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The Future of Your Herd Lies with Your Heifers

Courtesy Zoetis

There are large opportunities to substantially improve the management of northern Australian beef enterprises.1,2 Zoetis are supporting a practical path towards optimal herd performance through improved reproductive performance by focusing on:

Northern Australian Beef Fertility Project (Cashcow)

CashCow was a three year, independent project investigating the fertility of 78,256 beef breeders from 75 selected commercial enterprises across northern Australia from June 2007 to July 2012.1 The project showed that herd performance can be simply measured and quantified against realistic benchmarks as shown below.

An Optimised Production System

There are existing opportunities to better control key production-limiting diseases and boost the rate of genetic gain in your beef herd. The key areas that should be addressed to successfully manage your herd are:

Genetics

  • Genetic gains are cumulative, permanent and obtainable by selection of herd sires from performance-recorded herds, bred in a tropical environment
  • Need to balance the selection of fertility, growth and carcass traits in both male and female cattle
  • Select polled bulls where possible
  • Target heifers to be above breed average for their genetic merit (Estimated Breed Values/EBVs) for key measurements of fertility, growth and carcass
  • Generate selection indices ($ indices) depending on product goals and target markets using EBV data

Measurement

  • Allows productivity to be monitored from one year to the next
  • Allows progress to be monitored over the long term
  • Helps assess the impact of any management interventions
  • Opening numbers by class of stock
  • Closing numbers by class of stock
  • Sales by dollar and heads
  • Purchases by dollar and heads
  • Total kilograms of cattle sold
  • Total operating costs

Disease Prevention

  • Reproductive and other diseases will slow weight gain, lower reproductive rates and result in higher death rates
  • Poor worm control may reduce cattle growth rates
  • Vaccinate against common diseases that affect production
  • Drench to control internal parasites
  • Control coccidiosis

Nutrition

  • Nutrition is one of the key factors contributing to fertility
  • Achieving critical mating weight can increase herd profitability, productivity and longevity;
  • Supplementation will get heifers in calf at the right time and, in many cases, 12 months earlier than if not supplemented
  • Select heifer paddocks with good quality pasture
  • Manage stocking rate to ensure optimum pasture quantity and quality
  • Use strategic supplementation of phosphorus and protein to achieve optimal growth from weaning to mating and throughout their first pregnancy
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