DAIRY FARMING
10,000€ extra income thanks to YPERIOS on my dairy farm
GAEC de Crocomby relies on crossing its Montbeliardes with Charolais semen to increase its income. On this 100-cow dairy farm, the added value amounts to €10,000 a year. Breeding is based on YPERIOS Excellence bulls, offered by AURIVA-Elevage.
200 euros in added value for crossbred calves: that’s Jean-Paul Laffay’s conclusion. Based in Ampepluis (Rhône) with his mother and brother, the breeder calculates the profitability of his crossbred calves. “Compared with pure-bred calves, we save 200 euros when they are sold at 4 weeks. On our farm, we sell around fifty Charolais calves a year. That’s an extra 10,000 euros in income,” explains the breeder. AURIVA-Elevage’s YPERIOS Excellence program offers animals selected for ease of birth, breeding performance and butchery aptitudes.
In addition to the calves, 15 to 20 Montbéliard-Charolais crossbred heifers are fattened on the farm every year. "We fatten them when calf prices are a little lower".
Optimized sexed semen and crossbreeding thanks to genotyping
Cross-breeding is not new to this breeding program, but the approach has intensified with the generalization of genotyping. Every year, the GAEC breeds 20 to 25 Montbéliarde heifers. The use of sexed semen optimizes the renewal of the dairy herd by developing crossbreeding. Jean-Paul Laffay didn’t hesitate to follow the advice of his inseminator XR Repro to improve his income.. “We take a safe approach. We weren’t taking any risks, and we quickly realized that this was just a plus”.. In concrete terms, all heifers are genotyped: 25% of inseminations are carried out with sexed semen on the best animals. “Then, 15% of the animals receive conventional semen. Finally, we use Charolais crosses on the rest of the herd, with less genetic value”, explains the breeder.
More income with the same cost of genetics
With this strategy, genetic costs are kept under control. The higher cost of sexed semen is offset by the purchase of Charolais bull straws. “Since we intensified the breeding of Charolais crossbred calves the total amount of our genetics has not increased at the end of the year”.
More income with the same workload
While farm income has risen, working hours have remained constant. Jean-Paul Laffay refutes preconceived ideas: “Calving Charolais calves is no more complicated than calving Montbéliarde calves. YPERIOS Excellence bulls are really based on ease of calving. So we don’t take any risks with crossbreeding.
