Gene Ireland Progeny Test Centre Performance – 33 steers

The Gene Ireland Progeny test centre recently slaughtered 33 steers at Slaney Foods International, Bunclody, Co. Wexford. The progeny were sired by 18 different AI sires across 8 different breeds.

The group consisted of 33 February, March and April 2016 born steers. The average carcass weight for the group was 392 kilos. They average daily gain for the group during their 74 day performance test period was 1.34 kilos per head per day. Average growth rate within the group ranged from 0.89 kilos to 1.92 kilos per head per day. The average kill-out for the group was 55.2%, with kill-out ranging from 52.2% to 58.8%.

Overall the animals graded extremely well with 12 of the steers grading U, 19 of the steers being of R grade conformation, 2 grading in the O grade class. All of the 33 steers met the carcass fat specifications of 2+ or higher, this was a great achievement as many the steers were only 20 months of age. The average dry matter intake (DMI) per day for the group was 13.1 kilos, with steers consuming from 12.2 to 15.5 kilos per head per day on a DMI basis. The steers were fed hay and concentrates over their 74 day finishing period which includes their 30 day acclimatisation period.

Overall the steers performed very well for their age and were gaining 0.74 kilos of carcass for each day they were on test at Tully. The data demonstrates the large variation in performance between progeny in a steer finishing system.

See below photos of some of the progeny slaughtered.

All individual data on animals slaughtered recently can be found under the G€N€ IR€LAND section of the ICBF website (www.icbf.com). You can access the G€N€ IR€LAND section by clicking on the “services” tab which is located at the top of the homepage.