Buying dairy heifers

These days, if the dairy stock you have reared have not got any official records, then you can be disappointed with the price you'll get for them when they enter a herd to start their productive life.

They must have a Breeding Worth (BW) which is a measure (in $) of the animal's potential to pass on good genes to its offspring for efficient conversion of pasture into profit. BW should be above 60.

They should also have a Production Worth (PW) which is a measure (in $) of the animal to convert feed into profit through milk production. This value should be above 40.

Calves have these values calculated from their parent's production. So initially the values are based solely on ancestry. As the animal starts to produce herself, then more of her record goes into the BW and PW index.

Your animals may have been bred by AI but if they were not registered with LIC as a calf, then they will be assumed to be average in terms of BW and PW as far as the database is concerned and hence of lower value to a buyer.

So the message is - don't buy heifer calves to rear unless they have a brass tag with an ID on them which the LIC database will recognise.