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Tully Bull Performance Test Station

 

The following table represents the Performance Results for 206 bulls tested in Tully Bull Test Station intake of bulls for Autumn 2010, Spring 2011 and Autumn 2011. The table shows Average Breed Performance from the three intakes for Average Daily Gain, Feed Conversion Efficiency and Muscle Depth.

 

 

	Average   Daily Gain in kg’s (Higher the better)	Feed   Conversion Efficiency (Lower the Better)	Muscle   Depth (mm) (Higher the Better)
Blonde D’Aquitaine	2.31kg/day	5.01	94.50mm
Belgian Blue	2.07kg/day	4.81	81.77mm
Charolais	2.20kg/day	5.34	85.45mm
Limousin	2.09kg/day	5.17	88.45mm
Simmental	2.29kg/day	5.44	82.82mm

 

 

As you can see the Blondes were No. 1 for Average daily weight Gain , No.1 for Muscle Depth and No.2 for Feed efficiency .

 

Figures for other minority breeds were also below the performance of the Blondes.

Non continental breeds are  left out of table.

The above figures were extracted from the ICBF website under heading ” Tully Test Station”.

Check for yourself!

 

 

 

Average Breed Performance July 2012 (ICBF Figures)

 

Breed	Calving Difficulty (% 3 or 4)	Carcass Weight (kg)	Carcass Grade (EUROP)	Carcass Fat Grade	Carcass Age (Days)	Cull Cow Carcass Weight (kg)
Angus	4%	308	0+	3+	763	207
Blonde	4%	369	R+	3	704	286
Belgian Blue	8%	353	R+	3	759	260
Charolais	5%	369	R+	3	732	281
Hereford	4%	311	O+	3+	781	208
Limousin	4%	356	R+	3	745	256
Saler	1%	356	R	3	742	248
Simmental	4%	353	R	3	741	249

 

This data is taken from the ICBF July 2012 Genetic evaluations and based on a very large number of records , eg  the calving ease figure based on over 4 million calvings, carcass weight based on over 1.4 million carcass weights and they include progeny from both Beef cows and Dairy cows, across all breeds.

 

Main Points

1. Blondes are easy calving versus  other terminal breeds.
2. Joint heaviest carcass weight and  top carcass grade alongside Charolais but Blondes were 28 days younger at slaughter.
3.  Note: It costs approximately €3.50 per day to feed a finishing  animal. So 28 days @ €3.50 / day = €98 less to get the same weight .
4.  The  Blonde  Carcasse weight was 13 kg’s heavier than next breed @ €4.00/kg a carcass = €52    plus 41 days younger @ finish: 41 days @ €3.50 / day = €144.
5.  Total extra Profit  = €196.
6. Cull cow value is very important  and Blondes showing heaviest carcass plus the bonuses of excellent carcass  grades.
7. Fat Cover is same as other breeds even at younger slaughter age.

 

You can argue any figure shown but the bigger story is that Blondes are easy calving but have top growth rates, showing heavy carcasses, adequate fat cover with top grades without the difficult calvings/vet bills!