Dairy calf opportunities

Find out more about the dairy calf strategies at Owl Farm, Craigmore and PAMU - what they have changed already and what they are looking to do in the future.

Craigmore

Craigmore manages farm and forest investments in New Zealand, being a mix of dairy, grazing, forestry and horticultural properties. This spans 18,000 hectares over both islands. Craigmore seeks to identify ways in which they can deliver a positive impact, and long-term sustainability of food and fibre production is core to the Craigmore vision.

The Craigmore calf strategy

Craigmore Farms has moved away from a traditional bobby and heifer replacement system to rearing 75 percent of all calves born for milk or meat.

In 2018 Craigmore made the commitment to extend the lives of as many calves as possible within their own farm gate. They took the first steps on two of their farms.

• Sexed semen across the top 25 percent cows for the first 3-4 weeks of mating.
• Bottom 20-30 percent of cows mated to beef.
• All remaining cows mated to beef after enough replacements generated.
• Managers involved to give a farm level perspective.

What breeds do they use?

Craigmore uses Hereford, Angus, Stabiliser, Speckle Park, Charolais and Belgian Blue with both natural mating and AI. Young stock were evaluated for satisfactory growth, meat quality, and potential for a quality dairy-beef end-production.

What bulls are chosen?

Bulls are selected first for calving ease. Other traits of interest include growth rates to 400 days, visible breed markings (e.g. white face) and short gestation, as beef breeds tend to have longer gestation than dairy.

How does the rearing work?

Spring-born calves are selected at a week old and transported to a local calf rearing facility that is contracted to rear the calves. In January the calves move to a grazier where they stay until they are prime weight.

What are the results?

An extra 511 dairy-beef calves reared (25 percent of calves born) in 2019, increasing to ~1000 more dairy-beef calves reared (50 percent of calves born) in the 2020-born group when compared with 2018. When you include replacements (20-25 percent), by the second year 75 percent of calves born on these farms were reared for milk or meat.

What are the costs in the supply chain?

A total of $460/calf. $80/calf for the calf rearing, $350/animal for grazing, and $30/animal sundry costs during their lifetime. This indicates a net break-even at best, with potentially small losses, depending on the market.

How do Craigmore partner for value?

Craigmore partnered with Ngāi Tahu Farming and Silver Fern Farms, mainly as part of their Reserve Programme

What next?

More work is needed on beef trait evaluation in dairy beef animals and a dairy beef brand which can be taken to processors and the market with confidence to expand the opportunities for dairy beef supply chain partnerships. Creating confidence in consistent, proven profit margins across the entire supply chain is vital to move away from the usual bobby calf farm income of 2 percent.

"We must earn our social licence to farm by offering a solution that gives consumers confidence in our farming practises and the quality of our product, as well as provide farmers with the tools to drive a future-proofed and sustainable step change." – Craigmore