Belgian Blue outperform other breeds

The Irish Belgian Blue Cattle Society had 10 Bulls of 4 different breeds slaughtered as part of on-going project in Ashbourne Meats Roscrea on 28/1/16. There were 4 BBX Bulls, 3 LMX Bulls, 2 HEX Bulls and 1 FR Bull. The average age of these bulls was 16 months. They were all housed in the same slatted pen with slat mats. The finishing period for the bulls was 119 days which started on 4kg of concentrates and built up to ad-lib concentrates in the run up to slaughter (12.5kg/hd/day). During this time they consumed 1.13 Tonnes/head of a toasted high flaked maize content ration as well as a good quality straw for roughage. The BBX Bulls have easily outperformed the other bulls sampled in terms of Feed Efficiency, Kill out %, grades and therefore profit margin. The BBX Bulls were gaining 2kg/day in the run up to slaughter with the other breeds averaging 1.8kg/day.

The BBX Bulls used as part of this project were the type of Bull which is not generally desired for the Live Export market but are ideal to finish here in Ireland and is very achievable on any farm.  They are all bred off top quality cross bred cows such as LIM X SIM X BB with no trace back to Dairy breeds. In all cases, these cows have loads of milk to rear these calves without creep feeding or supplementing cows. These cattle are the ultimate example of what Quality Irish Beef is and we must not lose focus on this by going down an all maternal route.

This project has dispelled a number of myths surrounding Belgian Blue Cattle. It proves that BBX cattle can indeed be fattened and achieve the desired fat score once the nutrition is correct and do so on Slats without any feet issues. These Bulls achieved premium prices.  For more information on the grades and weights which Ashbourne Meats desire please contact 087-2023933 or contact the Irish Belgian Blue Cattle Society on 087-2768084.