Picking the right breeds to perform for a market in a given environment is not really a difficult decision, despite there now being close to 100 cattle breeds in Australia.

The challenge is to pick the right biological type of animal – the type that performs well for you. All breeds are slightly different but many are similar to others for some important traits.

For this reason it is often more useful to select the right types of cattle and within that breed type, use the breeds you prefer. In many cases a single breed will be appropriate. This breed should be selected as an all-round performer in many traits.

Crossbreeding herds can better make use of breed selection, by combining breeds with different strengths to produce sale progeny that the market wants. This progeny will also have hybrid vigour to lift its performance even more.

Composite breeds combine two or more breeds. The breeds used to set up the composite determine the biological type of the animals, and how they perform under different nutrition. There can be as many composite types as breed types so it is not appropriate to compare one composite with another unless the parent breeds are known or the biological type is considered.

Most common breeds used in Australia began originally developed as composites of others. The selection of appropriate breeds to use in a breeding plan is the first step. However, breed is not a guarantee of performance, and it is equally important to select the most appropriate sires within each breed to breed future herd females and sale progeny.

Using Breedplan genetic estimates and combining these with appropriate visual selection will lessen the risk of poor performers.

Breeding herd planning

Most herds still have significant opportunities to enhance their profitability.

All producers would benefit from a well thought out plan for their breeding herds to ensure success of a breeding program over the next five or ten years – that’s the message from other successful producers in the new extension package, Better Breeding – Beefing up your Business.

Most cattle producers enjoy working with and improving their cattle breeding herd, but many do not effectively plan the direction of their herd for any length of time. I see this particularly when new fads or even new selection tools are released.

The availability of composite bulls and the release of gene marker information are good examples. Both are useful ways to lift herd production, but should be used in balance with other proven selection and management tools.

A plan relies on a clear understanding of market requirements, constraints of the environment, and available knowledge of the differences between and within breeds for the economically important traits.