Longevity key to beef profitability

National Shorthorn Conference attendees were challenged last week to think about how they could make their operations and breeds more profitable – and it was the sheep industry which was providing the most guideposts towards success.

Shorthorn Beef's Graham Winnell, pictured, speaking at the conference held at Albury, NSW, said lamb genetic gain had been increasing at five times the rate of beef and this had left cattle producers well behind in terms of profit.

"This isn't just a breed-based problem; it is an industry problem and we need to be able to drive more genetic gain," Mr Winnell said.

"The industry needs to get competitive with other enterprises and start looking at the lamb producer next door as the competitor."

Mr Winnell said the Southern Beef Situation Analysis produced by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) showed the beef industry must increase profitability but also demonstrated beef producers were better off improving their operations rather than changing enterprises.

He said the value of cattle production had long been thought of purely as the price-per-kilogram received but this was rarely a true indication of profit.

More data from the Southern Beef Situation showed in 2012 the top 20 per cent of beef producers were receiving 192 cents/kg while the average producer was getting 188c/kg.

"As an industry we are all told we have to get as high a price as we can yet when we look at the data there is a 4c/kg variation – it isn't even statistically relevant," Mr Winnell said.

"And despite there being only 4c/kg variation in price, there is more than $30-per-hectare-per-millimeter-of-rain difference in profit.

"Up to, and sometimes more than, 50pc of income is in surplus females so when we are chasing that extra little bit on the steers, what are we leaving behind at home?"

Also speaking at the conference, Dick Whale, IBMS, said increased longevity would improve returns on those females even more.

"You need some measure of longevity to really drive what the commercial guy wants," Mr Whale said.

"The Shorthorn maternal index is largely driven by calving ease, both direct and daughters, growth and intramuscular fat, with no emphasis on longevity."

Mr Whale said producers should not "play god with a poly-pipe" when it came to selecting females to retain in the herd.

By selecting just the top percentile of heifers to join, producers were selecting those calves born earlier and therefore failing to retain any heifers' calves and compromising genetic gain.

And by keeping more females, Mr Whale said farmers could increase the value of their older cows, which were often in demand.

"All you do is sell your females as high-quality commercial products.

"You then have a story to tell.

"They've calved at two; they've calved every year for a six-year period, producing several calves, and they are only for sale because we have too many coming on."