Producing performance-recorded Hereford bulls under strictly commercial farming conditions is one of the many challenges faced by the Morrison partnership. It’s an intensively farmed (11.4 stock units/ha) and complex operation grossing $1103/ha with a gross margin of $833/ha, returning a creditable 17.7c/kg drymatter (DM) on feed eaten (Year 2012-13 figures include one of the driest summers on record).
The business’ mission statement is: “Morrison Farming strives to be a profitable, large-scale family farming business. Profit is derived using best-practice farming methods, developing superior livestock genetics, and adding value across a range of products and stock classes.”
Established in 2008, Morrison Farming is a family owned and operated sheep and beef farming agribusiness that has had associations with the Morrison family since 1864. Directors John, Graham, William and Richard Morrison have combined their resources and talents to run an intensive and complex farming business that would give most management teams a severe headache.
All directors are actively involved in the business and all have clearly defined roles.
• John looks after the business infrastructure and development.
• Graham manages the finances as well as dealing with weed and pest control, cropping, wool and soil fertility.
• William is in charge of the breeding operation run on a recently acquired hill-country station north of the home farm. The farm is managed by Daniel Clayton.
• Richard manages the flats and is responsible for extracting the best possible return a kilogram/drymatter (DM) of feed grown from the young stock generated in the breeding operations.
Of the effective area of 1430ha, 1030ha is classed as hilly and 400ha is flat to rolling. This balance gives the business the flexibility to finish or grow out all young stock bred on the hills. Half of the 16,000su wintered on farms are sheep and half are cattle.
The Ardo Hereford stud was established in 1964 and now numbers 350 mixed-age cows and 150 rising three-year-old heifers.
The Morrisons’ cattle breeding objective is to breed quiet Poll Herefords that are born easily, grow fast and can quickly finish to optimum schedule specifications.
“Gone are the days when you saw big fat Hereford cows running on easy Marton country with fairly ordinary calves,” William said.
He said except for the rising two-year-old heifers, all cows are farmed among sheep on the hills.
A composite flock of 5000 ewes based on the Texel, Wiltshire and Coopworth breeds known as the Ezicare breed is also run on the hills.
Fifteen hundred to 2000 ewe hoggets are mated annually and about 5000 lambs are finished at an average carcaseweight (CW) of 18kg and 100 days of age. The Morrisons’ sheep breeding objective is “to have a ewe flock that weans 160% of lambs that are finished before Christmas – that are shorn once a year requiring no dagging and with minimal animal health requirements”.
To add further complexity to the operation the Morrisons breed their own rams from a flock of 500 Sheep Improvement Ltd performance-recorded Ezicare ewes.
The Morrison family’s hill country farm at Marton.
All the Morrisons’ Herefords are registered with the NZ Hereford Association and are performance recorded with Breedplan, but they are farmed like commercial stock.
“We put an acceptable level of commercial pressure on our stock while giving them every opportunity to perform,” Richard said. “However, if they don’t accept that opportunity it’s curtains for them.”
A strong genetic focus is a feature of the Morrisons’ Hereford breeding programme. For several years they have specialised in breeding primarily Hereford yearling bulls for the dairy industry.
With a group of like-minded Hereford breeders they have established a brand called Ezicalve. This brand is synonymous with easy calving and is particularly popular with dairy farmers and beef farmers who mate their heifers at 15 months.
William said it is vital that dairy cows and heifers have an easy calving. Any calving issues can significantly affect milk production and rebreeding. This can have a high cost and can add a lot of stress.
“Our bulls now not only produce calves that are born easily but also have pretty good growth rates. The fact that all yearling sale bulls are over 400kg, when many are still less than 12-months-old, is testament to these genetics.”
It has taken the Morrisons a while to fix this unusual combination of traits within the Ardo herd and has required a lot of genetic discipline. The sire Koanui Rocket 0219 started the trend and has gone on to become genetically one of the most influential sires within the Hereford breed in the world.
He has close to 2000 registered sons in Australasia and his semen has been exported to Australia, Canada, the United States, South Africa, Argentina and Uruguay. He was bought sight unseen solely on his performance records.
“Many of our critics label us paper breeders, that is, we concentrate too much on the figures and not enough on what the animal looks like,” William said.
‘We put an acceptable level of commercial pressure on our stock while giving them every opportunity to perform. However, if they don’t accept that opportunity it’s curtains for them.’
“In our experience animals that are not sound, do not perform, they cull themselves.”
Selection pressure is first applied to the young females in the Ardo herd at 15-months.
“To successfully operate a two-year-old calving programme heifers must be well grown when they go to the bull,” Richard said.
“We like to have them weighing at least 300kg. They will get in calf at a lighter weight, however these animals struggle to catch up and to rebreed.”
This year the heifers’ average 15-month weight was 340kg and their mating weight threshold was 310kg.
“There were 60 that didn’t make the threshold this year so we mated them later and for only one cycle,” Richard said. “Ten per cent were too light and went to the works.”
Any animals with poor temperament, are structurally unsound or are too small don’t go to the bull.
“Most of the heifers cull themselves by not meeting objective parameters,” Richard said.
Heifer mating occurs between December 1 and February 1. The top 10 to 12 yearling bulls from their own herd are used, supplemented by one or two from other herds. Local breeder Mike Cranstone’s bulls are often used.
Sires must have a high Dairy Maternal Index including good positive direct calving ease and 400-day growth estimated breeding values (EBVs).
Mating mobs generally include 35 heifers mated to the top five to six bulls for the first five to six weeks.
These are then replaced by the second-tier bulls as a precaution against infertility and also to provide more progeny test information. By the time these bulls are two-and-a-half-years-old they will have generated some vital progeny test information.
Two hundred and twenty heifers are generally mated achieving a 90% to 94% in-calf scanning result. Heifers that do not get in calf are culled.
After mating the heifers are encouraged to grow at a steady rate to reach an average pre-calving weight of about 480kg. Those that create problems at calving time assume once-bred heifer status.
During lactation heifers become a preferential stock class and where possible are fed to capacity. At weaning their average weight is about 500kg and they are expected to be in good condition.
Following weaning and calf assessment for size and other attributes, the about 200 heifers that calved will be reduced to 150 and these will become the herd replacements.
Heifers that fail to attain an acceptable condition score after weaning a calf will become once-bred heifers.
Following weaning, once-bred heifers are fed where possible to lift their condition. They are slaughtered in June at about 260kg carcaseweight (CW) to avoid the depressed schedule price created by the annual cull-cow kill.
The once-bred heifer system works well for the Morrisons in that it:
- Allows them to identify the best performing heifers without suffering financial loss when
the culls are disposed of - Provides an opportunity to generate additional income from cull heifers.
One of the key features of the Morrisons’ business is the early pressure applied to young stock to perform.
If they don’t, they are culled before their genes get a chance to enter the breeding herd.
Asking heifers to perform reproductively at an early age has several advantages:
- It reduces the generation interval and speeds up genetic gain
- It identifies the late maturing and less fertile females (mating a year later will often not achieve this)
- Heifers do not get a chance to develop fatty udder
- Poorer lactating females are identified
- It identifies animals that cannot hold their condition under production pressure which could threaten their longevity
- Difficult calvers are identified a year earlier (they may not be identified if calved a year later)
- Any production faults manifest themselves early before the females get an opportunity to pass them into the herd
Immediately following weaning, calves are separated on sex and are held in small paddocks for seven to 10 days (a form of yard weaning). Both sexes are fed balage with the bull calves getting an additional 1kg a head of a mixture of cracked maize and palm kernel.
Bull calves are then drafted into two mobs based on their weight:
- A heavy mob, which includes those assessed to be forward enough to be sold in the spring as yearlings at the Morrisons’ annual sale
- A lighter mob representing those that will be held over to be sold as two-year-olds, and any obvious culls.
The Morrisons hold an annual onfarm bull sale at Fern Flat on Tuesday, September 30, at which they sell about 150-200 bulls, most of which are yearlings.
The cow herd does not escape the close scrutiny that is applied to the young stock. Rigorous culling is based on:
- Fertility – all dry cows are culled
- Calving performance
- Cow condition – if there is a risk of taking a cow through the next 12 months she will be culled
- Temperament
- Calf weaning performance
- Cow herd performance (2012-13 Farmax Report)
- Cow efficiency (kg calf weaned/kg cow at weaning) = 53.9% (group average 41%)
- Calf growth to weaning = 1.19kg/day (group average 1.05kg)
- Calf 200-day weight = 270kg (group average 240kg)
- Weaning % of cows wintered = 94% (group average 85%)
- Losses = 6% (group average 15%).
