Farmer Focus: Genetics play key role in labour at calving
James Playfair-Hannay © Angus Findlay Since my last article, a lot of water has gone under the bridge – literally. Fortunately, it has not been as freezing cold and wet as we have known it in previous years.
Grass levels are not keeping up with the demands of hungry mothers. With reduced staff levels (we are still looking for additions to the team), calving and lambing have gone fairly well.
The native breeds, Angus and Cheviots, have generally given birth without assistance. Their offspring then get up and go.
But calving has been slow. One bull didn’t produce a calf, despite him working the year before and passing his semen test prior to the service period.
See also: Are rare breed native cattle set for a resurgence in the UK?
About the author
Last week unfortunately took us to Herefordshire for a farmer’s funeral. He was a good friend who loved his family, farming and was always great fun. He’ll be sorely missed by all.
Catching up with some of his Cirencester cronies (I attended Seale-Hayne agricultural college), there was much discussion as to the state of our industry and the mistakes that have been made over the past 45 years.
The subject for their next Tuesday Zoom club meeting will be to debate: “What have we done to the suckler cows?”
To my mind, we have been breeding the wrong type of cows for the job, as suckler cows are disappearing from the countryside.
United Auctions currently has several significant herds on its books for sale. Chasing terminal traits to the detriment of maternal characteristics has been encouraged by industry experts.
One of our customers, who is now using all native genetics, is selling more live calves at reduced production costs and generating increased profits.
We now seem to have UK livestock that can’t survive birth without human intervention, or the need to be fed cereals to perform.
Historically, many breeds of livestock were developed with selective breeding to cope with the local terrain and conditions in which they lived. Do we have the EBVs (estimated breeding values) for resilience?
The weather may be changing, and while we certainly have better technology and equipment, we still have to make a living from various types of farmland, some of it good and some of it poor.
It comes back to the necessity of the right animal in the right place.