Our Breeding Objectives

We have chosen to concentrate on several areas in particular.  The first is ‘birthing and maternal’.  Almost all of our females have below average birth-weight estimated breeding values (EBVs), many combining this with a gestation length several days shorter than average.  We aim to give our buyers as much confidence as possible that bulls (or females) purchased from Burnbend will create fewer calving difficulties than average.

We are also convinced that, particularly in current conditions, excessively high mature cow weights are to be avoided.  We prefer them to be below 600 day weights, and usually well below.  This is the best indicator thus far, for feed efficiency (the NFI EBV) which we believe will assume greater importance in years to come.  It is not necessary to sacrifice growth in order to achieve this.

We are also mindful of the fact that many of our clients will be producing cattle intended for the Japanese market.  In these circumstances, marbling – as reflected in the Intra Muscular Fat EBV (IMF) – is important. Our breeding program is designed to improve marbling across the herd.  Calves being born in 2007 will average more than double the current Angus IMF EBV for marbling.