Background

British beef producers currently enjoy the highest cattle prices on the planet. The beef sector also enjoys a high level of support in form of subsidies (SFP, LFASS or in Scotland Beef Calf scheme payments). Beef consumption survives a succession of challenges and red meat shows resilience as a highly popular food. Why then are suckler cow numbers continuing to decline?

If these benign present day trading conditions cannot give producers profit and confidence to continue or expand their enterprises, fundamental changes are required to our cost structures as I doubt very much if our end customers will pay further price increases.

Changes in UK production systems

Only a generation ago Britain was regarded as the Stockyard of the World with our British breeds, in particular Angus, Hereford and Shorthorn, being exported to North and South America and Australasia in large numbers. These countries are now our principal competitors where they have an exportable surplus to trade on the world market. Unsubsidised, they are able to undercut our prices with beef that has in some cases travelled half way round the globe.

Since the early seventies we have been exhorted to produce leaner cattle with faster weight gains and increasingly extreme muscling. The shape of the ideal steer has changed radically with the trade demanding higher carcase yields. This demand has resulted in increasing use of Continental breeds not only as terminal sires but as a component of the suckler cow with emphasis on output (prime steer/heifer) rather than the cost of production. Rather too many of us measure success by gross market returns and pay scant attention to cost reduction and thus increased net returns.

We now have a high cost production system which relies on grain feeding not only for the finishing of the beef animal, but for the maintenance of the cow herself.

Can we learn from our competitors?

Meanwhile across the world our erstwhile customers and now competitors, have some advantages which we cannot overcome. Pastoral and range cow herds require no winter housing and can survive winters with little or no feed supplementation. Fixed costs are very much lower and the cattle occupy land largely unsuitable for cropping. Only after ‘backgrounding’ (the growing period post weaning) are high energy diets employed in feedlots for regulated finishing periods. It is interesting to note however, that British breeds are the cows of choice and terminal sires are used only in some cases, to produce a slaughter generation. The trend towards larger cattle within these British breeds has recently reversed with more emphasis now on medium frame size combined with conversion efficiency.

The provenance and traceability of our home produced beef through farm assurance schemes and perceived premium quality (Hereford, Shorthorn and Angus), gives us a certain amount of protection from cheaper imports in the meantime. We must remain aware that assurance schemes are already in play abroad and the breeds we get a premium for here are the very same breeds being used in the pastoral regions across the world.

How can we compete?

Sustainable beef production will in future rely on low cost grass based systems using much less grain (less than half a tonne per unit of output) and successful development of low maintenance cow herds with low enough costs to leave a profit at current prices. Systems will compromise between market demands and efficient conversion of grass to protein.

Profitability of suckler enterprises is not so much influenced by the value of each calf sold but by the number of calves sold, less the cost of maintaining the cow herd. Ideally these calves will be sold at a premium for their eating quality.

The Ideal Cow? What must she achieve? What are her characteristics? How do we breed such a cow? What tools are available to assist?

Cows in a profitable suckler enterprise should produce their first calf at two years of age. The increased number of calves produced more than justifies this policy. Maintaining heifers until they are older before they contribute to the herd output cannot be as economical as calving at two years old.

Ideally cows should produce and rear a calf each year thereafter for 8–10 years and the herd will thus have a low replacement rate (circa 15%).

Fewer heifers will be needed as replacements each year while greater selection pressure will ensure only the best are retained. As a result, more heifers will be available to sell each year perhaps even as replacement heifers to other breeders. Longevity and fertility are thus vital to keeping replacement rates and maintenance costs low. Efficient cows will gain condition at grass in summer, conceive their next calf, and then use some body reserves over winter before calving and returning to grass the following year. Over wintering on 3.5 tonnes of silage or less without cereal supplementation should be achievable. Mineral supplementation should only be where an identified deficiency exists and only small amounts of grain fed when a late spring delays grass growth.

Each cow should produce a calf whose 200 day weight equates to 40% of her weight (e.g. 232 kg at 200 days from a 580 kg cow). Such a heifer calf will have no difficulty in reaching desired weights for bulling at 15 months to calve down at 24 months. These performance weights are not extreme yet are sufficient to grow on and achieve a carcase weight of 320 kg at 20 months following a second summer grazing. This production cycle therefore majors on grass and forage products and is thus, a more cost efficient means of production.

Characteristics of the cow which can achieve this lifetime performance

Early puberty

• Ease of calving
• Sound feet and leg structure
• Correct udder formation and teat structure, adequate but not excessive milk
• Rumen capacity to convert roughage
• Medium frame size and weight of 550–600kg
• Docile and easily manageable

How do we breed this cow?

Dam selection – where possible it is worth adopting a self replacing policy even for health reasons alone. Replacements bred from the dairy herd and daughters of terminal sire breeds both result in females with high feed requirements and it is doubtful how many of the desired and essential characteristics they would possess. Replacement females should be bred from cows already performing well and where possible, from older cows that have survived a strict culling policy.

Sire selection – in selecting a sire for a suckler replacement breeding program, there are several key considerations. First choose the breed of bull very carefully. The breed should be strong on the

maternal characteristics we have already discussed. Is a premium available for branded beef of his breed, (Angus at M&S, Shorthorn at Morrisons or Hereford from Waitrose)?

Select from a herd with health scheme accreditation. Avoiding diseases such as Johne’s and IBR is important. Avoiding buying in BVD is essential!

Select a bull with sound conformation and structure. He will need to be able to serve upwards of fifty cows for several years. More importantly, if his daughters are to last for 10–12 years their feet and legs must carry them for this period.

EBVs are a subject of considerable debate. They are another important tool and will become more so as accuracies improve. Like all tools, their success depends on how well they are applied. EBVs are available for a range of traits such as milk, fatness, calving ease, daughters ease of calving, muscling etc. It is all too easy to be tempted to select for extremes but I would suggest that avoiding extremes is more important. Too much milk will result in lean cows which may not re-conceive easily. Very easily born calves may not have good growth rates and in turn might have difficulty in calving themselves at two years of age. Too much muscling may give the same problems whilst too little will reduce the value of the end product. High 600 day weights will produce large cows with consequent feed costs. Some important traits don’t yet have recorded EBVs so it is essential to check temperament, hair type, testicle size and formation, and any other trait important to the environment in which you are breeding. Where possible have a good look at his mother or female siblings. Looking at a bull tells you very little about the teat and udder structure of his daughters but seeing his dam tells you a great deal which you won’t see looking at the bull himself. Good feet, legs and pelvic structure in the bull’s dam will all add to the likelihood of a successful breeding programme.

Finally, I would like to add that the teachings of Professor Jan Bonsma have had a profound influence on my own preferences in selecting the animals in our own pedigree breeding herds. Put simply, Bonsma recognised that the fertility of a bull or cow was hugely influenced by his/her hormonal make up and that was manifest in phenotype – what we now describe as masculinity in a bull and femininity in cows. Bonsma had the ability to describe an animals breeding history and to predict its future fertility from its appearance alone. His knowledge and understanding of hair patterns and physical attributes verifies the importance of visual appraisal in selection. The stockman’s eye remains his most important tool, yet any data which adds to his knowledge can only build and contribute to success.

Conclusion

Breeding a sustainable herd of cows takes at least ten years – the influence of successful cow herd selection will last a further decade. It only takes one bid or phone call to change the bull.

The challenge for the UK beef industry is to become more competitive through a lower cost structure. In the end, we are farming our resources (principally grassland) rather than striving for the perfect product in a meat industry which has little concern for its cost of production or the sustainability of its breeding systems. We have been led in the direction of increased costs and leaner products which the consumer has at last realised, is not the succulent beef they are once again beginning to appreciate.

The type and breeds of cattle required are available and it is encouraging to see them returning to mainstream production systems after many years in the wilderness.