NZ Hereford Dairy Beef - The White Face Advantage

What advantages can a Dairy farmer gain from using white-faced cattle... that is calves sired by Hereford bulls? The New Zealand Hereford Association in 2002 commissioned a survey of sales at the Tuakau saleyards that showed quite clearly that there was always a premium paid for Hereford Friesian white-faced cattle at any given time.

A Hereford sire always ensures a whiteface on its progeny in a first cross situation so buyers are guaranteed to know exactly what it is they are buying. That is half of the animal sourced from a dairy herd IS of beef origin……no doubt about it……this is unique among beef cattle breeds, and it leads to cattle that are readily tradeable at any time.

Currently 60% of beef produced in New Zealand is sourced as a by-product of the New Zealand Dairy Industry and as we continue to have land use changes that figure is set to increase and more of New Zealand's beef will be of dairy origin with the calf rearing industry becoming of ever increasing importance to the beef industry.

How can you, the calf rearer/finisher improve the profitability of your business?

The New Zealand Hereford Association operates a huge performance-recording database that analyses all registered Herefords in Australia and New Zealand for 17 cattle production traits. It is the equivalent of the database operated by the Dairy Board now Livestock Improvement, that has had such a dramatic effect on dairy industry profitability.

Since 1990 the proven genetic gain of the Hereford breed at 600 days or slaughter carcase weight has increased by 90kg. One of the issues with the use of Beef sires in the dairy industry is that they are simply used as a genetic trigger to get the second tier cows producing milk……..the main income stream of any dairy farm.

As a dairy farmer's primary concern is understandably getting cows into milk production without stress, (post AI), the main focus has been to select across all beef breeds for low birth weight breeding value bulls producing light small calves at birth to activate the trigger while eliminating any calving problems that may lead to downer cows and the associated production losses.

There is a strong correlation between birth weight and growth rate so that single trait selection for low birthweight will inevitably lead to carcase weight suppression.

To rectify this situation the NZ Hereford Association has introduced a dairy index…..the only beef breed in New Zealand to do so. This focuses 56% of the inputs on calving ease to allay the concerns of the NZ dairy farmer, but also uses all the breeding values available to give a dollar value, profit driven index aiming at a beef market target of a 260kg steer finished at 18 months. And also producing heifers that can be sold on for use in a self replacing beef cow herd situation.

How can you as a rearer/finisher source high index calves to improve your profitability? It is important to have a direct relationship with the dairy farmers you source your calves from. Avoid the saleyards as this breaks the relationship.

When and where you next source your calves, enquire of the farmer if he uses registered Hereford bulls with a dairy index. Or if he uses endorsed Hereford Semen from LIC or Ambreed, as both companies use the NZ Hereford Association index to source Hereford dairy Beef bulls for their programmes. There is an added bonus for him as well as the Index also puts focus on shorter gestation bulls……..quite important with the changes to inducing.

By Laurie Paterson, NZHA