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Speaking to a friend of mine who was at my local mart on monday said NZ freisian x Aberdeen angus heifers calves at £2- £4 , wonder if they are worth the punt at that price even if you kept them as sucklers in the future ?
phil needs some good stuff to put through his shop, but then talks about bulls coming back from the factory!
Bull beef is up to what age though? A 200kg liveweight entire bull with horns at 12 months is not good for man or beast or pocket!Bull beef has amazing eating quality/ taste and is also leaner than steers/heifers and which is what consumers now want! ( rightly or wrongly )
Found this the last few years. Whichever festival it is in the autumn, can’t buy feeding ewes before it then soon as it’s past you can buy as many as you want. I’ve found the 2/3 weeks prior too the festival far better than the week before as it always used too be. And I found that out by accident as I thought it was “the week” so rushed a load in and had got the date wrong! As it was they made £13 more than they would have on festival week when everyone else turned up with them. So I carried on trying too do that!We aren’t saying that. What we are saying is it’s less about ‘the week’ now if you read it If you keep them back for ‘the week’ then you may not just miss the boat but miss the tide too
Bull beef is up to what age though? A 200kg liveweight entire bull with horns at 12 months is not good for man or beast or pocket!
personaly i will stick to my heifers thanks , but thats just for the freezer, not what we prodce comercillyBull beef has amazing eating quality/ taste and is also leaner than steers/heifers and which is what consumers now want! ( rightly or wrongly )
No they don't. Make no mistake more beef from the dairy herd will hurt suckler cow numbers. Beef from a kiwi x cow is fine, just not everyone knows how to farm them. Our hereford, Angus and blues from grass rats all finish at 24 months, the angus from grass with no cake and all above minimum weights.Yes i agree about the 200 kilo bull at 12 months, bull beef needs to be done correctly and they need to be away no older than 16 months.
Quite clear that the UK dairy industry is going to have to change the breeding of these NZ grass rats cows.
Made me laugh on a thread in the dairy section a few months ago where these NZ type calves were being talked about and what to do with them when Arla's new policy came in and a few dairy farmers piped up that beef farmers WILL HAVE to buy these calves and will need to change their farming practices if they wont pay under a beef system, they live in cloud cuckoo land!
How many times back in have you crossed the Jersian and Angus bull calves back together with the herd?No they don't. Make no mistake more beef from the dairy herd will hurt suckler cow numbers. Beef from a kiwi x cow is fine, just not everyone knows how to farm them. Our hereford, Angus and blues from grass rats all finish at 24 months, the angus from grass with no cake and all above minimum weights.
Say again please?How many times back in have you crossed the Jersian and Angus bull calves back together with the herd?
Thought provoking post. I would compare them to hill lambs that need till may June to come rightSay again please?
Jersey x fresian x AA is fine. Forage based and allowed to grow for 2 years. There not going to be 290kg @ 16 months.
Were using more blue on the xbred cows. They will pi55 320kg dead @ 22-24 months
People dismiss the xbred x beef calf because they can not farm them.
There used to stuffing a holstien x with£200/ton corn not using grass/Forage
Graze the beef like a dairy farmer, and you'll be shocked.
But sold off grass at normally high prices.Thought provoking post. I would compare them to hill lambs that need till may June to come right
No they don't. Make no mistake more beef from the dairy herd will hurt suckler cow numbers. Beef from a kiwi x cow is fine, just not everyone knows how to farm them. Our hereford, Angus and blues from grass rats all finish at 24 months, the angus from grass with no cake and all above minimum weights.
Look at the data for average weight and age of heifer killed. Its 280kgs at 27 monthsYes they will that is for sure but of course that does not mean all NZ type farms, some like yourself are breeding calves that are worth rearing but no end of farms are not doing this, two years ago at Sedge i saw about 90 NZ mongrel calves sold, out of that 90 only 4/5 calves were of your type of calve and worth rearing, the rest needed a bullet that day i am sad to say.
Reality is that a 280/300 deadweight animal at 2+ years now is an utter waste of time, they need to be 100 kilos heavier on the hook by that age and on a mostly grass based system to show a decent return for all the work/costs involved, esp when for example straw will be £110+ ton and fert is £60 ton up on the year alone, housing cattle and grazing grass in the summer is not cost free!
Look at the data for average weight and age of heifer killed. Its 280kgs at 27 months
Pleading poverty with those averages wont cut the mustard.
The calves you mention are nz bull sired not beef x calves.
300kg deadweight is in spec. Your 100kg heavier is out of spec. Produce what your customer wants is surely vital
But sold off grass at normally high prices.
Some suck lambs are fed cake and sold in July with the other million that week and make 75 quid.
What I meant was a Jersian x AA calf which is then added to the bull herd and used again on Jersian cows. So breeding wise it’s getting more Jersian every time, easy calving for sure and resulting cows sufficient to graze 4500 litres OAD. But putting them into the beef trade when their that extreme isn’t good, I have literally seen them been blown over by wind at 10 months old.Say again please?
Jersey x fresian x AA is fine. Forage based and allowed to grow for 2 years. There not going to be 290kg @ 16 months.
Were using more blue on the xbred cows. They will pi55 320kg dead @ 22-24 months
People dismiss the xbred x beef calf because they can not farm them.
There used to stuffing a holstien x with£200/ton corn not using grass/Forage
Graze the beef like a dairy farmer, and you'll be shocked.
“This year” will everyone just remember that. It’s “this year”. Not something too budget and borrow against just yet!!good point you only have to look at hill lambs selling at £100+ now
Yes that what I was thinking letting nature come right on it’s own terms.But sold off grass at normally high prices.
Some suck lambs are fed cake and sold in July with the other million that week and make 75 quid.
If we all did it off grass though it would be even more seasonal though surely?! It needs those suck lambs on concs too keep the flow of British lamb going. If they were left on just grass they would be worth fu@k all in July/August when the major glut hit.But sold off grass at normally high prices.
Some suck lambs are fed cake and sold in July with the other million that week and make 75 quid.