Celebrating 30 years of Selected Brahmans

The hardiness of the Brahman breed from their heat tolerance, parasite resistance and walking ability means that they are one of the most popular breeds in the Top End of the Northern Territory. However, Brahman cattle are generally considered to have low fertility compared to Bos taurus breeds and it is known that Brahman heifers reach puberty at later ages. To try and improve fertility traits, the Livestock Industries team in the Northern Territory Department of Industry Tourism and Trade has been running the Selected Brahman project since 1994. The Selected Brahman herd has had performance data uploaded to BREEDPLAN since 1994 with historical data from 1986 incorporated.

Flash forward 30 years to 2024 and significant progress has been made through selection for fertility.

Selection criteria for the project:

• Cows are culled from the herd if they do not raise a calf to weaning each year. Raising a calf to weaning age each year proves maternal traits of calving ease and mothering ability while maintaining good body condition ready for re-conception each year.
• Young bulls are selected at 12 months of age using a selection index based on scrotal size, 400-day weight, percent normal sperm, low dam age at first calving (from yearling mating) and the dam’s ‘never miss a calf’ score. These bulls are retained in the herd for natural mating.
• New genetics are carefully selected from herds that cull empty cows each year. Semen is used from bulls with low ‘days to calving’ and high scrotal size EBVs to AI two-year-old heifers in the herd.

Low age at puberty in heifers is associated with better fertility later in their life, which is why selection favoured heifers that got pregnant from yearling mating. The selection pressure applied throughout this demonstration has increased yearling pregnancy rates by double compared to heifers from commercial herds run on the same property. Also, pregnancy rates in lactating cows were on average 37% higher in the Selected Brahman herd than in a commercial Brahman herd, when compared over 5 years on the same property.

There is an annual female and bull sale to give industry an opportunity to purchase highly fertile, climate adjusted animals from the Select Brahman herd that are no longer needed for research.

To learn more about the NT Livestock Industries Select Brahman herd please contact Gretel Bailey-Preston.