Breeding them big
18 May 2006
By JON MORGAN
A breed of Angus cattle that will reach market weights without having to go through a second strength-sapping winter is being developed in Hawke's Bay.
The new line of Angus, being bred by Kawatiri Angus, of Hastings, promises to revolutionise cattle breeding in New Zealand. Almost all beef cattle in New Zealand have to go through two winters to reach a carcass weight of 300 kilograms, the generally accepted growth level at which meat cuts will be the right size, texture and taste for diners in overseas markets.
Kawatiri, owned by father and son David and Kim Bone, has imported embryos from the world's biggest beef cattle seedstock business, a joint venture between the Kansas-based Gardiner Angus and the Australian Lawsons Angus. They say steers from this new breed within a breed will reach 300kg within 18 months, saving a year's worth of feed costs – estimated at $300-$400 an animal – and will change the way beef finishers farm.
They are also linking their new cattle to moves in the lucrative Japan beef market to lower the age of imports. After BSE was discovered in cattle beasts in North America, Japan banned beef from its biggest importer, the United States. Almost three years later it is ready to allow the US to return but on the condition that its meat must come only from animals younger than 20 months.
The New Zealand beef industry has prospered in the Americans' absence. Our exports to Japan, Korea and Taiwan have leapt from 69 tonnes to 129 tonnes a year, and brought in an extra $433 million.
While Japan has given no sign that it will extend its age limit to other beef producers, Kim Bone says New Zealanders must not consider themselves immune from non-tariff trade barriers imposed by countries wanting to protect their domestic industries.
A 20-month limit would rule out almost all New Zealand beef. "It is going to have a huge impact on American producers and leave a big gap in the Japanese market," Mr Bone says.
He says the new cattle are proof of the value of estimated breeding values, or EBVs, that measure performance traits. EBVs are not fully accepted by the beef industry, with some stud owners still preferring to base their breeding selection on the age-old method of judging the value of an animal by eye alone.
The cattle he is raising in New Zealand descend from Lawsons' Henry VIII, Yield Grade and Prime Design, among others. Henry tops the 600-day growth EBV for Angus registered on the Australasian Breedplan index. And, according to the Werribee progeny test, Australasia's beef industry yardstick, his progeny are 130kg ahead of bulls similar to those being used by many New Zealand breeders. "You put that over 60 steers and the economic difference is vast," he says.
Kawatiri has crossed the Henry VIII progeny with cows from its top-ranking Pono, a bull that topped the Werribee test for net feed intake. At 600 days, Pono's 720 progeny are 100kg ahead of the Breedplan base sire and achieving this with a 96 per cent success rate.
THE results are impressing North Wairarapa farmer John Gardiner, who is breeding and finishing steers at Kohinui. He has a line of 18-month-old Kawatiri steers about to go to the works and expects them to kill out at 300kg. He also has several Kawatiri bulls. One, Liberty, weighs more than 800kg liveweight at 21 months. "At a 60 per cent yield you would expect a 480kg carcass and at $3 a kilogram that is worth more than $1400. If you transfer that result to 40-60 steers you're talking big money."
He is having to change his farming system, he says.
"The steers are my priority mob, but once they're gone at 18 months my stocking rate will drop and I'll have to think about what to do next. There's two ways of looking at it. I could take on extra stock or use the pasture better. I could take 10 per cent more cows through or make sure the ones I have got come through the winter better with more grass and less competition."
Mr Bone says farmers will have to set aside special finishing company for the young steers to grow at 0.7-0.9kg a day, but says that growth rate is achievable.
If these genetics had been available 20 years ago, they would have radically changed intensive bull finishing, he says. "You would be doing the same thing with steers that have a 60 per cent kill out instead of Friesian bulls with 50 per cent. And you wouldn't have half the temperament hassles you have with bulls. You'd also get the opportunity to make your own margin, because with Friesians you have to buy at a certain time and take what the market dictates."
He first encountered Henry VIII's progeny in 2001 when he was working for the Lawsons running a beef finishing farm on King Island, in the Bass Strait.
"I saw first hand the correlation between EBVs and the end result. Hundreds of steers were killed in record time, reaching 300kg in 18 months and grading high. Some were even getting there in 15 months. It was unbelievable. Not only that, but the fertility was massive – we mated every one of the 2900 heifers as yearlings and we had only 8 per cent empty."
He sent semen back to Hawke's Bay to his father, who used it on Pono's daughters. When their calves began showing phenomenal growth he asked for more. In 2004, Mr Bone went to Gardiner Angus for Lawsons to help choose sires for the continued development of the new type of Angus. Embryos from this match-up were sent to Kawatiri.
He says the new cattle feature high in other desirable EBVs. They have a low birthweight that is accentuated by a shorter than normal gestation and have high fertility. They also score highly for meat quality, an EBV rated on an index that is not measured in New Zealand. Mr Bone is disappointed that New Zealand Angus breeders don't support this index, known as the B3, which combines the economic EBVs required in meat production.
This includes intramuscular fat, an important indicator of flavour.
"It means breeders aren't being rewarded for growing tasty meat. In the United States, the shopper has a range starting from Select, moving up to Choice and then the top grade Prime.
"They understand that and they know what they're getting. They know they can get a 300 gram portion of good quality, cook it 17 minutes and it's perfect, but here you can't buy 300g portions every week because the size changes.
"There's nothing for the shopper – there's red meat and white meat, that's it."
18 May 2006
By JON MORGAN
A breed of Angus cattle that will reach market weights without having to go through a second strength-sapping winter is being developed in Hawke's Bay.
The new line of Angus, being bred by Kawatiri Angus, of Hastings, promises to revolutionise cattle breeding in New Zealand. Almost all beef cattle in New Zealand have to go through two winters to reach a carcass weight of 300 kilograms, the generally accepted growth level at which meat cuts will be the right size, texture and taste for diners in overseas markets.
Kawatiri, owned by father and son David and Kim Bone, has imported embryos from the world's biggest beef cattle seedstock business, a joint venture between the Kansas-based Gardiner Angus and the Australian Lawsons Angus. They say steers from this new breed within a breed will reach 300kg within 18 months, saving a year's worth of feed costs – estimated at $300-$400 an animal – and will change the way beef finishers farm.
They are also linking their new cattle to moves in the lucrative Japan beef market to lower the age of imports. After BSE was discovered in cattle beasts in North America, Japan banned beef from its biggest importer, the United States. Almost three years later it is ready to allow the US to return but on the condition that its meat must come only from animals younger than 20 months.
The New Zealand beef industry has prospered in the Americans' absence. Our exports to Japan, Korea and Taiwan have leapt from 69 tonnes to 129 tonnes a year, and brought in an extra $433 million.
While Japan has given no sign that it will extend its age limit to other beef producers, Kim Bone says New Zealanders must not consider themselves immune from non-tariff trade barriers imposed by countries wanting to protect their domestic industries.
A 20-month limit would rule out almost all New Zealand beef. "It is going to have a huge impact on American producers and leave a big gap in the Japanese market," Mr Bone says.
He says the new cattle are proof of the value of estimated breeding values, or EBVs, that measure performance traits. EBVs are not fully accepted by the beef industry, with some stud owners still preferring to base their breeding selection on the age-old method of judging the value of an animal by eye alone.
The cattle he is raising in New Zealand descend from Lawsons' Henry VIII, Yield Grade and Prime Design, among others. Henry tops the 600-day growth EBV for Angus registered on the Australasian Breedplan index. And, according to the Werribee progeny test, Australasia's beef industry yardstick, his progeny are 130kg ahead of bulls similar to those being used by many New Zealand breeders. "You put that over 60 steers and the economic difference is vast," he says.
Kawatiri has crossed the Henry VIII progeny with cows from its top-ranking Pono, a bull that topped the Werribee test for net feed intake. At 600 days, Pono's 720 progeny are 100kg ahead of the Breedplan base sire and achieving this with a 96 per cent success rate.
THE results are impressing North Wairarapa farmer John Gardiner, who is breeding and finishing steers at Kohinui. He has a line of 18-month-old Kawatiri steers about to go to the works and expects them to kill out at 300kg. He also has several Kawatiri bulls. One, Liberty, weighs more than 800kg liveweight at 21 months. "At a 60 per cent yield you would expect a 480kg carcass and at $3 a kilogram that is worth more than $1400. If you transfer that result to 40-60 steers you're talking big money."
He is having to change his farming system, he says.
"The steers are my priority mob, but once they're gone at 18 months my stocking rate will drop and I'll have to think about what to do next. There's two ways of looking at it. I could take on extra stock or use the pasture better. I could take 10 per cent more cows through or make sure the ones I have got come through the winter better with more grass and less competition."
Mr Bone says farmers will have to set aside special finishing company for the young steers to grow at 0.7-0.9kg a day, but says that growth rate is achievable.
If these genetics had been available 20 years ago, they would have radically changed intensive bull finishing, he says. "You would be doing the same thing with steers that have a 60 per cent kill out instead of Friesian bulls with 50 per cent. And you wouldn't have half the temperament hassles you have with bulls. You'd also get the opportunity to make your own margin, because with Friesians you have to buy at a certain time and take what the market dictates."
He first encountered Henry VIII's progeny in 2001 when he was working for the Lawsons running a beef finishing farm on King Island, in the Bass Strait.
"I saw first hand the correlation between EBVs and the end result. Hundreds of steers were killed in record time, reaching 300kg in 18 months and grading high. Some were even getting there in 15 months. It was unbelievable. Not only that, but the fertility was massive – we mated every one of the 2900 heifers as yearlings and we had only 8 per cent empty."
He sent semen back to Hawke's Bay to his father, who used it on Pono's daughters. When their calves began showing phenomenal growth he asked for more. In 2004, Mr Bone went to Gardiner Angus for Lawsons to help choose sires for the continued development of the new type of Angus. Embryos from this match-up were sent to Kawatiri.
He says the new cattle feature high in other desirable EBVs. They have a low birthweight that is accentuated by a shorter than normal gestation and have high fertility. They also score highly for meat quality, an EBV rated on an index that is not measured in New Zealand. Mr Bone is disappointed that New Zealand Angus breeders don't support this index, known as the B3, which combines the economic EBVs required in meat production.
This includes intramuscular fat, an important indicator of flavour.
"It means breeders aren't being rewarded for growing tasty meat. In the United States, the shopper has a range starting from Select, moving up to Choice and then the top grade Prime.
"They understand that and they know what they're getting. They know they can get a 300 gram portion of good quality, cook it 17 minutes and it's perfect, but here you can't buy 300g portions every week because the size changes.
"There's nothing for the shopper – there's red meat and white meat, that's it."
ur puny Red Angus and Red Angus Hereford corsses are usually slaughtered at anywhere from 14 to 18 months and hang heavier then that. But they go to feed lot as 6 and 7 weights.
