Creating more value from dairy calves that are not required as herd replacements is something Fonterra farmer Ben Watson is passionate about.
“If we can give calves a useful life and make dairy and beef farmers more profitable, that can’t be a bad thing for New Zealand,” says Ben, who supplies milk to the Co-operative from 850 cows on his 270-hectare property near Matamata.
The focus for Watson is on genetics, which is a space he’s worked in for many years and he’s now using that experience to help others.
“I spent four years working with a group of dairy farmers in an outfit called Jersey Advantage, mainly focused on Jersey genetics,” says Ben.
“My job was looking at dairy beef options for Jersey. This involved travelling around the country talking to beef breeders and I saw an opportunity to use the breeders’ quality genetics to produce high-genetic quality dairy beef calves at a cheaper price.”
Two years ago, Ben set up GENEZ, supplying premium beef semen tailored to suit the dairy industry but with an eye on the beef market, matching elite beef genetics to low-genetic merit dairy cows not required for generating replacements.
GENEZ has carefully chosen premium sires with a quality genetic profile, focused on what dairy farmers want.
“Factors like ease of calving, short gestation, and a reasonable birth weight, but beef performance as well.
“Farmers are making decisions about how profitable each animal they provide to the beef industry is, but there is a massive difference in profitability between a good dairy beef calf and one that’s bred from a bull that you pick up at the sale yards. When you compare the very best bull to a bull you buy at the yards the profitability could be in the hundreds per head.”
“Put simply, there is an opportunity at the moment to use better genetics and connections to produce a better beef calf and be paid for it.”
As part of Fonterra’s strategic choice to lead in sustainability, the Co-operative places a strong emphasis on calf wellbeing. The Co-op believes there’s an opportunity to better integrate non-replacement calves into the red meat sector and create more options for dairy beef calves.
To help look into this, Fonterra has brought on board Dr Rebecca Hickson as its Dairy Beef Development Manager.
A former Massey University Professor, over the past 20 years Rebecca has forged a reputation as one of New Zealand’s most renowned experts on cattle genetics and beef finishing.
Rebecca highlights improved beef genetics as one of the best levers available to increase the value of non-replacement calves.
“Within bulls that are suitable for dairy – that is, easy calving, short gestation – there is a huge variation in growth potential,” she says.
“By making sure they’ve chosen a high growth bull from the selection, they can produce a calf that greatly increases beef performance without impacting dairy performance. There are no changes to their cow herd, no changes to their farming system, just switching out semen types to produce a calf with significantly better beef potential.
“We see untapped potential in these calves and yet we know that improvements need to be made across the supply chain to help realise that,” says Rebecca.
“Things are moving in this space and we want our farmers to have more commercially viable options to integrate calves into the beef sector. We see ourselves as a catalyst to bring these opportunities to life.”
Rebecca says working with other key stakeholders in the industry is critical. A multi-year collaboration between the dairy and beef industries is underway, which Fonterra is supporting.
“We also know that dairy beef animals have significantly improved carbon efficiency, so we are funding research into this area too,” she says.
Find out more about GENEZ at www.genez.co.nz.