Bull Survey Results

Paul L. Charteris
Institute of Veterinary, Animal & Biomedical Sciences,
Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Survey forms have been received from Angus, Hereford (including horned and polled cattle) and Simmental breeders regarding their bull selling practices. Participants were asked to indicate numbers of bulls they sold during the 1994 bull selling season and if these bulls were sold to commercial beef cattle farmers or dairy farmers. For each bull selling destination (beef cattle or dairy farmers) and age of bull sold, breeders were asked to indicate what proportion of bulls heifer progeny were retained as replacements (rather than slaughtered) and how long bulls were retained for breeding by their bull-buying customers.

Preliminary survey results from 40 Angus, 40 Simmental and 51 Hereford breeders are shown in Tables One to Three.

Table One Beef bull sales in 1994 (131 respondents)

Annual sales of yearling and 2-year old Angus (Ang), Simmental (Sim) and Hereford (Her) bulls are shown in Table One. Older bulls represented a low proportion (2-3%) of all bulls sold. A higher percentage of Hereford and Angus bulls are sold to dairy cattle farmers than Simmental bulls. The majority of bulls sold to dairy farmers were yearling bulls rather than 2-year old bulls. The proportion of yearling and 2-year old Hereford bulls sold to beef cattle and dairy herds was in agreement with survey results obtained by the New Zealand Hereford Association (Inc.) in 1992. Cow herd size of bull-buying customers differed little for Simmental, Hereford and Angus breeds.

Table Two shows average number of years bulls are retained on bull-buying customers farms. For each of the three breeds, bulls were retained for longer by beef cattle farmers than by dairy farmers.

Table Two Number of years Angus, Simmental and Hereford bulls are retained by bull-buying customers

Accordingly, in devising selection objectives, it is important to know the destination of bulls sold in the industry with respect to terminal sire use as compared to retaining daughter for breeding. Table Three shows the percentage of heifer progeny of Angus and Simmental bulls slaughtered by bull-buying customers.

Table Three: Percentage of heifer progeny of Angus, Hereford and Simmental bulls slaughtered by bull-buying customers

Nearly all (80-90%) of Angus x dairy and Hereford x dairy heifers and all of Simmental x dairy heifers were slaughtered suggesting that bulls of these breeds are being used as terminal sires when mated in the dairy industry. When mated to beef cows, a higher percentage of heifer progeny of Simmental bulls (70-80%) were slaughtered than were progeny of Angus bulls (54%) and Hereford bulls (40-50%), confirming that Simmental bulls are used as terminal sires to a greater extent than Angus or Hereford bulls.

In addition to bull sales from registered breeders, some bulls used within dairy and beef cattle herds originate from non-registered herds. The effect these bulls have on improving the profitability of bull-buyers would be difficult to quantify.

Selection objectives

Does the ideal breed or breed-type exist? Is there a breed whose genetic potential will be profitable for farmers managing cows on hill country, beef cattle finishers and beef processors. The likely answer for today's beef industry is no.

One answer is to select cattle for the environment in which they will be managed. This environment includes the farming conditions (feed quality and quantity), the age and weight at which cattle are marketed (relative to feed supplies) and the market requirements these cattle are targeted towards.

A balanced selection objective should include a list of traits which will improve farmer profitability in that environment and consider the requirements of industry participants further down the chain, such as beef processors and retailers. To date, few selection objectives have been developed which consider the requirements of beef processors as well as consumers.

Traits which are of importance to some participants in the beef industry are listed.

The cow / calf producer requires fertile cows which will calve unassisted at an early age and will rebreed annually. The cow/calf producer requires a heavy calf weaned whilst trying to keep the weight of the cow (and hence her feed costs) in check. This cow has to be able to stay in the herd for long enough to recoup the costs associated with keeping her as a replacement (U.S. research indicates that in their conditions this occurs at a cow age of 6 years).

The processor requires cattle with a high saleable meat yield. Meat pH can affect storage qualities and therefore transportation options for beef. When the beef product is targeted at Asian market requirements, fat colour, meat colour, meat firmness and texture and marbling can all affect retail appearance and/or cooking qualities of the beef product.

Consumers require a safe beef product which is convenient to prepare, provides value for money, with the required taste and tenderness. Furthermore, this beef product must consistently provide the same high standard.

Characteristics which are of importance to some sectors of the beef industry may be of little or have no value to other sectors, some characteristics may be antagonistic. Motivation for implementing selection objectives which meet consumer requirements would have to be provided by rewarding farmers for cattle with superior carcass and meat quality attributes and imposing penalties for inferior cattle. Such pricing signals could be achieved through appropriate carcass grading and classification.

New Zealand Hereford, Simmental and Angus Council members were recently asked to list traits which they considered were of importance for increasing farm profit of their bull-buying customers. The results shown are an average of responses given by council members and do not represent the views of each Breed Society as a whole (Tables 4 to 6).

Traits which decrease farm costs or increase farm income (or both) can increase farm profit. Two different scenario's were 1, all progeny of a bull slaughtered and 2, some heifer progeny retained for rebreeding. Traits were ranked from 1 (most important) to 5 (least important).

Responses from members of the three Breed Societies differed. Different responses were expected across the three breeds in question, since these breeds fulfill different roles within the beef industry.

Table Four: Hereford breeder responses

A list such as this should represent the requirements of bull-buying customers (in commercial beef and dairy herds). In terms of numbers slaughtered, cattle from commercial herds have a greater impact in the beef cattle industry than cattle from registered herds.

Traits within these lists differed depending on destination of bulls sold. For bulls sold to beef cattle herds in which some progeny were retained as replacements, cow fertility, cow calving ease and maternal traits were of importance. In herds in which bulls were being used as terminal sires, traits such as calving ease and bull temperament and live weight gain of progeny assumed more importance.

All farmers should construct a list such as this for their farming conditions and breed choice. Farmers should ask their bull breeders to describe their list and compare the lists when making bull selection decisions.

The challenge for bull breeders is to improve those traits on the list in their cattle through use of objective measurements, combined with a genetic evaluation. Motivation for genetic improvement will only arise however if bull-buying customers are motivated to pay premiums for bulls which are identified as superior for those traits of economic importance for their farming circumstances.

Current genetic evaluations focus on live weight and liveweight gain-related traits. The results from this survey indicate that traits such as cow and bull fertility or calving ease warrant attention for inclusion in future genetic evaluations. Inclusion of gestation length, days to calving, scrotal circumference and calving ease in some Australian Breedplan analyses indicates that fertility and calving ease traits were identified as being important under Australian conditions.