically important breeds. This means a typical bull has a working life of just over four seasons. However, 23% of bulls worked for less than two seasons and 34% of all bulls worked less than three seasons. We are currently not fully realising the full potential of bulls. The next question is why.

Are bulls being over-fed?

In preparation for the booklet, a survey of bull breeders was conducted to understand how bulls are being produced. Over 70% of the breeders surveyed fed creep feed to their bull calves. It was calculated that nearly 30% of the breeders that were creep feeding were probably feeding more than 40% of pre-weaned calves’ diet as concentrate. The work from rams suggests that if diets exceed 40% concentrates in the total diet (as dry matter) then there is a higher risk of long term damage to joints, kidneys and the rumen. The challenge is to dissociate high growth rates and high concentrate use; good animal performance can be achieved on well managed high forage diets with less long term impact on the animal.

Work in bulls has shown that foot and joint problems are more common when high energy diets are fed intensively. In separate studies, long periods of high concentrate use was linked to increased scrotal circumference and sperm abnormalities, and decreased sperm volume and reserves. The increased scrotal circumference is driven by high build-up of fat within the scrotum, which can lead to fertility issues as cooling the scrotum is more difficult.

Inappropriate feeding may have an impact on bull performance, but the challenge is that the breeders are getting strong market signals that buyers want big bulls. Figure 1 shows a relationship between sale price and liveweight, and it is well known that weight and size is perceived as good breeding.

The challenge is to break the cycle and it relies on both the breeders and the buyers changing how they go about bull production and selection. Also it doesn’t mean that Fit For Purpose bulls have to be bought off farm, but they need to be marketed differently as it is likely they won’t compete well on size.

Don’t you have to feed to get figures?

The awareness of estimated breeding values (EBVs) is increasing in the beef sector, but there is a common misconception that animals have to be fed extremely well to ensure EBVs work. Put very simply, EBVs are based on comparisons within a similarly managed group – i.e. one animal is out performing the others when fed the same diet and exposed to the same challenges. That diet can be forage based as long as it fair to all animals.

Concerns are arising within the sheep industry relating to genotype by environment interactions (GxE), these are a major concern when genotypes rank differently in different environments, e.g. an animal performs better than its contemporaries in a high input system but less well on a forage based system. It is not clear to what degree GxE interactions influence UK breeding evaluations, but if it is a concern then commercial producers would be advised to seek bulls that had been performance tested in a similar environment to the one in which their progeny are expected to perform.

BLUP analyses do a good job in teasing out genetic and non-genetic influences on animal performance. Figure 2 shows the average 400 Day Weight EBV of young bulls being reared within different Limousin herds plotted against their average 400 day weight. It shows a group of herds (bottom right) that have been fed on a high plane of nutrition, which have relatively low genetic merit, while a further subset of herds in the top left are the exact opposite. It could be suggested that these high genetic merit herds, producing bulls that are grown more slowly, may become the model for fit for purpose bull production in the future.

How old do bulls need to be?

The survey of bull buyers identified that over 50% of them wanted to buy a bull between 15–18 months of age. Data extracted for 689 Stabiliser bulls with Signet recorded progeny showed that on average they dropped their first calf at just over two years of age – meaning they were starting work at around 15 months of age. In this dataset the majority of bulls were either home-bred or sold off farm – meaning they were starting work as soon as they reached maturity. See Figure 3, and remember to subtract 9 months to get the age of the bull when first used.

For bulls sold by auction the average age at which a bull starts to work will increase, because the bulls that are sold tend to be older. Bulls sold at auction are typically around 18 months of age at point of sale – some are considerably older.

The age at which bulls reach puberty and sexual maturity is strongly linked to liveweight. Although this can vary depending on breed, health and nutrition it is usually achieved at between 40–45% of mature body weight. Once puberty has begun, there are several stages of sexual development lasting approximately 15 weeks before a bull is fit for breeding.

For example, a bull that will be used at 15 months of age with a mature weight of 1,000 kg needs to reach 400–450 kg (gain 1.1kg per day) by approximately 11.5 months of age. However a bull that will be used at 18 months of age only needs to reach 400–450 kg (gain 0.9 kg per day) by approximately 14.5 months.

This clearly suggested that bulls can be managed to become sexual athletes without having to ‘push’ them with large and unhealthy amounts of concentrates.

So what is the alternative?

Some breeders have already made changes to their production systems, so grass and forage is the main component of the diet with concentrates being used to supplement when grass quality falls. As stated earlier, cereals can still be part of the production systems but it is about ensuring that concentrates do not exceed 40% (as dry matter) of the diet.

In most beef systems, grazed grass can play a bigger role in animal performance than it currently does, and this is no different when producing breeding bulls. Measuring grass and ensuring it is at target (around 5–9 cm for set stocking, and for rotational grazing pre-grazing height targets are around 10–15 cm with post grazing targets of around 5–8 cm) would quickly reduce the bought-in feed bill. In winter or housed rations, conserved forage crops such as red clover, lucerne or maize can offer similar levels of performance when compared to cereals, but can be kinder to the rumen and cheaper.

If the decision has been taken to alter target liveweight to reduce bull production costs and potentially improve breeding performance and longevity, it is likely that marketing will need to change. It will be challenging to compete with larger bulls at sales, so selling off farm may become important. However specialise Fit for Purpose sales could be arranged either at existing auctions or on farm.

It will be very important to communicate why Fit for Purpose bulls are different to potential customers. The following tips could be considered:

Communicate directly with existing and potential customers

Build a contact list and become proactive about communicating with potential buyers. In this context EBVs are an essential, independent promotional tool to highlight the smaller bull with great genetics.

Consider the importance of the internet and social media

Marketing on the internet can be free by utilising social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. Setting up a website can cost under £100 to set-up your own website to over £1000 to have one made professionally. DEFRA’s Farm Practice Survey in 2012 showed that 86% of farms have access to a computer and of those 45% used the computer for sales/purchasing, and 26% of farmers use a smartphone for the farm business.

Host open days and evening meetings

Inviting existing and potential clients on site provides the opportunity to present the herds breeding plans and promote the benefits of the system.

Using the farming press

Whilst local newspapers and the farming press are good places to post adverts, they are also often looking for editorial and the latest news.

Although not everyone can be in the papers every week, being pro-active by communicating with journalists will increase your chance of being successful.

Will things change?

It is clear that currently breeding bulls are not realising their lifetime breeding potential, and this could be related to how they have been managed by their breeder or how they are managed by the buyer, or both. There needs to be closer scrutiny of the way that young bulls are reared as current pedigree bull rearing practices appear to be having a negative impact on the costs of commercial beef production.

It could be argued that some breeders are not generating the ‘right type of bull’, but they are getting market signals from buyers to chase a trait that might be limiting the animal’s lifespan and fertility. This makes no sense.

Three issues need to be addressed if things are going to change. Buyers need to generate the demand for Fit for Purpose bulls and breeders need to both produce and market their bulls differently (see Figure 4). This is a ‘chicken and egg’ scenario, and it will be interesting to see the degree to which breeders choose to be proactive in stimulating change.