Farmers will be paid a premium for supplying lambs to Silver Fern Farms that meet its target carcass conformation requirements. The move is a result of the co-operative introducing its MVTS X-ray technology in its Finegand, Pareora and Takapau works to provide that conformation information reported the ODT. Chief executive Keith Cooper said meat yield was just part of the carcass conformation formula, and the technology would generate what he called “a carcass performance measurement”.

He said yield related to the ratio of meat to bone, whereas SFF wanted to pay for the overall quality of the animal and how the meat was distributed over the carcass, but especially the portion of high-paying cuts relative to low-paying cuts. To earn the premium, farmers would have to commit supply to SFF after which all their lambs would be streamed to the three plants initially fitted out with the MVTS technology. Premium payments would be over and above the schedule at that time.

(more…)

Scientists as well as industry representatives are excited by findings from a new lamb breakthrough feeding study that has uncovered that lambs fed under identical conditions can vary in feed efficiency by as much as 10 kgs of feed for every one kg of live weight gained reports The Land. What started as an experiment to monitor the feed intake of lambs has now finished approximately 500 group housed lambs. The lambs represent a range in genotypes and eating from automated feeders, enabling the project to determine what makes some lambs more feed efficient than others.

Victorian Dept of Primary Industries and Meat and Livestock Australia – began in 2007, with the aim of improving the feed efficiency of lambs by identifying how management and genetics impact weight gain and feed conversion efficiency. Scientists learned that for the most efficient lambs to gain 15 kilograms in liveweight during a finishing phase, they consumed 37.5 kgs to put on the weight. The poor performing lambs consumed up to 180 kgs of feed for the same lwg, representing a difference in feed conversion ratio of 2.5:1 versus 12:1.”Even at grain prices of $400 a tonne, the better lambs have a feed cost of approximately $10 (as opposed to $70 for the poor converters),” said program head Nick Linden at a Bestwool Bestlamb forum in Bending last week.

(more…)

Farmers came from far and wide to bid on bulls at the 46th Annual Blenheim Bull Sale on Monday reports The Marlborough Express. PGG Wrightson Livestock representative Peter Barnes said the packed gallery of buyers at the Riverlands saleyard was the largest he had seen at the sale in more than five years. While 58 buyers come from outside the district, the large contingent of Marlborough farmers meant most of the bulls stayed in the region. Mr Barnes said the turnout could be attributed to a good calf-selling season and stabilising beef cow numbers within the district following stalled changes in land use in recent years. All 48 bulls at the sale sold.

“There weren’t any extreme highs or lows throughout the catalogues, leading to a good result for both breeders and buyers.” He said it was probably the last time two of the studs would be selling at Riverlands. Keith and Gaye Higgins were transferring to the Wairarapa with their Oregon angus stud, while Chris and Amanda Jeffries were taking their operation south to Cheviot.

(more…)

 It seems fashionable for the public to bad mouth dairy with their enviromental practices, but this article proves that going back to the good old days may not be the answer in dairy farming. And if we factor in NZ’s efficent grassland pratices, I’m sure this Science daily study would be even more dramatic. Dairy genetics, nutrition, herd management and improved animal welfare over the past 60 years have resulted in a modern milk production system that has a smaller carbon footprint than mid-20th century farming practices, says a Cornell University study in the Journal of Animal Science.

As U.S. and global populations continue to increase, it is critical to adopt management practices and technologies to produce sufficient high-quality food from a finite resource supply, while minimizing effects upon the environment,” says Jude Capper, lead author and a recent Cornell post-doctoral researcher working with Dale E. Bauman, Cornell Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Animal Science.

(more…)

The sheep industry in NZ had made massive gains in productivity in the past 15 to 20 years and should be proud of its achievements, sheep breeders were told during the Hokonui Moonshiners Texel conference and tour of Otago and Southland last week reports Straight furrow. In an address to more than 70 conference visitors to Agresearch’s Invermay campus near Mosgiel, animal genomics scientist John McEwan explained the progress to date and potential of recent advances in DNA sequencing tools for sheep breeders.

Sheep and beef farms accounted for an estimated 81% of NZ’s pastoral land area and that dominance was not likely to change much in future, Mr McEwan said. Figures from the M&W Economic Service over the past 15 years compared productivity of the different farming sectors. The beef industry had increased carcase weights by 7 -8% and the dairy industry had increased production per cow by 25%. “But just compare that to the huge increase in productivity the sheep industry has done,” Mr McEwan said. Lambing percentages had increased by 17-18% , average lamb weights by about 17% and kilograms of lambs per ewe had increased by 72% during the same period, he said.

(more…)

With todays talk about stock efficency this article was worth a read. Most farmers are driven by increasing production but there are many ways to achieve it.

Dr Alastair Nicol, a senior lecturer in animal science at Lincoln University, says in all species there is a point above which there is no benefit to reproduction in increasing bodyweight. In rising two-year-old Red hinds, for example, there is no increase in the pregnancy rate once their bodyweight hits 80kg, while in sheep there has been shown to be little increase in ovulation rate beyond 67kg. In beef cows there is no increase in the pregnancy rate beyond a bodyweight of 410kg reports Country-Wide.

Nicol says the pregnancy rate in Red hinds flattens off at between 80 and 90kg bodyweight, so there is no advantage to trying to lift the bodyweight of these hinds beyond this point. Above these weights something else is limiting production, he says. The proportion of Elk genes also impacts on pregnancy rates and as soon as the proportion of elk genetics in a herd increases the probability of pregnancy drops off dramatically. “So the effect of any increase in hind liveweight on the reproductive rate must be measured to prevent any detrimental effects.”

(more…)

Despite some spirited bidding, overall sales were down at Beef Expo, the Manawatu Standard writes. The global recession and drought both took their toll on farmer confidence at the national beef sales held last week at Feilding’s Manfield Park as part of Beef Expo 2009. PGG W’s national stud stock auctioneer and NZ genetics manager Bruce Orr said overall sales were probably down about $300,000, as there were fewer bulls auctioned and prices were back on last year. He said weaner (young cattle) sales had been buoyant, with most making more than the same-sized cattle in 2008, but the positives of better beef sales and higher lamb prices had not come through to the national bull beef sales.

“We didn’t have good sales. The weather was cold, there’s a drought in some areas and the psychological impact of the recession. No one of them by themselves could be blamed, but put them all together and they ate out people’s confidence,” Mr Orr said. Top prices and averages were back on last year. “We did get some spirited bidding on bulls people liked, but nowhere near the highs of last year. Slower and harder bidding, that’s what we saw at these sales,” he said.

(more…)

The NZ sheep industry is surveying where to go next  in sheep genetics( see yesterdays story) whilst the Aussies are miles ahead. Is this a wakeup call for sheep breeders in NZ??

Australian sheep genetics has reached a milestone with 1.5 million terminal sires registered on Lambplan – the world’s largest genetic evaluation service for sheep – and the project is paying dividends to Aussie farmers reports Rural News.The milestone marks a 25% increase – or 500,000 animals – since August 2004, with the total number of animals included in the Lambplan database now 4.3m head with records.The Sheep Genetics programme – jointly funded between Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) – has 700 subscribers representing a large proportion of the Australian seedstock industry.

Reaching the 1.5m mark is a measure of the integrity of the system according to MLA Lamb and Sheepmeat manager Dr Alex Ball.‘The impact of Lambplan on the lamb production sector is evidenced by the strong correlation between the growth in exports of Australian lamb, the growth in average carcase weights and the growth in the adoption of Lambplan.’Since the introduction of the Carcase Plus index, breeders have been able to increase early growth and muscling resulting in higher average carcase weights with better muscling.

(more…)

What do you need from sheep genetics for the next 10 years ? Have your say by participating in the Sheep Improvement Ltd’s sheep genetic survey. With particular emphasis on ram buying and selling, its targeting commercial sheep farmers like you. Farmers are often very passionate about their breed and its value in NZ’s sheep industry, so here is a chance to make a difference.

HOW THIS SURVEY WILL BE USED

Key issues identified by this survey will be used to formulate questions that the Chairman puts to a panel of experts at the SIL Sheep Genetics Day held on Thursday 25 June 2009 at Lincoln University. Those completing the survey who fill in their email address will be sent a summary of the findings of this survey and of discussions held between the panel of experts and attendees at the SIL Sheep Genetics Day. You are not obliged to tell us your email address. All respondents who fill in their email address will go into a draw to win two bottles of wine up to the value of $50.

An annual public memorial lecture to mark the life of NZ’s most famous sheep scientist, Emeritus Professor Ian Coop, will be instituted at Lincoln University on 21 May. The public lecture for the man known affectionately as “Mr Sheep” is the brainchild  of the Coopworth Sheep Society and it will be held during the society’s 40th annual conference. This year is also the first anniversary of Professor Coop’s death, at the age of  93. The inaugural Professor Coop Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Dr Jock Allison, a Lincoln University Bledisloe Medallist and Dunedin-based independent agricultural consultant.

Professor Coop’s career at Lincoln University spanned 37 years through to retirement in 1978.  He started cross-breeding sheep in the early 1950s at the University’s Ashley Dene Farm. He said his aim was to “get some hybrid vigour into the female side of the NZ sheep industry”. From the initial production of a Border Leicester -  Romney cross he went on to develop the breed that bears his name, the Coopworth, and it boosted national lambing percentages by 25% .

(more…)