Future demand for 5 star heifers

The Real Elmer Fudd

Hi just looking at the breeding season ahead and trying to decide on a uniform breeding strategy for all cows.

It is a small herd with all cows genomically tested as 4 & 5 star. All cows are AI'd. After heifers born in 2017 I will not see me bringing any new heifers into the herd for a number of years, as all cows are relatively young.

Cows are mainly PNR sim, lm x pnr sim and ch x pnr sim.

What I'm trying to decide on should I continue to breed for replacements as all heifers will be 5 star, and will there be a strong market for them as weanlings or at 24 months ready to calf down.

Bulls are normally sold as weanlings. Heifers can be sold at same stage or held for longer.

I could go with a good lim bull with both good replacement and terminal figures ending up with a good chance of nice heifers and bulls

Or alternatively go strictly terminal using ch or even BB bulls, while not going crazy on the calving difficulty.

What are people's thoughts?

patsy_mccabe

I know around Clare guys go nuts for nice Simmental heifers, but they have to be nice. Farmer also has to be in Herd Plus or the BDGP scheme for the stars to appear on the board in the mart. Easily worth over €200 more than Lim heifers. You will have to take a hit on the bulls though.

blue5000

I'd pick n' mix if using ai. Put maternal ai on your highest ebi cows. Use terminal on lower/cows that aren't quiet enough. There's a lot to be said for having enough for your own replacements anyway.

The market for 5 star heifers will depend on how many ppl are going to stay with suckling, pure and simple.

kk.man

I had nice 5 star lim in Kilkenny mart last September 400 kgs approx...it made no difference to the price

Who2

The 5 star heifers won't really kick in until next spring I reckon. If you can I'd go with a mix, even if your cows are young you could keep on a few each year and use them to tighten your calving pattern or just keep breeding up. Flog the late calvers and you will always have some that won't go in calf or something will go wrong and it would be great to have options.

The Real Elmer Fudd

I don't really see a big premium locally for 5 star heifers at the min, but was thinking that might change as we approach 2020.

I just had it in my head to target one particular market instead of mix n match when I'm producing from a small herd.

The cows are producing nice stock (mind you everyone thinks they have nice stock) to lm bulls, with weanlings bulls making on average €980 at 8 months this year, the only meal they got fed was for 6 weeks post weanling. With all heifers retained for last few years.

Just felt that I could be getting better prices on average by either concentrating on either replacements or terminal

cacs

I mainly have Lim x. I am in similar position. Honestly terminal cattle don't suit me I want easy called vigorous calfs. This year I am starting to AI fleckveih with my cows to bring back milk. I don't care if you breed good cattle terminal or maternal you will will always get a good price on the day. I am also fond of if a nice sim heifer farmer owned who tell me her history and show me her mother it's worth an awful lot when it comes to buying replacements. Bdgp screens in Mart only tell you part of the story al be it a huge step up from years gone by.