The 1320 Textra-Romney lambs grazed on a leafy turnip, red and white clover mix came off the crop at 41kg liveweight (LW), 3kg lighter than those grazing ryegrass and clover.
But the summer crop-grazed lambs yielded a 19.1kg carcaseweight average – half a kilo more than those on grass.
Their return average of $88.57 was $1.58 ahead of the grassfed lambs; it’s not a huge gain but the feed-to-meat efficiency factor and other paybacks have made it a worthwhile move.
“Overall it’s lifted ewe lamb (replacement) weights by 5kg and left more grass on hand for making balage,” Alister says.
It’s also proved that lambs can be reliably finished rather than having the tail-end sold on the store market as has happened in the past.
As part of a FarmIQ project growth rates of the bottom cut of lambs were compared on a specialist mix and ryegrass from January 15.
The grass-fed lambs started at a 35.42kg LW average and achieved 228 grams of daily growth.
The specialist-crop lambs started at a 33.6kg LW average and grew at a 297g daily average. All lambs were weighed fortnightly and when drafted off at prime weight were replaced with others.
Alister and 2IC Tom Jones were vigilant about management of the almost $3000 crop.
“We kept on the case, we spent a lot of money to grow it so wanted to make it work.”
The lambs were kept on a three-day rotation around six paddocks that worked well and ensured the crop was not overgrazed.
When the last of the lambs were finished ewes grazed the crop before direct drilling with an Italian ryegrass at the end of March.
“We hope to get three to four years from that and then we’ll probably put it back into forage.”
The old Telford homestead is now an administration block.
Since 2013, 10 selected cadets from Smedley Station in Central Hawke’s Bay have stayed on for further learning through LTD towards Certificate in Agriculture and Certificate in Applied Rural Production qualifications.
Coleridge Downs in the Rakaia Gorge introduced the same training pathway this year taking on three first-year and three second-year students.
The Erdmann family, the Hawaii-based owners of Coleridge Downs and managers Tony and Pam Plunkett pushed for the agricultural training initiative, bringing on-board a part-time LTD tutor to make it happen.
The students spend every second Thursday in class and the rest of the time helping out across Dry Acheron, Coleridge Downs and Big Ben stations. Accommodation is provided and a small salary paid to each student.
“They’ve picked up things quickly over the first six months and they’re going really well. They’ve become an important part of our workforce,” Tony says.
Specialist lamb finishing mix – the detail
- Pacer leafy turnip– 3kg/ha
- Mainstay white clover– 4kg/ha
- Rossi red clover– 4kg/ha
- Sown – November 2
- Area – 20 hectares
- Cost – $148/ha (seed and chemicals)
- Stocking rate – 66/ha
KEY POINTS
Telford Farm red meat unit
- 350ha
- 2016 wintered stock
- 3000 mixed-age ewes (Textra base)
- 870 hoggets
- 23 R1 mixed-sex Hereford-Friesian
- 100 mixed-age Red hinds
Lincoln-Telford Division courses
Telford campus courses
- Certificate in Agriculture
- Diploma in Agriculture
- Diploma for Rural Veterinary Technicians Correspondence Programmes
- Agriculture
- Agribusiness Management
- Beekeeping
- Equine
- Forestry
- Horticulture
- Small Farming
Smedley Station and Coleridge Downs
- Certificate in Agriculture
- Certificate in Applied Rural Production
For more information go to www.telford.ac.nz
