Blondes the high performance breed !!
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
- Blondes are easy calving versus other terminal breeds.
- Joint heaviest carcass weight and top carcass grade alongside Charolais but Blondes were 28 days younger at slaughter.
- 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 .
- 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.
- Total extra Profit = €196.
- Cull cow value is very important and Blondes showing heaviest carcass plus the bonuses of excellent carcass grades.
- 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!