Reinventing Dairy Beef
Mr Kev Bevan (Senior Rural Business Consultant, SAC Select Services, Auchincruive, Ayrshire)
The UK and EU have a structural beef deficit that is expected to grow in coming years with South American imports predicted to fill this deficit. This gloomy outlook, however, need not arise if new breeding technologies can be allied to enlightened supply chain management to lift the value of beef from Holsteins.
Beef Production in Brazil - Threat or Opportunity?
Professor José Fernando Piva Lobato (Associate Professor of Beef Production Systems, University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)
Professor Lobato is internationally regarded as being a prime mover in the Brazilian beef industry. His particular expertise is production from pasture. In this paper he will speak on the drive for exports from Brazil, utilising technology and genetics to improve efficiency, and using quality to gain market share.
Native Breeds - Is it time for a revival?
Mr Duncan Sinclair (Waitrose Agricultural Manager, John Lewis Partnership, Bracknell, Berkshire)
With the impact of decoupling now becoming more apparent and with feed prices set to remain high in the medium term, then the challenge of developing a sustainable beef system for the future will be concentrating many beef producers' minds. No longer is it a numbers game. While many in the industry cast aside native breeds over a decade ago in response to the subsidy regime, is it time to look again?
Making Money from AI beef
Mr Simon Marsh (Senior Lecturer, Harper Adams University College, Shropshire)
It's tempting to use a run-of-the-mill beef sire on the bottom end of the dairy herd. But new data from Harper Adams -presented to the industry for the first time by senior lecturer, Simon Marsh - will reveal just how much impact the right choice of beef sire can have on a dairy farm's profits. Extensive performance and financial data will be presented for progeny from Holstein-Friesian cows.
Genomic selection - What it is and what might it mean for beef cattle breeding?
Mr Chris Warkup (Director, Genesis Faraday, Roslin Biocentre, Edinburgh)
Genetic markers have promised much and there are even bigger prizes to be had with the latest generation of molecular genetic tools. A critical appraisal of the success of these techniques and, more importantly, the likely success of the new techniques is now required to help breeders and breeding companies organise themselves to exploit the opportunities. How will individual breeders benefit from these developments in 1, 5 and 10 years time?
EBVs may come and EBVs may go but DNA is forever
Dr Duncan Pullar (Cattle and Sheep Industry Development Manager, MLC, Milton Keynes)
As research continues to develop the range of EBVs available increases. Combine this with the emergence of genetic markers and breeding programmes are inevitably going to become more complex to manage. This paper reviews recent developments and speculates about how breeders can best exploit the tools they have available to them in an attempt to generate ever better animals.
Championing a regional beef brand
Jilly Greed (Fortescue, Thorverton, Exeter, Devon, EX5 5JN, England)
"This Club believes we should breed beef composites"
Anne Hardy
A short report on the Beef Day debate
To read the full papers you need to be a member of the British Cattle Breeders Club. Click here for more information.
