Breeding
The ICBF Beef Calving Report provides an overview of Shane’s herd’s calving performance for the spring 2026. The report compares herd performance with national averages and top-performing suckler herds, allowing strengths to be identified while highlighting areas where improvements could increase herd efficiency and profitability.
Calving started on 14th February and finished on 18th April, lasting 9 weeks with 6 heifers and 34 cows calving down. Shane recorded a calving interval of 361 days, compared to a national average of 396 days. A shorter calving interval improves the number of calves produced over a cow’s lifetime and increases overall herd productivity. The long-term target remains as close as possible to 365 days. This result indicates excellent reproductive performance. Where required, attention should be given to identifying cows with consistently extended calving intervals, reviewing body condition at breeding, breeding management and considering culling cows with poor reproductive performance.
The herd achieved 1.01 calves per cow per year, compared to the national average of 0.85. This key performance indicator reflects both reproductive performance and calf survival. Where this figure falls below target, improvements in breeding management, fertility, calf health and cow nutrition should help increase the number of calves successfully weaned per cow.
The report recorded a stillbirth rate of 2.4% and a 28-day calf mortality rate of 2.4%. These figures reflect Shane’s focus on good calving supervision, hygiene, prompt navel treatment and ensuring adequate, high-quality colostrum intake within the first few hours of life.
The percentage of replacement heifers calving between 22 and 26 months of age was 100%. Calving heifers at approximately two years of age reduces replacement costs while maximising lifetime productivity, provided they achieve appropriate target weights before breeding. Nationally, this figure is only 22% for beef heifers.
Other key performance indicators from the report include:
- Six-week calving rate: 90%
- Females not calved during the reporting period: 0
- Births with a recorded sire: 95%
- Calving survey completion: 100%
Overall, Shane has demonstrated strengths in fertility, hygiene at calving and attention to detail at calving, while opportunities remain to improve the weights of heifers at breeding and reducing their calving ease. Continued focus on fertility, achieving a compact calving season, reducing calf losses and breeding replacements to calve at two years of age will further improve herd efficiency and profitability. As Shane is expanding numbers, it will be important that extra females kept in the herd will continue to achieve these targets.
Figure 1 Some of this year’s suckler calves
The heifers were scanned and all have gone in calf to the Saler bull which Shane is delighted with. One cow was also bred to him and she is in calf too. The rest of the cows will be scanned over the coming month that were bred with the Charolais bull. 46 females were bred in total this year.
Figure 2 The Charolais stock bull was removed from the cows in mid-July
