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FOR E FUTURIA G R R S! U PR EN E
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Volume 51 I April 12, 2021 I email: agined@globalHQ.co.nz I w w w.farmersweekly.co.nz
This table shows North Island slaughter prices. STRETCH YOURSELF: 1 Covid changed the way the business functioned as originally 95% of their clients were restaurants. How did they adapt during the lockdown period and then beyond? 2 How many of their buffalo do they milk? How many litres of milk do they produce annually? 3 Buffalos work well in the reasonably high rainfall of Canterbury? Why is this?
Have a go: 1 Go to www.farmersweekly.co.nz 2 Find and watch the OnFarmStory of Lucy and Christo Keijzer “ One step after the other” and read the article “Quality over quantity “ 3 Where in NZ are Lucy and Christo based? What do they farm?
4 Lucy and Christo produce several different types of cheeses, can you name these? What is their arguably most popular cheese? 5 What differentiates Lucy and Christo’s operation to others like it? (What things do they do or not do compared to others in the same market?) 6 What are the main differences between buffalo milk and cows milk?
4 How big is their farm? How many buffalo do they have?
BEEF FROM THE DAIRY HERD New Zealand beef farmers produce around 500,000 heifers, 550,000 bulls and 600,000 steers for processing each year. Nearly half of these cattle were born on dairy farms. Carcase traits are highly heritable, meaning the genetics of the animal’s parents have a big influence on how good the carcase is. A good bull will produce a calf that is born early and easily, and grows fast to produce quality beef. Dairy farmers can use artificial breeding to get access to genetics from really good bulls. Massey University, funded by Beef+Lamb NZ Genetics and now also LIC, is evaluating beef bulls for use over dairy cows to produce calves for rearing for beef. So far, bulls tested in the progeny test differ in gestation length of their calves by 13 days and in live weight of their calves at 600 days by 67kg.
Have a go: 1 How does manufacturing bull (M2 Bull) values compare to year-ago levels? 2 Which class of cattle has lifted the most compared to year-ago levels? 3 What class of cattle is worth the most when looking at $/kg?
STRETCH YOURSELF:
QUESTIONS
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1 If a steer is 67 kg heavier (live weight) when it is processed, how much more will the farmer be paid? You’ll need to consider the dressing out percentage and the value per kg carcass. 2 What are some advantages of producing beef from calves born in the dairy industry compared with calves born in beef herds? 3 What characteristics does a dairy farmer want in beef-cross-dairy calves? What characteristics does a beef finishing farmer want from the same calves? What does the consumer want from those calves? 4 Looking at the April 2020 Dairy beef progeny test report (https:// www.blnzgenetics.com/ files/1591244923 _ 2020-04%20 DBPT%20Autumn%20interim%20 report-V3.pdf), identify 10 sires that benefit both dairy and beef farmers.
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SCIENCE BEHIND ANIMAL PRODUCTION? Check out the Bachelor of Animal Science: www.massey.ac.nz/BAnSci
1 Work out the percentage increase from this week and year-ago values for each class of cattle. 2 Like other businesses, processors must operate on short weeks around public holidays. How would this affect slaughter levels? Would they be able to work at full capacity? 3 As we head towards the end of the NZ dairy season it is likely that cull cows will start heading to processors. What might this do to manufacturing cow (M Cow) prices? 4 If conditions for pasture growth are favorable through autumn what is supply of bull and prime likely to do? Will farmers offload cattle or hold onto them to put on more weight?
FILL YA BOOTS: 1 Recently one of the world’s busiest trade routes was blocked by a ship for nearly one week, preventing an estimated $9.6 billion of trade. Where was this? 2 What kind of ship was involved? 3 If ships were required to continue via a longer route, what would this have done to costs?
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