Dairy-beef data from MINDA
These graphs summarise progeny records from catalogued LIC beef sires mated over New Zealand dairy cows. These data are from either 2022 or 2023 inseminations, and do not necessarily reflect bulls in the 2025 Beef Catalogue. Please use these results as guide only.
Calving Difficulty
More than 30,000 MINDA calving difficulty records in 2024 were summarised by breed. The table below shows the breed average, together with maximum and minimum level of calving difficulty (number of calves requiring some form of assistance divided by total calvings for that breed). Note: Only LIC catalogued beef sires, that each had 100 progeny calving records in 2024, were included in this analysis.
This gestation length chart is from LIC’s MINDA database of spring 2023 and spring 2024 calvings. More than 300,000 gestation length records were analysed. Results reflect beef breeds represented by four or more (LIC catalogued) bulls per breed. Each bull was required to have more than 100 progeny gestation length records.
The gestation length charts show the average gestation length of beef sires (for each breed) when mated to NZ dairy cows. The highest and lowest gestation length bulls are shown.
Dairy Beef Progeny Test (DBPT)
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) Genetics and LIC have worked together to fulfil growing demand for quality beef genetics suitable for New Zealand dairy cows.
The B+LNZ Genetics Dairy Beef Progeny Test (DBPT) aims to improve the quality of dairy-beef animals in the industry by identifying and enabling wider use of elite bulls for producing dairy beef.
The DBPT began in 2015 and now has nine years of data, collected on 5300 beef x dairy progeny that were sired by 194 beef bulls across 19 different beef breeds.
Beef x dairy steers in the Beef + Lamb NZ Dairy Beef Progeny Test trial. Photo taken at Pāmu Wairakei Estate.
From the moment they’re born, beef x dairy calves in the Progeny Test are measured for birth weight, gestation length, and the time taken to reach a weaning weight. From there, liveweights are measured at key intervals. Carcass weight, marbling, and other meat quality traits are recorded on all animals. All data is independently analysed by researchers from the School of Agriculture and Environment at Massey University.
In this years’ catalogue[AR2] , several bulls have data from the programme. These individually nominated sires have been stamped with an LIC ‘Dairy Progeny Tested’ label. These bulls, representing Angus, Murray Grey, Hereford, and Charolais, are among the top graduates from the Dairy Beef Progeny Test.
These results, from January 2025 data, summarise performance of the beef x dairy progeny of beef sires in the progeny test. The bulls selected to enter the progeny test are generally ‘better than average’ for traits of dairy importance (in particular, birth weight and gestation length). The graphs on this page are representative of these highly selected cohorts of bulls rather than their breed in general.
Breed averages are only shown for breeds with more than four sires per breed. Note that only a few breeds are represented for carcase weight and marbling. These data are still arriving.
For the traits of dairy importance, lower values are sometimes desirable, so breeds with lighter calves, short gestation length, and fewer days to reach weaning weight, are grouped at the left of these three graphs. For traits of beef importance, breeds with heavier yearling weights, higher carcass weights, and increased marbling scores, are shown on the right of those three graphs.
All results from this test are available online https://www.blnzgenetics.com/progeny-tests/beef-progeny-tests
LIC thanks Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) Genetics for their foresight and on-going support of this programme.
