Developments in the Production of Calves from the Suckler Herd

Abstract

An examination of records from commercial suckler herds (Table 1) soon reveals that calf sales per cow is the most important component of financial performance. A high calf sales value is achieved by selling more, heavier calves rather than by obtaining higher prices per kg. It follows that the most important developments are those influencing the weight of calf produced per cow per year. Of course stocking rate is also important in relation to financial margins per hectare but this subject is not considered further here.