British Charolais breeders respond to commercial producers’ demands to deliver bulls that efficient high performance progeny and are easier to calve according to the annual Breedplan report published this month. Since the Society introduced the Breedplan genetic evaluation system in 2007, Charolais calving ease direct has increased by 1% and gestation length has reduced by 0.2 days. Furthermore each of the other performance traits has continually improved including 200 day and 400 day and 600 day growth rates which have increased by 3.7kg, 8kg & 9.4kg respectively, eye muscle area by 〖0.5cm〗^2 and retail beef yield by 0.3%. The Society Chairman Steve Steven said “The current genetic trends are a meaningful step forwards towards fulfilling the society’s objective to supply the market with genetics that strike a balance between these key traits that are designed to make a significant contribution towards efficient profitable beef enterprises. We are confident that these trends will continue to gain momentum as more progeny come into the system.” Commercial breeders seem to be taking advantage of this which is reflected by the Society’s official figures from Stirling in February 2014: 81 bulls with a Terminal Index within the breed’s top 25% sold to an average of £7,188, while those in the bottom 25% leveled at £4,662. In addition 31 bulls with a Calving Ease Direct within the top 25% averaged £6,583 compared to those in the bottom 25% leveling at £5,640.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:41:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015