12 minute read
Oyster season in beef land
STOCK DAIRY BEEF PROGENY TEST
Well-bred dairy beef calves could make bobby calves history and be a new high value income stream for dairy and beef farmers, Jackie Harrigan reports.
Beef consultant Bob Thomson can see a time when it will not be acceptable to kill 2.5 million bobby calves each season and he suggests that time is less than 10 years away.
But use of the right beef genetics could see a bobby calf problem turned into a high value young tender beef product commanding a premium in export markets.
Limited years for bobby calves is the view of a growing number of dairy and beef industry players and it will be driven by our markets, he says.
“We can bang out our beef to non-discerning customers and it might not worry them, but as we shift our dairy and beef products further up the value chain our more discerning customers will not want to see products from a value chain associated with the bad news story around bobby calves.”
The AgFirst beef consultant says it’s fantastic how the industry has improved handling practices but he doesn’t see it as a long term fix.
When he worked for a meat company in the late 1990s he talked about working with a customer sitting on your shoulder, and seeing the issues through the eyes of someone buying your products. “It’s a different slant that makes you far more consumer focused,” he says. In addition, he says there is a rising tide of bad feeling about killing so many calves so the industry needs to front up and start talking about how they will be reared - make it an opportunity not a problem.
If all of those calves are going to be raised for beef the issue is going to fall to dairy farmers to start thinking about how
Bob Thomson.
to produce calves with maximum beef value.
If dairy farmers use the right beef bulls to cross with their dairy cows the calves can be a great value proposition, for them and the finisher and we just need to market them as such, Thomson says.
DAIRY BEEF PROGENY TEST
Having been involved in the Dairy Beef Progeny Test run by Beef + Lamb NZ with associate professor Rebecca Hickson from Massey University as scientific lead, Thomson says there are beef bulls with genetics to easily produce dairy-cross offspring to fit a young, lean and tender product profile with enough rib fat for finish.
Starting in 2015 at Limestone Downs in the Waikato, over 30 beef bulls were tested each year for two years before transferring the programme to Wairakei Renown dairy unit on the Central Plateau. Up to 21 bulls are progeny tested annually by artificial insemination (AI) over dairy cows at Pamuowned Renown, with all offspring finished on neighbouring Orokonui Station and processed and assessed through Silver Fern Farms. Over 150 bulls have now been tested, with genetic links between years and links to bulls tested in a similar Beef Progeny Test scheme. The Dairy Beef Progeny Test has added information including gestation length and calving weight and Thomson says it is the only multibreed analysis in NZ to deliver to commercial farmers what they need to know.
“The bulls on offer are amazing,’’ he says, “We should be really excited by the potential of them.”
Bulls from eight different breeds have been tested including carcase data so far, with more breeds coming onstream next year and Thomson says it is interesting seven breeds are represented in the top carcase weight stats.
“There is a high level of interest in the
Rebecca Hickson. test, and beef farmers are paying to get their bulls in and tested. Bulls that do well are often picked up by semen companies to market semen from.” Thomson feels the beef industry has taken the dairy industry for granted in the past, but now proof exists that these beef bulls are a real value proposition for dairy farmers.
Top carcase weight bull in progeny test:
• Carcase weight: 22kg heavier carcase at 600days • Birthweight: +2kg heavier but proven easy calver on mixed age dairy cows • Weaning age: -7.7days to reach 7585kg LWT • Weaning weight: +14kgLWT at 200 days • Yearling weight: +35kg at 400days • Rib fat: +1.3mm
THE DEFINITIVE MEAT, MILK AND MUSCLE POWER
DAIRY FARMERS
Try a DOCILE RED DEVON BULL once and never look back.
Better beef – fewer calving problems!
• Bred for ease of calving • Suitable for heifer or cow mating • Placid in the cowshed and yards • Docile calves with solid colours • Early maturing quality beef • Proven fertility • Poll genetics now available
Beef on the menu at an awards night.
“We can really only find those curve bender bulls through progeny testing, not just through estimated breeding values (EBVs). EBVs do work but they are predicated on an average, but the outlier bulls with low birthweight and good growth rates are in there somewhere - now we are identifying them.”
“When you are dealing with dairy cows and the focus is on short gestation and ease of calving, you need progeny tested bulls. We have bulls in the test that farmers can safely use over their heifers but that have progeny that will go through to be top carcase weight offspring.”
“There is a huge genetic difference between buying unmeasured beef bulls from an unregistered breeder and these bulls in the progeny test trial.”
“And these bulls are available from a breeding company for $13 or $14/straw.”
TESTING GENETICS
Rebecca Hickson agrees the dairy beef progeny test has been great to see if genetics were expressed differently in a dairy beef system. Gestation length and birthweight EBVs matched up really nicely but the growth EBVs, when used in a dairy setting, were more problematic, Massey Unversity’s associate professor Hickson said.
“The 400 and 600-day EBVS are still useful but the 200-day weight EBV is not a good predictor as dairy calves tend to be weaned at a fixed weight rather than age, like beef calves.”
“But better pre-weaning growth genetics tend to wean faster which is beneficial in the dairy-beef system.”
Progeny testing has identified the bulls who are fine for cow or heifer calving but have the potential to get more finishing performance for the same calving performance. The progeny trial is now cofunded by B+LNZ and LIC and breeders pay $1250 for each bull tested with LIC having first right to purchase semen, or $11,250 if the breeder wishes to retain semen rights.
“LIC retain first rights to sell semen to the dairy industry from the top performing bulls - and will take 30,000 straws as a first
BREEDING HEREFORDS FOR OVER 50 YEARS!
ANNUAL YEARLING BULL SALE
Monday 13th September 2021 100+ BULLS ON OFFER
All bulls sold are genomics tested for sire verification and the polled gene
LOOKING FOR MORE LIVE CALVES ON THE GROUND,
THINK
FOR HEIFER MATING
LIMEHILLS STARTER 131078
• Bred for performance under commercial conditions • • 450+ females in herd • Easy calving • • Impressive growth • Super conformation • • BREEDPLAN recorded and carcase scanned •
CONTACT: DAVID & SUE HENDERSON • David’s Mobile: 021 166 1389 DANIEL HENDERSON • Daniel’s Mobile: 027 753 6669 429 Rukuhia Road, RD2, Ohaupo • Email: craigmore.hereford@gmail.com www.craigmoreherefords.co.nz
HEREFORD & ANGUS
We breed easy calving, short gestation Herefords with some bulls suitable for dairy-heifer mating
Annual Yearling Bull Sale Friday 17th September 2021
ENQUIRIES TO:
Limehills Starter 131078 figures:
JOHN ALLEN
335 Maurice Road, Glen Murray, RD 5, Tuakau 269 M: 027 440 7504 E: jvmeallen@xtra.co.nz W: mahutastud.co.nz
• Top 1% in calving ease • 400-day growth EBV top 10% • Negative gestation - EBV top 15% • Carcase weight EBV top 5% • HP Index & DM Index top 5% • Scrotal EBV top 5%
order for the owner if the bull meets the standard to be included in a semen team.”
It’s not a get rich quick scheme though, Hicksons points out.
“There is a 3.5 year wait time to see how the progeny of tested bulls kill out, so breeders need to have a long horizon to keep the bull around while awaiting results.”
While she shares Thomson’s enthusiasm for young lean beef product, Hickson says she looks forward to seeing more pull through from the finisher to the dairy farmer, specifying the type of dairy beef genetics they want to be processing and marketing.
“The more we see the information flowing, the more the behaviour will change.”
The project has already produced enough work for two PhD candidates and Hickson has plans for more work, looking at a Dairy Beef Index with a built-in safe calving ease level that is not skewed towards low growth, more work on what the cows’ genetics mean for growth and finishing potential and identifying more heifermating suitable beef bulls.
Some of the charcuterie range produced by A Lady Butcher. Picture by Churly’s Brew Pub and Eatery.
YOUNG LEAN TENDER BEEF FROM FONTERRA?
Bob Thomson can see a future when dairy farmers need to cut cow numbers and dedicate some of their land area to rearing beef.
“That would be a win for the environment too - but there has to be the returns in it.”
“If it’s the dairy farmers’ responsibility to rear 2.5 million calves, they might have to cut a million cows to free up land to do it, and they will need to be making a good margin from the beef.”
Thomson says it would be feasible to get carcases to a ready-to-slaughter product at 170-220kg CWT, finishing them off pasture or crop between November and May, and definitely before the second winter.
“We have to accept a lower carcase weight from one winter finishing, because if we go across two winters, three times as much land will be required.”
“The feed conversion ratio is very good for finishing over one winter - and therefore the greenhouse gas efficiency is way higher too. With a good beef quality and produced under a high-level quality assurance scheme, the beef will be a product with truly sustainable credentials.”
Key insights from the Dairy Beef Progeny Test report
• There is a huge pool of bulls available that can be used safely over dairy cows and offer an improvement in gestation length and calf value. • High quality beef can be produced from dairy beef calves, improving industry sustainability. • Consideration of finishing traits, as well as calving traits, when selecting bulls, can greatly increase the value of the calf to the rearer and finisher, without impairing calving performance. • The sire has a big impact on growth and carcase traits of dairy-beef calves. i.e. not all white-face or
Angus calves are equal. • Calves that are heavy at four days of age are not necessarily heavy at finishing. • Knowing the sires’ EBVs will help judge potential.
“Why not produce a whole new product, with a limited seasonal window of production, like oysters - build an overseas market that appreciates the lean, tenderness of the beef only available in the season.”
And if the meat company marketers can’t see through to market opportunities then perhaps the dairy companies should step up and market it as an associated product to their other low carbon, sustainable proteins, says Thomson.
“It’s a byproduct of the dairy production industry - why shouldn’t Fonterra market it?”
“Offer farmers a decent value-based payment system and a traceable product back to sire and dam and stop making bobby calves a problem - look at them as an asset to be maximised.”
“First steps are getting proven semen in the cows, connecting dairy farmers with beef farmers and securing a market.”
In the meantime, Thomson says we need to join the dots and realise that planting trees on hill-country that could rear dairy beef will put more pressure on the easy country when farmers have to rear their own bobby calves.
“While there’s an economic argument for production of forestry and carbon farming on the hill country, there is not one for replacement of our dairy farms with beef, or trees and carbon. If we think about NZ as one big business we will be worse off because dairy farming will beat trees and carbon everyday of the week.”
• Results are on the B+LNZ Genetics website, found under: www.blnzgenetics.com/ files/1591244923_2020-04%20DBPT%20
Autumn%20interim%20report-V3.pdf Or bitly link: https://bit.ly/3hCjLNj
Need an Angus bull?
CONSIDER THIS . . .
Specialising in Ease of Calving and Heifer mating
Fully registered 300 cow herd Specialising in ease of calving and heifer mating All our best bulls offered at our annual yearling sale Full EBVs on all animals AngusGS 72K SNP tested Excellent temperament Our complete program (all 300 cows) is focused on ease of calving and heifer mating Good selection of bulls with growth and carcass attributes without compromising ease of calving FERTILITY
Calve as 2 yr old
Only 43 days mating - cows
Only 30 days mating - heifers
Cull everything that doesn’t rear a calf
WHO ELSE IN NZ TICKS ALL THOSE BOXES?
Chris & Karren Biddles, RD1, Te Kopuru, Northland P: 09 439 1589 • m: 021 795 929 e: chris@teatarangi.co.nz
