New ICBF Dairy Beef Scorecard

ICBF HerdPlus has launched the new Dairy Beef Scorecard Report for dairy farmers. This new report allows dairy farmers to assess the herd’s dairy beef integration performance of dairy beef calves born from the 1st of July 2022 to 30th June 2023.

The report was developed by ICBF and the DAFM-led Calf Stakeholder Forum. The aim of the new dairy beef scorecard report is to make herd owners aware of the key performance Indicators that contribute to greater dairy beef integration which is important for sustainable use of resources, increased profitability, and improved animal welfare.   As well as evaluating your herds own dairy beef integration performance, the report allows you to benchmark your herd against the top 10% and national average figures across the 10 Key Performance Indicators KPI’s listed below.

  • With a recorded sire
  • With a recorded AI sire
  • With a genotype
  • CBV- All Calves
  • CBV- Dairy Male Calves
  • CBV-Dairy Beef Calves
  • Carcass A.D.G Dairy males
  • Carcass A.D..G Dairy Beef females
  • Carcass A.D.G Dairy Beef males
  • GHG (Lifetime Co2e/ animal)

The scorecard ranks dairy farmers using a percentage and star rating system on their involvement in efforts to improve sire recording, carcass performance, utilizing better beef genetics and increasing the level of genotyping in the herd. Five-star indicates a herd is in the top 20%, while one-star indicates being in the bottom 20%.  This will easily allow herd-owners to identify areas for greatest improvement.  

Figure 1: An example of a herd’s dairy beef integration performance across the 10 Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).

The Herd Dairy Beef Quality Score is a combination of the following KPI’s (1+2+3+5+6). The dairy beef integration statement shows the data and various metrics which are used for the calculation and development of the 10 Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). This is broken down into 4 tables shown below.

Table 1: This table displays the count of dairy beef calves born on the farm from the 1st of July 2022 to 30th June 2023. This is further broken down by the number of dairy beef calves that have a recorded sire, AI Bred, stockbull bred and genotyped calves.
Table 2: This table shows the CBV value of dairy beef calves born on the farm, again broken down by the animal type. These counts are taken from table 1. The CBV values are calculated from an individual animal level for each of the groups and then the overall average figure is displayed. Where a herd has no CBV for a group of dairy beef calves, (no sires recorded on them) “N/A” will be displayed. This CBV value is calculated from the September 2023 evaluation.
Table 3. This table shows the number of dairy beef calves born on the farm and the fate of each these calves. This is broken down by the number of dairy beef calves that are still on farm, sold and exported, sold and still alive in Ireland, sold to top 3 herds and mortality 42 days. Sold to the top 3 herds is the top 3 herds that purchased the most calves. Sold to the top 3 herds” is calculated as % of sold and still alive in Ireland.
Table 4. This table shows the finishing performance of dairy beef calves born on the farm and that were finished between 1st July 2022 to 30 July 2023 in any herd. Dairy Beef calves must be >12 months at the time of finishing and only steers and heifers are considered. The total column is a weighted average for all the animals.

Summary

Dairy beef integration is key component of the economic and environmental sustainability of Irish farms. The introduction of the new dairy beef scorecard will help to promote greater dairy beef integration and increase the importance of improving the beef merit from the dairy herd. This will help to ensure a sustainable integration of both the beef and dairy industry. We hope you find this report beneficial. If you have any questions, or if you have any comments or feedback, please contact HerdPlus on 023-8820452 or email [email protected].