Page 13 - 2020 NZ Hereford Magazine

The bottom 15% of the dairy herd is Hereford AI mated. ‘goldfields’, not due to high value ore deposits but rather the
It gives the lowest performers another season of milking with highly fertile alluvial soils that grow an abundance of feed.
the certainty the cow’s progeny won’t be kept because of its Over winter the best steers are wintered on fodder beet and
distinctive white-faced marking. the top cut are sold for finishing in February at 400kg/LW.
The dairy-beef calf-raising started on a small scale in 2016 “Generally, we get as much on the store market in February
with 76 and the encouraging results led on to a large-scale as we do for selling them prime three months later,” Peter says.
system that in 2019 reared 260 calves. “It’s a strictly limited window and market but it works for us
Luke, Nicole and the dairy team are responsible for heifer because we have early born calves.”
raising and take particular care to get them to good pre-mating The rest are then sorted into weight mobs and weighed
condition, aiming for 100% mature body weight by 18-months regularly in the lead-up to being sent away for slaughter.
rather than DairyNZ’s recommended 80%.
All replacement heifers are synchronised, and AI mated over THIS PAGE, ABOVE AND BELOW: The Kanes reared 260 dairy-
five days, and followed up with a Hereford bull. The first calves beef calves in 2019.
are on the ground from 26 July, about two to three weeks ahead
of other dairy/beef calves in the area.
After four days of colostrum feeding the dairy-beef calves are
taken to a shed for milk powder-based raising, managed by Peter.
It’s a smooth-running system now, but Peter says there were
teething problems to start with due mostly to the recommended
milk powder feeding rates being much too high for the smaller
weight calves.
“I was giving these smaller calves two litres of milk a day and
their digestive system couldn’t handle it.”
An added problem was the water used for mixing up the
milk, fed directly from a Blue Mountain native bush creek.
“We believed it was a virtually pure water source but on
testing found the E coli levels were through the roof.”
Both problems were solved with refinement of the feeding
rate, and changes to the water system.
Typically, the calves are shed-based for 28 days then put
on pasture where the milk feeding continues. They have ad lib
access to pellets and hay and are weaned off milk by 85kgLW.
The pellet feeding continues until 100kgLW.
The young cattle graze the flats alongside the Pomahaka
River, which in a local history book is referred to as the
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