Beef producers will have the opportunity to secure some of the Charolais breed's highest genetic merit cattle when a major portion of JSR Farms' Givendale herd comes under the hammer in Borderway Mart, Carlisle on Thursday 21 August. The event marks a change in the agribusiness' policy.
The average breeding values of the consignment are within the top 10% of the breed and comprise 55 cows with an average Beef Value of CH27, 26 maidens CH29, 16 in calf heifers CH29 and one stock bull, Givendale Operator CH31.
Established in 1979, the Givendale herd was among the pioneers of the BLUP genetic evaluation system launched in 1991. "Our breeding programme has focused on selecting Charolais cattle with high Estimated Breeding Values for growth and carcase traits to produce bulls which are sold straight off the farm to commercial suckled calf producers," explains JSR's livestock specialist, Richard Fuller based at Great Givendale, Pocklington, near York. "We also pay attention to EBVs for 200 day milk and calving ease."
Using bulls exclusively with Beef Values in the top 1% of the breed has enabled considerable progress to be made towards improving growth and carcase traits. For example, 400 day growth has increased over the last seven years from +16kg to +48kg and muscle score has doubled from +3pts to +7pts.
Mr Fuller adds: "Our objective has been to increase the value of output from commercial suckler herds and Charolais cross Holstein beef enterprises by encouraging producers to use Estimated Breeding Values as an indispensable tool to select high performance Charolais bulls. Overall, we've found no other breed of terminal sire that will outperform a high performance tested Charolais. Progeny from Givendale Charolais bulls within several commercial suckler herds have been tested and they demonstrate the clear advantages of using high Beef Value sires. Calves sired by the bulls within the top 1% of the breed on Beef Value return an average of £43 per head at slaughter over calves sired by a bull within the top 25% of the breed on Beef Value."