EASY CARE, MAXIMUM RETURNS

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Farming is a relaxed way of life for Apiti couple Nipper and Sheree Knight. Their partnership encompasses a 35ha ex-dairy run-off and a 70ha flat-to-medium hill country block, giving them 101ha effective for their sheep and beef operation, set near the foot of the Ruahine Range in Manawatu.

If it wasn’t for doing their own shearing to save costs, the sheep would almost look after themselves, Nipper says. There are 280 five-year Coopworth ewes bought in during February or March every year, and these are put to a Suftex terminal ram on 1 April. They scan at about 200% and docked 177% in 2022, with the first cut of lambs coming straight off mum in mid-late December.

“These were drafted by eye and averaged 19.8kg carcase weight,” says Nipper.

All lambs are finished on farm and processed at Taylor Preston, so at post-weaning Nipper ensures they weigh everything to a minimum of 40kg liveweight, to achieve a 19kg carcase. In the 2021-2022 season they were paid an average of $156 for every lamb on the place.

The sheep are run at a lower ratio than the Angus cattle — the twinkle in Nipper and Sheree’s eyes. This low ratio enables a low worm burden across the farming system, so the ewes are capsuled prior to lambing and the lambs are drenched in November and January only.

Angus working well Nipper and Sheree fell into Angus because there were already 25 on the hill country block when they purchased it in 2011. This number has steadily increased to 106 females, but Nipper would like to see this rise to 120 in coming years.

“Angus seemed to work well here and fetched good premiums, so we stuck with them,” he says.

Until 2022, Nipper and Sheree had been finishing all progeny themselves, wintering 80 cows, 80 weaners and 40 rising twoyear-old steers. Once finished, the steers were sold as store stock at Feilding Sale Yards.

“The market is nuts around September, so we were getting more money at store than killing them ourselves.”

In October that money was $3.82/kg for the smaller 470-500kg steers, and the 580kg top line that went a month earlier fetched $3.50/kg.

“We were once told that the most profitable animals are the ones who spend the least amount of time on the farm.”

For this reason, and after losing their 21-year-old daughter Ashleigh in a tragic accident at the end of 2021, the Knights decided to take the stress out of feeding weaners through the winter months and simplify their system. In 2022 all steers were sold as weaners to a local, and with the 12-month-old mob’s average weight at 426kg, they’re proving their genetic potential.

“That mob is absolutely honking,” Nipper says.

They’re not fed anything special - it’s a straight grass programme across the entire operation, so Nipper puts their performance down to the Totaranui bulls he’s buying, as well as his strict female selection process.

“If a calf is no good at the end of the season, the mother is down the road.”

The first Totaranui bull was purchased in 2013 and the Knights have purchased another one almost every year since. They always buy yearling bulls with low 1.5‒-2.5 birthweight EBVs and high growth rates - the illusive curve benders.

The yearling bulls are necessary for heifer mating and Nipper calved 30 heifers as two year olds in 2022. They were completely unattended down at the run-off block and there were no issues at all.

“We feed the heifers as much as the cows, and also right through the pre-calving period.”

The abundant feed ensures the heifers are up to weight for mating, can easily rear their calves and then get back in-calf as two year olds. Nipper believes not mating yearling heifers is simply a lost revenue opportunity.

“Our re-conception rate is 100% and we don’t have any tricks except feeding them well and selecting the right bulls.”

The current calving period is spread over nine weeks, but Nipper is going to shorten that to find the fertility and then cull any latecycling mixed-age cows.

“Fertility is in the genetics.”

As well as fertility, docility is a big part of Nipper’s bull selection process and he says that if he can’t walk up to a bull up to inspect its feet and have a good look at the animal on sale day, he’s not interested.

“A quiet calf grows well and is easy to deal with.”

Having plentiful feed assists in progeny growth too, of course, and selling all the weaner steers has freed up a lot of pasture for the females. The annual rainfall at Apiti is 1600mm/year and they’re considered summer safe, however 40ha is baled into 400-‒600 rounds every year to keep for winter, and to use if there’s a drought.

The soil fertility is good, with the farm having not missed fertiliser for 62 years. Olsen P levels are 25-‒30 and the pH is 5.9-‒6.0, so in the spring Nipper puts DAP on at 130kg/ha, as well as sulphur at 30kg/ha. In autumn, urea goes on at 70kg/ha, and muriate of potash at 60kg/ha, to replace the mown grass.

“Last autumn I put on 100kg of high analysis SuperPlus, which is 9.5% phosphorus.”

Nipper and Sheree also run a local contracting business, which means they cut, rake, bale and wrap 5000+ bales annually, depending on the season. Between the contracting work and the cattle breeding, they are not short of work throughout the year.

People often ask why they don’t make things easy and just buy in trade steers.

Sheree says the reason they choose not to is for the added satisfaction they get when they see the results of their own breeding and selection programme. She and Nipper find the results are far more rewarding.

Although the farming year is relatively simple, Nipper and Sheree aren’t ready to rest on their laurels just yet. Nipper is the first to admit that they don’t run a very technical farming system, however their emphasis on quality genetics has ensured the progeny coming off the farm grow at rates beyond belief. This is something they are very proud of, and rightly should be.