How can farmers breed herds that are fit for the future?
This was the question raised at the annual British Cattle Breeders Conference held in Telford 20-23 January 2025. Farmers need to spend more money on genetics and there must be a greater availability of sexed beef semen if farmers are to meet environmental targets while continuing to meet production demands.
AHDB CEO Graham Wilkinson addresses the conference
Graham Wilkinson, CEO of AHDB, told delegates at the 2025 British Cattle Breeders’ conference that global beef consumption would increase by 10% by 2032. Genetics holds the key to unlocking this growth while reducing livestock emissions, delegates agreed.
However, on average, UK dairy farmers are spending 0.6-0.8ppl on genetics. This accounts for just 1.5-2% of the cost of production. Consultant Andrew Thompson, questioned if this was enough: “Genetics has a 50% influence on gross margin potential, and you choose to spend 1.5% of cost of production on it?”
Genetics – a good return on investment
Cheshire dairy farmer Andrew Rutter said that little else offered such a good return on investment on his 400-cow dairy unit. He has raised the Profitable Lifetime Index(£PLI) from 65% to 5% within his own herd. Based on one £PLI improvement being worth £1, he calculated this equated to £230,000 in improved margin over the herd’s lifespan. “Paying for the best bulls is the best use of our money,” he said.
Mr Thompson said great genetic progress had been made in the past 7-8 years. He added nowhere else in the world had adopted sexed semen at the pace of GB farmers, with AHDB data showing sales of sexed semen increased to 84% up to April 2024. Together with the targeted use of beef semen, Mr Thompson said sexed semen had reduced carbon output and improved beef calf income.
Beef sector improvements
However, in the beef sector, progress is being halted owing to the poor availability of sexed semen, warned Professor Jonathan Statham, chief executive of RAFT Solutions. As part of an Innovate UK-funded project, he calculated changing the proportion of male and female calves born from 50:50 to 80:20 in favour of males could lower farm emissions by 14 tonnes annually while increasing beef output by 3 tonnes on a 100-cow suckler herd. The model showed improvements were driven by faster finishing of bulls and larger carcass weights. At the same time, Professor Statham said using targeted maternal genetics delivered a 10% improvement each year through improved cow longevity, fertility and earlier calf weaning. “The potential is big, but the availability of sexed semen is a challenge in the beef sector. We need a wide range of sexed semen available in all breeds with all the genetic traits we want,” urged Professor Statham.
Delegates to the three-day conference heard from beef farmers using artificial insemination to fast track genetic gain. Perthshire suckler farmer Neil McGowan uses mostly AI sires on his 50-cow pedigree Simmental herd. He also runs 150pedigree Luing cows. He selects maternal traits to produce heifers that get pregnant in six weeks as yearlings, calve at two, and then rebreed within nine weeks while nursing calves. He told delegates: “If something needs to be done, we cannot wait for policy to change, or we shouldn't blame the market or the breed society. “If you're the breeder, you're in charge, and you just need to do the right thing and get started.”
Technological advances
Conference attendees learned how technological advancements would help improve health and welfare to maximise the genetic potential of animals. Professor Andrew Dowsey from the University of Bristol unveiled a pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) system. It uses a network of cameras to identify individual cows by their unique coat patterns and algorithms are being created to track subtle changes in social behaviour to detect disease before symptoms are visible. It is hoped a prototype will be available by 2026.
BCBC chairman Andy King said: “There are a lot of tools in the toolbox to help support the herd of the future, to meet the challenge of feeding an ever-increasing population whilst treading lightly.”