Dairy producers are beefing up

Published 14 December 16

According to BCMS data, between January and June 2016 664k dairy cows calved, compared with 660k cows during the same period in 2015. Despite a similar number overall, registrations of calves whose sire was of dairy origin was actually down more than 4% at 394k head. Countering this, registrations of beef calves from the dairy herd were up more than 9% at 270k head.

The shift means, the percentage of dairy cows calving down with a beef calf averaged 41% in the first half of 2016, compared with 38% during the same period last year. The findings are in line with the analysis carried out by AHDB in June of this year.