More Kiwi farms added to INZB genetics programme
'Commercial farms are an important part of the programme, as they provide increased linkages throughout the beef industry and contribute to genetic evaluations through recording data and incorporation of data into breeding value prediction.
'Ultimately, this will increase the accuracy with which breeding values, or genetic merit, can be estimated.
'The INZB programme is helping commercial farmers understand the value of better genetics and offering them the opportunity to easily select the right genetics for their system to drive greater profitability on their farms.'
The 10 new farmers are from Marlborough, Otago, Manawatū-Whanganui, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Waikato and Northland.
The herds represented include Angus, South Devon, Angus x Charolais x Simmental and composite cattle.
'Participating in the programme also helps the farmers to achieve more accurate heifer selection in their herds, which will have a lasting impact on these commercial herds' progress,' Shaw said.
'The commercial farmers provide the programme with accurate pedigree recording, assessing bull teams' performances, ensuring accurate information for heifer replacement selection and work with their bull breeders to make more rapid genetic progress.
'The farmers adopt a recording schedule across the year and can also, if they wish, carry out genotyping of their cow herd and, on an annual basis, calves and sires.
'They are also able to benchmark their herd against others involved in the programme.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
27-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Optimism for bull-selling season
The next few weeks will tell if high export beef prices and a more upbeat mood rubs off on farmer spending at Canterbury bull sales. After stud breeders opened up their selections in annual bull walks last week farmers will be putting together a want-list now they have a better picture of the catalogue lineups for rising 2-year-old bulls. Canterbury's bull-selling season starts in earnest for the traditional breeds at Okawa Hereford Stud tomorrow, followed by the likes of Cleardale Angus on Friday, Orari Gorge Hereford on June 4 and Grassmere Hereford & Riverlands Angus a day later. Bidding got away to a good start further south with a black Simmental from Leafland Simmental in North Taieri selling for a top price of $42,000 to Tom Sanson, of Gold Creek Simmentals near Gisborne. PGG Wrightson Upper South Island genetics representative Simon Eddington said the bull walk days accompanied by good weather had been well supported and showed farmers were looking to buy bulls. Bull selections were showing the results of good breeding and a first-rate growing season. He said farmers were in a happier space overall. "There's a lot of optimism out there at the moment with good red meat prices, calf prices and hopefully that will flow into the bull sales as well. "Everything is looking pretty good and we got a good turnout for people looking and inquiring. "They've got their bulls at home and are thinking they can turn them over for $2500 to $3000 and that's not a big change-over for a lot of them so they can refresh their genetics." He said farmers who had kept bulls on last year because of a lack of buying power from a hard growing season and a dry North Canterbury would look at turning them over. "With the way the meat prices are going, they can quit those old bulls and get some younger bulls in and that's really what's happening. "Beef prices are strong and going forward they look like they will continue to be as well. "Some of the outlook for beef is we have a diminishing herd in large parts of the world, especially the United States, and they need our product." He said initial signs were promising after good sale results further south. "We've had some Simmental sales both in the North Island and South Island and they have gone well. "Price-wise, they have been very good and demand has been good too with more bulls sold and better clearances than last year which indicates guys are looking. "We have had feed pretty much the whole of the South Island except for parts of Marlborough and they are coming to it again now. "Generally speaking, it has been a very good growing season which is part of the good frame of mind as well." South Canterbury's Opawa Simmentals sold lot three for $22,000, averaging just under $10,000 for 25 bulls sold of 27 presented. Further south, top prices included $18,000 for a Delmont Angus bull in Clinton with the stud completing a full clearance of 33 bulls for a $10,000 average. Leafland had an average of just over $9000 after selling 22 of 25 bulls, Glenside Simmental from Waitahuna averaged about $9000 with a top price of $14,500 and Beresford Simmental had a top bid of $14,000. Mr Eddington said Canterbury farmers had plenty of feed after a slow start and were in a position of being able to finish stock to good weights and get the benefit of that in the marketplace. Stud breeders had put a lot of work into improving fertility, good calving and growth rates. "When somebody goes to buy a bull or two they might get one as a follow-up too if they have got the money to do that. "Costs have gone up as well and they will still be cautionary about what they are buying, but from what I have seen there is a good quality number of bulls from all breeds out there to get a fair chance of getting a good pick." He said farmer optimism was positive compared with the same time last year. "The only down side we are seeing is we are still losing land — and it's more in Southland than here — to trees. "That is still a big concern and when you drive around that lower part looking at bulls you are seeing good cattle country with trees on them."
Otago Daily Times
27-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Family ending connection with land
One of the many heritage family farming properties in Oxford will soon be ending its 140-year family connection when it is sold. Island farm has 110ha of prime farming land located 7km from Oxford at View Hill. It has been in the hands of the family of its founder, Henry Engelbrecht, since 1961. But 87-year-old Owen Thomas, who has farmed the property for the past 64 years, is selling up. "I'm too old to continue working the land on my own," he says. Mr Thomas' wife Margaret (nee Engelbrecht) died last year and now the farm and its 130 Angus Beef breeding stock units are for sale. "I've been here since 1961 when Margaret and I bought the property from her father Percy Engelbrecht, the son of Henry," Mr Thomas said. The couple had met at the wedding of Mr Thomas' younger sister and had been farming in the Oxford district. Mrs Thomas' grandfather, Henry Engelbrecht, was one of the many German migrants who had moved to the North Canterbury area to escape harsh conditions in Germany, when he bought the property. History books say in the 1840s times were difficult for rural labourers in the north of Germany. They were entirely at the mercy of the landowning aristocracy. They could leave the service of their master, but in doing so lost the right to live on the land. For many, emigration was the only answer. However, not all immigrants were rural labourers, as many who came were from the educated middle class. They appreciated New Zealand's civil rights and its advocacy of freedom of thought and speech, which contrasted with the severe censorship in the German confederation of the time. Mr Thomas said when he and his wife bought the then dairy farm it was still the same size as when her grandfather Henry had originally established it. "We later bought two extra lots nearby on Sladdens Farm Rd to raise it to 110ha in size.'' He said life was not easy for the newly married couple when they took over the dairy property in 1961. "It was right in the middle of a drought, and we struggled for many years until we established two extra wells and an irrigation system out in the paddocks in the early '80s." They milked 60 cows via a walk-through milking operation until they set up a herringbone shed. "It was very hard in the beginning, but Margaret and I, and [our] four girls, persevered and as a family we got through it." Mr Thomas was at one time the Canterbury Federated Farmers Dairy section head, while Mrs Thomas was well known for her community work in the local church and school. "We carried on dairy farming for 46 years until we decided to sell off the cows in 2007. "We reared dairy heifers for the next four years, then we traded beef stock until seven years ago, when we became a purebred Angus operation." He said he had scaled back from 160 cows to 130 now, and that stock was going to Canterbury Park for auction. "We have always been a regenerative farm. "People forget that Henry started this farm back when green was only a colour, much of the processes he set up is still being practised today." Mr Thomas said he had fielded a bit of interest in the farm, and he hoped it would be sold to a young couple beginning their association with the land. He did not know what the future held, but his daughters were standing beside him as he faced the next step in his life.
Otago Daily Times
27-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Black beauty the star of the show
A black Simmental bull sold for $42,000 in North Taieri last week. Shawn McAvinue talks to Leafland Simental owner Everd Strauss about the big bull living up to the hype, the rise of the breed, balancing farming with his day job and his retirement plans. A black Simmental bull is living up to his sale pitch as "the star of the show". Rising 2-year-old black Simmental bull Leafland 230039 sold for $42,000 at the 24th Leafland Simmental bull sale in North Taieri last week. The bull buyer was Tom Sanson, of Gold Creek Simmentals in Mātāwai, about 45km northwest of Gisborne. In the sale catalogue, the bull was billed as "the star of the show" due to his exceptional growth, eye muscle area, intramuscular fat and docility. The hererozygous polled bull is the progeny of sire Rissington Rocketman 200230 and dam Leafland 1614190110. Vendors Everd and Marie Strauss, who have been married for 50 years, established the Leafland Dr Strauss said $42,000 was the highest price paid for one of their bulls, eclipsing a previous best of $27,500. He was expecting Leafland 230039 to fetch a good price. "He is an exceptional bull." The bull had positive estimated breeding values (EBV) for traits including carcass weight, marbling score, rib eye area, weaning and yearling weight. The "phenomenal" bull had created a lot of interest in the industry. "He was spoken about a lot nationally because of his figures — it is not often you have a perfect bull with EBVs like that." The bull was very docile. "He pretends to be a big boy but he is very quiet." At the sale, 22 of 25 bulls sold for an average price of $9022. Four of the bulls were sold to studs, Dr Strauss said. All of four black Simmental bulls at the auction sold for an average of $15,250. Black Simmental bulls accounted for about 15% of the stud and the rest were the traditional Simmental colour of red with white markings. The breeding programme might be adjusted to make the mix 50% black and 50% traditional, Dr Strauss said. Dr Strauss said the aim of the stud was to breed a moderate to large size cattle beast, maturing early and with "explosive" growth, producing a high carcass value at the works including premium for marbling at the meatworks, while maintaining calving ease. Docility was an important trait in their breeding programme, he said. "Anything that misbehaves is out." A sign of the rise of the breed was all of the more than 80 bulls on offer at Kerrah Simmentals in Wairoa selling for an average price of more than $12,000 last week. Dr Strauss was among the buyers at the Kerrah sale, paying $18,000 for a bull. Leafland sheep and beef farm was 315ha of "mostly hills" in North Taieri. Another 100ha was leased on Otago Peninsula. When the grass stops growing in North Taieri late next month, the herd would be moved to the peninsula block and return home a fortnight before calving. The sheep on Leafland were Wiltshires. The latest lambs sent to the meatworks, averaged nearly 20kg and fetched $168. Dr Strauss works as an anaesthetist five days a week in Dunedin. Among the crowd of about 80 people at the sale was Dr Strauss' friend and colleague cardiac surgeon Richard Bunton. "We worked together on the weekend doing a heart operation," Dr Strauss said. Dr Strauss was raised on a cattle farm in South Africa and the couple moved to Leafland farm in 1993. "We bought the first 40ha by fax machine." The farm size had increased as they bought neighbouring properties. After moving to Dunedin, they bought three heifers from Garry McCorkindale, of Glenside Simmentals in Waitahuna, and launched the Leafland stud the following year. Leafland Simmental stud was his "retirement plan". "I'm turning 72 and when I retire, probably in the next year or so, I want to carry on farming until I fall over." The Simmental breed was "on the up" and many Angus breeders were buying genetics to use in their herds, he said. Southern bull sale results last week: • Taiaroa Charolais, Paerau. Sold 20 of 22. Average $7775. Top $13,000. • Glenhu Shorthorn, Heriot. Sold 13 of 16. Average $6958. Top $12,000. • Delmont Angus, Clinton. Sold 33 of 33. Average $10,000. Top $18,000. • Leafland Simmental, Taieri. Sold 22 of 25. Average $9022. Top $42,000. • Beresford Simmental, Catlins. Sold 12 of 15. Average $7800. Top $14,000. • Hill Valley Simmental, Teviot. Sold 10 of 10. Average $7750. Top $12,000. • Locharburn Herefords, Cromwell. Sold 22 of 29. Average $6400. Top $13,500. • Glenside Simmental, Waitahuna. Sold 11 of 15. Average $9409. Top $14,500. • Stoneburn Hereford and Angus, Palmerston. Hereford: 16 of 16. Average $9812. Top $15,000. Angus: 24/24. Average $8250. Top $14,000.
