Beef Cattle Recording: Field Tests

This recommendation applies to on-farm beef performance recording undertaken in herds of cows, which suckle their calves until an age of at least four months.

Data is collected in order to provide farmers with information useful for herd management and to provide raw data for genetic evaluations. It allows for genetic evaluation both for growth ability and milking ability.

Symbol

The symbol of the recommendation is ‘SH’.

Method of recording

ICAR recording methods “A”, “B” and “C” can be used.

Reference performance

The reference performance is the weaning weight adjusted to an age of 205 days. Additional references can be set such as adjusted 100 days weight.

Minimum requirements

Animals to be recorded

Records have to be obtained for all animals from the same group of dams/calves kept at the same location for the same purpose.

Mandatory data to be recorded

For each of the animals the following data should be recorded:

1. Animal ID.
2. Weighing date.
3. One weight taken at an age between 90 and 250 days.
4. Farm ID.
5. Abnormal records in relation to any preferential treatment relative to the rest of the contemporaries.
6. ID of the management group within herd when they exist.
7. Fostering (if applied).
8. Particular details in relation to illness or other performance related factors.

Optional data to be recorded

Weights

Additional weight records that may be recorded in suckler herds include:

1. Regular calf (and dam) weights (e.g. every 30 days or every 90 days);
2. Dam weight at mating.
3. Dam weight at calving.
4. Dam weight at weaning of calf.

Additional weight recordings should comply with the same standard, in that the ID of the animal, the date of weighing, the management group, etc. is recorded with the weight.

Assessments

Additional assessment records that may be recorded in suckler herds include:

1. Body condition.
2. Wither height.
3. Muscular development.
4. Temperament.

Age restrictions and test length

The recommended age for weaning weight is 205 ± 45 (161 to 250) days. The maximum variation in birth dates of all calves in a test should thus not exceed 90 days. This implies that the minimum and maximum age difference (with one weigh date for all calves) per test should also not exceed 90 days. Table 10 indicates the proposed age limits for Birth, Pre-wean and Wean Tests.

Table 3.10. Age restrictions for recordings in suckler herd tests.

Trait	Age restriction
Birth	0-3 days
Pre-wean	51-150 days
Wean	161-250 days

Definition of contemporaries

Apart from the definition given in section 2, the following applies. The responsibility for proper contemporary grouping lies primarily with the individual farmer. In most cases calves born within the same season (preferably not longer than a 90-day period) on the same farm can be grouped together. However, consideration should always be given to the way the calves are managed and also to the nutritional regime they were subjected to. Differences can exist on the same farm within a season, which require the establishment of two or more contemporary groups.

Creep fed calves should be separated from non-creep fed calves. Likewise, orphaned or extremely sick calves should not be compared to their normal herd mates. Crossbred calves should not be compared to straight-bred calves, except where an appropriate correction or model is applied resulting in a fair comparison.

In very large ranches or cattle operations, environmental, pasture and even management differences may exist between cattle stations or paddocks on the same property. In such cases, it is recommended that such cattle stations or paddocks be regarded as different herds and calves from different cattle stations or paddocks be handled as separate contemporary groups.

It is recommended that the information used to determine contemporary groups be maintained in the data bank to facilitate any future changes in contemporary grouping. Contemporary groups of two animals per group are useful in cattle evaluations but may show a lack of useful variation.

Birth and weaning contemporary groupings should be independent. This facilitates the inclusion of birth weights from calves that died before weaning.

Finishing herds

Field of application

This recommendation applies to on-farm beef recording undertaken in finishing herds from start to slaughter.

Data may be collected in order to provide farmers with information useful for herd management and to provide raw data for genetic evaluation. It facilitates the genetic evaluation of performance traits including growth.

The test is often used for dual-purpose breeds where young calves are weaned at an early stage.

As it is normally possible to assemble the contemporary groups it is important that the test design should be optimised as far as is possible. This property distinguishes the testing scheme from other field tests such as beef recording in abattoirs where no influence on the test design is possible. Therefore the inclusion of slaughter data does not affect the application of this testing system.

Symbol

The recommended ICAR symbol or abbreviation for this beef recording system is ‘FH’.

Method of recording

ICAR recording methods “A”, “B” and “C” may be used.

Description of Test

Organisation of the test

Weaned progeny of test and reference sires are grouped into finishing units and subjected to the same management conditions. The group should comprise at least 6 animals. In order to allow for an informative test design care must be taken to insure that the group is composed of progeny from several sires.

Accurate weighing should be undertaken on each animal on entering the finishing unit and on exit for slaughter. If an animal obviously is affected by illness or disease, this should be noted with the weighing details should always be retained with the weight and weighing date when the data is loaded to the database.

It is recommended that the length of the test be at least 1 year. At the end of the test further traits like body condition, muscular development, skeletal development may be recorded. Slaughter details of the animals such as shrunk live weight, carcass weight, national grading scores, carcass trim details and meat yield may also be recorded.

Minimum requirements

Animals to be recorded

Records should be recorded on all animals from the same group of finishing animals kept at the same location for the same purpose.

Mandatory data to be recorded

For each of the animals the following data should be recorded:

1. Farm identification.
2. Identification of the management group within herd when they exist.
3. Animal ID number.
4. Two weights taken at the start and end of the finishing period.
5. Weighing dates.
6. Abnormal records in relation to any preferential treatment relative to the rest of the contemporaries.
7. Details of animals negatively affected by illness or other factors.

Optional data to be recorded

Slaughter records

Additional records that may be recorded in finishing herds include:

1. Slaughter date.
2. Shrunk weight.
3. Hot carcass weight.
4. Carcass grade according to the national grading system.
5. Carcass cut details that provide information for meat yield.

Linear assessments

Additional assessment records that may be recorded in finishing herds include live animal data:

1. Scoring date
2. Body condition;
3. Muscular development
4. Skeletal development
5. Other linear traits

Data verification

Prior to evaluation, records should be check and combined with other data on the animal stored in the database (e.g. place of birth, birth date, breed, parents etc.). Inaccurate or implausible data should be removed from the data file. Apart from these deletions and rejection of records due to illness or disease, no other data should be excluded.

Definition of contemporaries

The contemporary group may comprise all animals from the same breed, sex, finishing period and management group. Due to the uniform environment within contemporary groups medium to high heritabilties can be expected.