Friday, March 29, 2024

Blending beef and dairy

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There can be more to a dairy herd than just milk. Benjamin Lee told Erin Hutchinson that by thinking outside the square, his family farming businesses are making full use of their opportunities.
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Adding value to a dairying business doesn’t need to be about more milk. There’s another protein resource on every dairy farm – meat.

For Friesian herds, introducing a good quality beef sire into the mix can be a tidy earner.

Beef-cross calves potentially sell at a premium and make use of an often underutilised resource.

Reporoa-based dairy farmers Benjamin and Sylvia Lee, along with son Hamish, are taking it a step further by growing out the stock as part of a beef farming enterprise near Akitio in northern Wairarapa. Akitio was settled off the sheep’s back, with wool sourced from the hinterland making its way to the coastal hub before being shipped out.

But these days it’s meat that pays the bills.

The east coastal hill country has little in common with the flat lush green dairy pastures of Reporoa but has another family connection – Benjamin’s brother Jonathan owns and operates a sheep and beef property near the coast at Akitio, which led to Benjamin buying land in the area.

The 750ha effective operation is split over three blocks. The first purchase in 2000 was two nearby parcels of 197ha – the home block – and 91ha – the top block. The 500ha Merriden, of which about 450ha is effective, was bought in 2008.

The value proposition for the properties was compelling. The purchase price for the initial blocks was about $2000/ha. In 2008, Merriden was bought for $4500/ha.

The farms are just far enough from the coast to capitalise on passing showers though the summers can be fickle. The 40-year average rainfall sits at a healthy 1150mm annually with the wettest months being July and August.

It’s good cattle country, mostly moderately rolling contour with some steeper sidlings. Development has focused on subdivision, water infrastructure and soil fertility.

Over the three blocks, paddock sizes generally sit between 6 and 6.5ha. All stock at Merriden have access to reticulated water while at the other two blocks there is a mix of troughs and dams.

Tree planting has also been a focus on the properties with about 500 poplar poles planted every year for the last five or so years to stabilise hillsides and provide shade. They have also retired 21ha of steeper hill country at Merriden and planted it in radiata pine to reduce erosion.

Overcoming the tyranny of distance – Akitio is a good five hour-plus drive from Reporoa – the blocks are managed by Jonathan and his son, Justin. This teamwork and trust forms a key foundation for the operation’s success, with Benjamin, Sylvia and Hamish visiting half a dozen or so times a year to help with key activities.

The proximity to trusted and skilled management, combined with a comparatively low purchase price, is what made the opportunity such a good one when Benjamin and Sylvia began looking for grazing opportunities.

Stocked only with cattle, the operation bears little resemblance to that of its neighbours where sheep tend to dominate.

The contrast was sharp during a kind summer in mid-January as pre-grazing paddock covers in the Lee block were close to 3000kg drymatter (DM)/ha while through the fence, cover was closer to 1200kg DM/ha.

Hamish says the longer paddock covers aid in retaining soil moisture over the summer. For the Lees, the key to making the system work for both the beef and dairy enterprises is finding the right bulls to breed with.

“A lot of farmers are interested in just getting cows in-calf – we are looking to get more value,” Benjamin says.

They look to source low birthweight, high growth-rate bulls to minimise any potential calving issues while maximising potential meat returns.

Jonathan says they prefer the heavy-yielding Angus-cross to other breeds. Yearling bulls are purchased each year from Waigroup Angus to go over the heifer replacements. They tend to buy the mid-price range sires, budgeting about $2000/head.

The Lees are comfortable spending a little more than a typical tail-up dairy bull costs to ensure they source something with birthweight and growth rate records, placing importance on protecting the core business of dairying by prioritising calving ease.

Benjamin says using breeders who operate the Breedplan programme makes sire selection relatively simple.

To keep the sire size down they are transitioning towards a system where the bulls are used over a single mating period and then slaughtered.

Under the current meat schedule conditions, the purchase price is nearly recouped at slaughter.

For the dairy herd, two-year Angus bulls are sourced from the Crawford’s Hillcroft Angus stud near Ohinewai in the Waikato region. Six weeks of artificial insemination to CRV Ambreed Friesian semen is followed up with six weeks with the Angus bulls out.

They target about 100 dairy heifer replacements, with the Friesian bulls left entire.

The beef-cross bull calves are steered. All calves are reared on the 400-cow, 143ha milking platform in Reporoa until weaned off milk.

To add scale to the beef operation, additional whiteface calves are bought in – 100 bulls (later steered) and 40 heifers – and are reared on-farm with the other calves. Another 380 Friesian bulls are bought in as 100kg weaners.

For labour efficiency, the system at Akitio is kept relatively simple. All beef heifers and the rising-one-year dairy heifers are run on the home block. The older beef steers are run around the fringes to act as a buffer against any bulls in neighbouring farms.

Yearling Friesian heifers are mated to the yearling Angus bulls on the top block. The dairy heifers are mated for three cycles with the bulls joining in late October. Again, a small mob of older steers is used as a boundary buffer.

The dairy replacements are effectively on ad lib feeding throughout the year. The older steers act as a pasture grooming tool behind the heifer mobs, tidying up paddocks behind the priority feeding mobs.

Under the current system, heifer condition and progress are monitored by eye though they are investigating options around a more formal liveweight (LW) monitoring policy.

A very low empty rate in the heifers means any investment will need to be reflected in improved results.

Cattle are monitored for parasites and drenched as required. The dairy heifers return to the Reporoa milking platform in June as in-calf, rising-two-year olds. Any heifers that fail to get in-calf are culled.

The home-bred and bought-in Friesian bulls are grown out at Merriden. About 480 Friesian bulls come in as weaners. They spend one winter on the property and are sold store to finishers at 15-months of age, targeting 415-430kg LW. The 120-odd beef-cross heifers are sold into the local trade market at two- to two-and-a-half years. Carcaseweights average between 230kg and 240kg. Younger beef-cross steers are grazed on Merriden, shifting to the other blocks as yearlings.

All steers are sold before their third winter as either forward store or prime, depending on the market and the season, targeting a minimum 600kg LW. Average annual turnover is about 150 steers, including the whitefaces.

The beef operation and the area available for youngstock not only create opportunities for additional returns for the dairying operation but also makes it possible for the younger generation to start building equity through livestock.

For the Lees, expanding their farming operation by thinking outside the box and leveraging off their high value dairying land against the more extensive, lower priced land at Akitio is proving to be a winner for both generations.

Key points

Location: Reporoa, Bay of Plenty and Akitio, north Wairarapa
Owners: Benjamin and Sylvia Lee
Areas: 143ha milking platform (Reporoa) and 750ha effective at Akitio
Cows: 400 Friesians
Production: Akitio blocks annually produce 480 Friesian 15-month bulls at 415-430kg liveweight (LW), 120 beef-cross 2-2.5-year local trade heifers at 230-240kg LW, 150 2.5-year steers either forward store or prime at 600kg LW minimum, 100 in-calf dairy heifer replacements.

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