But Canterbury dairy farmers Hannah and Craig Fulton have used Ezicalve Herefords for the past seven seasons and believe in their winning formula.
They have been on their 160-hectare effective farm at Hinds milking 650 cows for seven seasons, owning it in an equity partnership with Chris Bolderston and contract milking on it.
They source their bulls from the Ezicalve stud in Rangitikei as well as ensuring their heifers are well-grown and meeting liveweight targets.
“The bulls aren’t cheap, but neither is losing a heifer,” Craig says.
“With Ezicalve you’re paying for peace of mind and insurance. We know if the bull has the Ezicalve tag in his ear he’s a safe bet to look after our girls.”
“We used to AI our heifers but we had good repro results already and were finding we had an abundance of heifers and no market for the excess. But there was a big demand for beef calves, particularly Herefords,” Hannah added.
“It’s also a great option to decrease the number of calves going on the bobby truck.”
Will Morrison of Ezicalve listens to their requests and feedback and handpicks the bulls for their herd.
“We send pictures of progeny and let him know if we’re having any challenges, Hannah explained.
“One season we had a run of broken face-marked calves that weren’t as popular in the market, but Will took the feedback on board and we haven’t had any problems since.”
Some calves are sold at six-days old, and they have found loyal customers return every season, so nothing needs to go to the sale yards. They also keep some themselves to rear and sell at 100kg.
“It’s a great way to supplement the farm income. The first two seasons on this farm were the low-payout years and we had to make some decisions about how we could increase our income because we couldn’t really cut our costs a lot more,” Hannah says.
“Rearing beef calves was one of the things we came up with and we’ve done it ever since because it’s a good way to add value.
“It does add to the workload but you’re busy anyway.”
They are diligent in maintaining records and matching cows and calves in the paddock, so it was a natural transition to join the LIC Sire Proving Scheme.
It also keeps the team interested, noting the traits other than production when they are milking the new heifers each season.
They are using mostly crossbreed semen with some Friesian and the odd Jersey straw over the bigger cows.
“We are aiming for an F12 type cow, we don’t want them too big, but we like the look of the Friesian,” Craig explained.
Mating starts October 20 with just over five weeks to AB then they put the bulls out. They use the yearling Ezicalve bulls in their first season over the heifers, then carry them over and put them in with the herd as two-year-olds.
“One thing we really like about the Ezicalve bulls, when they come into the herd as two-year-olds, they’re not a massive Hereford that damages the cows. They’re a good size so there’s no accidents from bulling injuries” Craig says.
“The bulls cull at a decent hook weight and there’s no problems with calves being too small or struggling to grow. It’s great all round for our system.”
The farm achieves great reproductive performance, with their mixed-aged cows achieving six-week in-calf rates around 74-76% every year. They start calving July 29 and by August 15 this year they already had 440 cows in.
Craig and his two team members have a good system.
“We know they’re going to calve fast, but we prepare for it. We have contingency plans for what the weather throws at us, and plenty of feed on hand to get through till balance date,” he says.
“And when things settle down, we get into a routine. The staff prefer to get them in quick and we can maintain a roster of eight on two off through calving, with everyone home by 6pm at the latest.”
Craig and Hannah have no reservations about using the Ezicalve brand Hereford over their heifers, with the security the Ezicalve stud provides.
They trust the recording and genetics that goes into breeding the quality bulls and recommend exploring them for other farmers who may be considering utilising beef in their herd.
“You can’t put a price on peace of mind.”
