2023 Limousin Annual Journal

Semen Royalty Sires in 2023
TECHNICAL
The Society runs a Semen Royalty scheme on behalf of its members. When calves are registered that are sired
by Semen Royalty Scheme sires, a royalty payment is collected from the breeder of the calf and credited to
the royalty owner.
The list of Semen Royalty Scheme sires is available on the Society’s website www.limousin.co.uk (search under
the ‘Breed’ menu option) or a printed copy can be posted on request.
Is Docility Now The Most
Important EBV?
The following is an article previously published SAC’s Sheep and Beef
Notes. Written by Dr. Basil Lowman, SAC Consulting Beef Specialist, it
reveals that there is more to the Docility EBV than meets the eye…
the Limousin
society announced their
‘When
Docility EBV in 2011,
the other breed societies, decided it
wasn’t relevant to them and ignored
it. Yet, interestingly, the Australian
research, on which the Limousin
docility system was based, had
shown that more docile cattle had
more muscle, measured from their
eye muscle area, with similar levels of
body fat. As it takes four times more
energy to grow 1 kg of fat compared
to growing 1 kg of lean, this suggests
that more docile animals will be
more efficient in terms of feed
conversion and will have a lower
carbon footprint!
At around the same time, SRUC
researchers, led by Dr Simon Turner,
were investigating systems for
measuring potential aggression
in cattle. They concentrated on
two aspects of a behaviour which
cattle routinely display when they
are run through handling pens –
their behaviour in the crate and
their speed exiting the crate (using
a modified speed camera!). They
showed that displaying high levels
of activity in the crate and fast
exits were both good indicators
of excitable animals. The findings
of this crate activity research were
incorporated into the scoring system
now used by the Limousin society.
Again, SRUC‘s results showed that
more docile animals had higher
growth rates.
For decades before this work even
started, it was widely known that
animals which are stressed when
they are slaughtered produce
tough, poor eating quality beef.
Consequently, the system of keeping
and feeding cattle in pens at the
abattoir for a few days to calm them
down before they were slaughtered
(lairage) was developed. Since then,
there has been a lot of more recent
research showing the negative effects
of stress, pre-slaughter, on the eating
quality of meat.
The thing which triggered me to
write this article was a comment
from Johnny Elliott (Roxburgh
herd), that there appeared to be
a positive correlation between the
feed efficiency of his bulls and their
docility i.e. his most efficient bulls
also tended to be the quietest bulls.
To me, this all suggests that the
Limousin society has got a head
start on other breeds with their
Docility EBV, which will also select
for more efficient cattle, with a lower
carbon footprint, which will probably
produce more tender meat with a
higher eating quality. This will also
be safer to both the general public,
staff, and make life less stressful and
more enjoyable for all of us!
The Limousin Society supports the
work of the Beef Feed Efficiency
Programme which is establishing
new measurement protocols
and breeding values for the traits
associated with feed efficiency,
and examining the impact of feed
efficiency on meat quality.
www.limousin.co.uk
ANNUAL JOURNAL 2023 | 141