Thursday, March 28, 2024

Calf homes in short supply

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The best and biggest whiteface and Friesian bull calves are selling at prices up to $300 in the North Island sale yards, but a long tail of lesser types is proving hard to shift. AgriHQ livestock senior analyst Suz Bremner says calf rearers were bidding up for the good beef-cross bull calves because there is going to be a demand for them as weaners and rising one-year cattle. But there are disconnections developing in the supply chain as medium-scale calf rearers quit the business.
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The best and biggest whiteface and Friesian bull calves are selling at prices up to $300 in the North Island sale yards, but a long tail of lesser types is proving hard to shift.

AgriHQ livestock senior analyst Suz Bremner says calf rearers were bidding up for the good beef-cross bull calves because there is going to be a demand for them as weaners and rising one-year cattle.

But there are disconnections developing in the supply chain as medium-scale calf rearers quit the business (Farmers Weekly, July 26).

Top of their reasons is the lack of certainty that weaned calves and rising one-years will find a farmer who will pay a worthwhile margin for the effort of rearing.

“Further down the supply chain, finishers will want 350-450kg LW cattle, but we seem to be losing people who farm the younger stock after rearers,” Bremner said. 

“The changing climate and back-to-back dry and drought conditions is likely having an impact as farmers look to reduce the volume of stock on-farm through those high-risk times.

“The consequences are showing in limited demand for medium and small feeder calves and the steep drop-off in sale yard prices from the better end of the calves to the smaller types at present.”

Calves that sold at upset prices, such as $10, would not be covering their yarding costs.

PGG Wrightson dairy co-ordinator for Manawatū Peter Forrest says bigger and higher-quality Friesian bulls sold well at the Manfeild Park calf sale and well-marked, big beef-cross calves also sold well.

In the August 2 sale, the best whiteface bull calves were $250-$300, whiteface heifers were $180-$200 and the best Friesian bull calves $120-$145.

But the demand for medium and small calves dropped right away, reflected in the lower prices.

Manfeild did see some good prices for the exotic crossbreds: Belgian Blue bulls $420; Simmental-cross bulls $170; Speckle Park heifers $180-$215; and Simmental-cross heifers $170.

Prices for better types held up on August 5, but good beef-cross heifers were available at $70 to $100 and small calves of all types were cheap.

PGG Wrightson’s Waikato sale yards operations manager Neil Lyons says feeder calf numbers in his province were coming through in greater numbers than last season following good calving conditions and earlier matings.

The best Friesian bulls are bringing $130-$175 and the best Hereford-cross $260-$300.

The best whiteface heifers are $170-$230 and the best Angus-cross heifers $100-$145.

It was still early in the season for quality dairy-beef cross calves as they tended to be born from later cycling cows.

Lyons is concerned that the numbers of calf buyers have dropped off because in 12 to 24 months’ time there will be a shortage of cattle.

The August 3 Tirau calf sale saw the best whiteface bull calves in a range of $225-$285 and the best heifers $200-$260.

Good Friesian bull calves were $100-$150, mediums $30-$90 and small, only $10-$30.

NZ Farmers Livestock agent Stu Wells says the average price across all feeder calves at Frankton on August 4 was $96 and that was $20 better than the week before.

Buyer numbers were building up and the quality of the calves being yarded was high.

The best whiteface bull calves were up to $260 and the best Friesian $160, while heifers got to $190 for whitefaces, followed by $135 for Angus-cross and $120-$130 for the other dairy-beef crosses.

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