Whale says there is a growing market for unregistered beef bulls in the dairy industry particularly given recent industry advice that the ratio of follow-up bulls to cows – not in calf by AI – be increased from 1:25 to 1:15.
Add to this a high payout and dairy farmers have been buying a lot of bulls – Whale sourced 700 bulls this year, over double the number he sourced last season.
Herefords are by far the most popular beef breed for use in the dairy industry, followed by Angus and Murray Greys.
Herefords produce the white-faced calves favoured by beef finishers and the calves can be easily identified from birth.
Whale says Angus fall down in this respect as it hard for inexperienced staff to tell the difference between a replacement calf and an Angus cross calf during the transition from AI to naturally-bred calves at calving.
He says he has seen replacement herds where a few Angus cross calves have slipped through the system.
There are a few dairy farmers who will select bulls by taking into account estimated breeding values (EBVs) for birth-weight but Whale says these farmers are more likely to buy a bull from a pedigree bull sale, or select bulls partly on EBVs and partly by eye.
By far the majority don’t worry about EBVs and will focus on getting the management right to prevent calving difficulties.
Whale adds that a lot of calving problems come down to physics, particularly with dairy cows with narrow hindquarters and these would be better suited to dairy-type bulls than beef bulls.
Disease status is the other major factor dairy farmers take into consideration when buying bulls.
“Disease is right up there in people’s minds when they are thinking about service bulls and the risk of introducing undesirables into their herd.”
Whale says dairy farmers now require proof that the bulls they are buying have been blood tested and where necessary vaccinated for diseases such as bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD), Tb, leptospirosis and enzootic bovine leucosis (EBL).
“Insistence of proof from the dairy farmer is growing.
“They want to see the paperwork on the bulls they are getting or at least know that the paperwork is available so, if need be, they can rule the bull out as a source of infection.”
Health a priority
Whale says all dairy livestock agents are very aware of the need to have all bulls tested and vaccinated and will insist any bulls they deal with be 100% ticked off with regards to their animal health status.
NAIT tags have helped in this regard as dairy farmers can be assured the bull they are buying is the one that has had the required tests and vaccinations and there can be no confusion over tag numbers, as has been the case in the past.
Service bulls are typically only used for one season and then sent to the meat processors.
Some will hang on to yearling bulls which have been used over heifers but these are typically Jersey bulls.
There is a market for leased yearling beef bulls but these are sent back to the bull producer after they have been used.
