Indications were that just over 1.92 million calves were processed in from July to September, an extra 75,000 or so, 4% higher than a year earlier, Beef + Lamb NZ economic service director Rob Davison said.
About 90% of the calf kill typically happened during those three months.
The higher kill took place despite cow numbers falling by about 100,000 to 5.07m nationally on June 30, before calving and as dairy farmers culled poorer-performing cows in response to falling milk prices.
There was a lot of anecdotal evidence that many dairy farmers held back bull calves for finishing to take advantage of buoyant world beef prices.
Estimating numbers nationally was a difficult task, Davison said, but he believed between 20,000 and 30,000 might have been kept, probably a 4% to 5% increase on last year.
Greenlea Premier Meats livestock manager Bruce Mudgway said the Waikato firm was one processing company making an early call for dairy farmers to retain bull calves.
“I think it appears as though a lot of Mum and Dad farmers have reared about 25 to 30 calves and a reasonable number from 20 to 50 bull calves, which they haven’t done in the past,” he said.
“What we’re finding is that they’re trading them on at about 100kg for up to $480 and down to $450 to the guys doing the finishing.
“There’s been the early calves sold and a lot more to be sold from now through November.”
The dairy farmers did not need to become bull finishers and the price was good. For the cost of some milk and meal they were making an extra $350 on the $100 or so they would have received for a week-old calf.
Most of the main-season calves were Friesians but Mudgway would like to see farmers using beef bulls for some of the later matings.
With dairying economics changing and more farmers likely to keep herds at home during the winter rather than paying for outside grazing, he expected some of the grazing providers to switch to finishing beef cattle.
That should help provide a market for dairy farmers keeping bull calves.
ANZCO Foods’ bobby calf processing numbers were steady year-on-year but the word was that more farmers were keeping their bull calves, harvest general manager Peter Conley said. Company field agents were reporting back with a lot more onfarm confidence about beef returns.
If another 100,000 calves a year could be kept for finishing that would be a great thing for the industry, though some of the pure dairy breed calves would not be suitable for bull beef.
Bobby calves were processed for the veal meat market, which was generally good, Conley said.
However, the by-product market was difficult, largely because of the downturn in the world luxury goods market affecting the value of calfskins used is fashion products.
