Expected low cattle turn-off prompts producer call to action at MLA forum

Improving the condition scores of female cattle, weighing them and having clear breeding objectives before outlaying money were some of the best practices he identified as ways to manage through the pitfalls of the rebuilding phase that's underway.

Also read: New frontier for cattle market - MLA projections

He described the generation-low turn-off rate expected in 2021 as a big call to action.

"The key is not to have ebb and flow in the market," he said. "Battening down the hatches is not good in terms of profitability and in the big picture, it puts your market at risk."

A continuous improvement in weaning rates was earmarked as necessary in the face of a projected 2pc increase in the national herd.

Dr Trompf told the 100-strong audience that their female cattle were the jewels in their crowns, urging them to take up more regular weighing of heifers, even at marking stage, to ensure they were at weights that would ensure they would easily get in calf.

"We're not doing well at getting cows in calf - we should have 70pc of heifers calve in their first cycle," he said.

One of the challenges was understanding the relationship between a cow's condition score and pregnancy rates, and Dr Trompf said producers could have an impact on a cow's return to estrous within the optimal 40 days, with feed.

As an aside, he said that buying drought-affected heifers could be a perfect recipe for dystocia, or calving difficulties, a major cause of calf deaths.

"The first thing I want you to do when you go home is weigh your yearling heifers before the bull goes in," he said. "Remember, you only have one chance to get your heifers back in calf."

As well as targeting supplementary feeding to get to minimum mating weights of around 360kg, based on 60pc of the mature weight of a 600kg cow, Dr Trompf said it was important to consider the design of heifers.

"Our industry is filled with cattle that are way too late maturing," he said. "We've got to engineer an animal that gets up out of the ground early."

The next tip the designer of the national Bred Well Fed Well program had was to be adaptable, especially in light of climate variability, to have tools such as confinement feeding to turn to, to keep on top of condition scores.

Making use of estimated breeding values supplied by seedstock producers, and having breeding objectives, were also essential for success.

"You don't have a licence to buy your next bull unless you've gone through your breed objectives, or what you want to select on, first," Dr Trompf said. "Only then do you do a visual appraisal."

According to Dr Trompf, 70pc of the value of bulls being sold in current markets was governed by the weight of the bull on sale day.

"I call bullshit - there's only one ram sale left in Australia that presents bodyweights on a particular day - the sheep industry has moved past this."

Although commercial beef producers are beginning to use genetic information to inform their purchase decisions, Dr Trompf said their production goals weren't matching their purchasing decisions.

Among the breeding objectives, days to calving was one of the most important measurements, he said, otherwise breeders should default to things such as scrotal circumference and rib/rump fat measurements.

The final two strategies Dr Trompf emphasised to help herds build up were cross-breeding and calf survival.

"Again, we have impartial use of this (cross-breeding tool)," he said. "What I want you to do is exploit the variations that exist - go into each population and select for the trait you're after."

On the topic of keeping calves alive, he urged producers to think of paddocks as nurseries, with water placement and access critical, as well as reducing paddock sizes, giving the calves freedom from predators, and phosphorus supplement.

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