Improving efficiency of the beef cow herd

The change from the headage support system within the European Union to a single farm payment has revealed the low level of profitability of many of the country's beef cow herds. As the single farm payment may be reduced over the coming years there is a pressing need to ensure that these herds achieve the maximum possible level of efficiency if beef production from the beef cow herd is to survive in the UK. The focus for improvement rests on reproductive performance and calf viability. A suite of tools are required to enable consultants to interact with their clients in order to identify and solve points of weakness as well as fine tune systems that are currently efficient. Central to this requirement is the ability to collect and analyse production data. This paper describes an industry-wide approach to the issues and outlines some of the tools that SAC has developed.