Understanding the Cogent Beef Impact Offering

Every year more than half of UK dairy cows are served to beef semen – a decision that directly impacts both farm profitability and the nation's beef supply chain. With beef-cross calves becoming increasingly vital to both dairy farm income and UK beef production, making the right sire selection has never been more crucial. This is where Cogent's Beef Impact programme steps in, offering the industry's largest selection of beef sires specifically tested for dairy herd performance.

By collecting and analysing real-world data from thousands of calvings, we've developed two ground-breaking indices that take the guesswork out of sire selection: the Cogent Beef Impact index (£CBI) and the Cogent Growth Index (CGI). These tools help you make informed, profitable and sustainable beef sire selections that will benefit both your operation and the wider beef supply chain.

What is the £CBI?

The Cogent Beef Impact index (£CBI) has been designed specifically with dairy farmers in mind. Expressed as a monetary value, it combines multiple performance traits to predict the financial impact of using a specific Cogent beef sire.

A high £CBI sire incorporates health, management, quality and performance benefits for the ultimate in beef on dairy progeny. By focusing on traits that directly affect management ease and market value, the £CBI helps farmers select sires that align with their operational goals and maximise returns.

Breaking Down the £CBI

The £CBI is made up of two core components, Ease of Management Index (£EMI) and Market Value Index (£MVI), that work together to give farmers a clear picture of a sire’s strength. £EMI represents the potential money saved through positive calving, while £MVI represents the potential additional value expected per calf.

• Ease of Management Index (£EMI): These values focus on traits that make beef calves easier to manage in a dairy system. They include:
  • Gestation Length: The average number of days from conception to calving. Shorter gestations reduce downtime and increase productivity. 285 days is considered the average gestation length for beef on dairy.
  • Calving Ease: This measures the percentage of calves that require assistance at birth, with scores weighted toward sires producing easily born calves. Minimising calving complications ensures healthier cows and calves. 5% is the average quantity of beef on dairy calves that require any level of assistance, so anything higher than this is considered harder calving.
  • Calf Vigour: Vitality and potential for calves to thrive in the first 24 hours of life, reducing time and labour requirements.

• Market Value Index (£MVI): This component predicts the market value of calves, focusing on traits that affect growth, carcass quality, and overall profitability. Key traits include:
  • Calf Quality: Scored based on conformation, muscling, and fleshing ability. Quality scores are converted into a percentage representing the quantity of calves that are of average quality or above. The sire average is 80%, meaning 80% of the progeny produced by an average bull should be moderate quality or above. High-quality scores indicate fewer low-quality progeny.
  • Birth Weight: Accurately measured using digital weighing equipment across the Cogent Beef Testing programme. Birth weights are presented as variations compared to breed averages. providing tailored insights for farm-specific conditions. This relative system makes it easier to predict how a sire will perform in your specific herd, regardless of your farm's typical birth weights. For example:
    • A farm that typically sees 45 kg beef-cross calves using a '-2 kg' sire might expect 43 kg calves
    • A different farm that typically sees 38 kg beef-cross calves using the same sire might expect 36 kg calves

These financial values are built on extensive research and real-world data collection from Cogent Progeny Evaluators within the Cogent Beef Testing Programme. This ensures they reflect the actual performance of sires under UK farming conditions. By using the £CBI, dairy farmers can confidently select sires that match their herd’s goals, whether prioritising easier management, higher profits, or both.

Introducing the Cogent Growth Index (CGI)

Like birthweights, growth rates are farm specific and heavily influenced by numerous factors, such as calf husbandry, weather, and management systems. All of which can significantly affect average daily live weight gain. The Cogent Growth Index (CGI) is Cogent’s latest proprietary index, designed to address the importance of growth rates and to highlight sires whose progeny achieve significantly higher early-life growth rates. This index offers:

• Enhanced Early Growth: Calves from elite CGI sires consistently achieve superior growth, meeting key market specifications efficiently.
• Market Value Potential: Faster-growing calves reach optimal weights earlier, allowing farmers to meet sales targets and improve cash flow.
• Improved Genetic Selection: The CGI provides an additional layer of data to refine breeding strategies, ensuring maximum return on investment.

CGI is derived from three key traits collected during progeny testing: birth weight, second weight, and age. By analysing these metrics, farmers can identify sires whose progeny excel in early-life growth, ensuring flexibility in bull selection without compromising market readiness. Farmers can chose lower birthweight animals and ensure a greater level of calving ease while being confident that the calves will still reach their required weights withing expected or shorter windows.

Making Informed Breeding Decisions

The combination of £CBI and CGI provides you with powerful, data-driven tools to optimise your beef-on-dairy breeding programme. Whether your priority is easier calving management, faster growth rates, or maximising calf value, these indices help you select the right sires for your specific needs:

• Looking for easier calvings? Focus on sires with high £EMI scores
• Need faster-growing calves? Select bulls with strong CGI ratings
• Want the best of both worlds? Use both indices to find sires that balance management ease with growth potential

Take the Next Step

Our new Beef Impact catalogue launches soon, featuring an expanded lineup of proven sires with detailed £CBI and CGI data. Each bull has been extensively tested in real UK dairy farming conditions, giving you confidence in their performance.

To learn more about selecting the right Beef Impact sires for your herd, contact your local Cogent Genetics Consultant or call us for free on 0800 783 7258.

Make your next breeding decision your best one with Cogent Beef Impact - where data-driven insights meet practical farming solutions