Resources

February 2011

BEEF EXPO

The Beef Expo Executive are committed to making this sale a success for all those involved and have been brainstorming ideas to this end. This years Expo has some refinements and improvements on last year. Once again the sale of all the breeds will take place on the one day (Tuesday 17th May) and Simmental have secured the time just after lunch. Once again the sales will follow straight after each other with a break for lunch. The only advertised times will be at the start and after lunch. There will be nine breeds represented.

Your Simmental Council has debated at length about how we can encourage more member participation both as vendors and as purchasers. How can we make it more affordable for breeders to try different genetics and how can we stand out from the crowd and make the sale a success were the questions asked. This year we are going to just have the two classes

§  A Rising 1yr bull class; and
§  The “Queen of Hearts” class for R1 Heifers

The reasons for this change:

1. It would encourage more members to enter cattle – it easier to manage a yearling compared with a 2yr old
2. Members could afford to take one home and use it and then have the option of on- selling the animal the following year – more cost effective.
3. There would be less human influence both feeding and management for a R1yr compared with a R2yr
4. The present model wasn’t working – we weren’t getting the support both from the stud buyers as well as the commercial buyers
5. Limiting the classes to R1yr sale will make it more of an elite stud sale. The Council are fully aware that there are some drawbacks to this age group but feel it will encourage back our members to Beef Expo.

“Queen of Hearts Sale”

This is an exciting new initiative and will be held on the Monday afternoon with the led Rising one year heifers paraded and auctioned in the Café area. Once again this is aimed at the elite genetics of your herd and will be limited to a total of 30 heifers across all breeds. It would be good to have Simmental represented.

NB on the flyer some of the fun that will take place with the deck of cards which will carry other prizes. It is hoped to get the Feilding businesses involved in this area.

All cattle across all breeds will be inspected.

IMPORTANT BEEF EXPO ENTRIES CLOSE ON 4TH OF MARCH

this is to allow for coordination of inspections and the production of catalogues. Please also note the animal health regulations on the entry forms and allow time for the BVD, TB etc to be done. For instance BVD needs two injections one month apart. If you have some doubts about anything please give me a ring.

All cattle across all breeds will be inspected.

BEEF REVIEW /HEARTLAND BEEF

This year PBB, NZX and Beef + Lamb NZ have got together to produce one magazine, called Heartland Beef, which will be distributed free to all farmers. This means that you won’t be plagued for advertising in two magazines. NZX will look after the editorial and PBB the livestock advertising. The magazine will cover a wide range of topics as well as having a reduced version of what is on offer at Beef Expo. It will also list all the stud breeders. This will generate more interest from Stud and commercial Beef farmers this year.

GENOTYPING BEEF SIRES PROJECT

The production of Genotypic Breeding values is the way of the future in Stud Breeding. We are very fortunate that CRC in conjunction with MLA in Australia are looking at the validation of these in Simmental. A big thank you must go to the following studs for donating 75 Straws of Semen to this project – Martin Farming, Wai-iti, Owhata, Glen Anthony, Glenside, Ruaview, and Kerrah Simmentals. The production of these breeding values will be one of the defining times for Simmental in the future.

ELECTIONS

We had three nominations for two positions, however during the nomination period Peter Scott made the decision to resign from Council because of work commitments and so there was no need for an election. We welcome Daniel Absolom to the Council. Your new Council after this years AGM will be:

Gary McCorkindale
John Hammond
Craig Martin
Colleen Knauf
Sarah Hammond
Daniel Absolom

STUD OPPORTUNITIES

There has never been a better time to upgrade your herd. Think about getting rid of some of those bottom end cows with the works price being so good and replace with some better outside genetics.

1. Colin and Katherine Hutchings have 100 in calf females for private treaty sale. The Brooklands Stud (herd number 0726) is one of the oldest in the country. Their dedication and focus on producing very quiet low birth weight, high growth rate bulls for the industry has paid off over the years with their bulls keenly sought after. Two of the present sires have a total of 280 progeny analysed between them which can give confidence to how their progeny will perform. Both have low birth weight EBV’s but are trait leaders for growth. For more information contact Colin on 06 374 1802.
2. Falcon Hill Simmentals has 30 vetted-in-calf, registered females in good condition for sale. A few principles drive this stud. EBV’s are believed. The top priority is that safe, successful calving occurs when these bulls are used over local commercial herds. Only cattle with docile genes are bred from, any miscreants are terminated. These are ‘one winter’ cattle achieving rapid growth and finishing. Rather than aiming for top of the pile in one particular trait, above average performance across all traits relevant to a terminal sire is sought. This meaty herd retains the good carcase characteristics that came from its Pouriwai origins.
   A catalogue and pricelist with estimated calving dates is available on request. Please speak up as I am watching the high works price closely. Phone Pete Garland 06 862 2606.
3. John and Penny Scott’s Auction sale in conjunction with a Tour and AGM, 6th-8th April. More on this later.

Message from our President

Most of you would have heard that Kevin Knauf died tragically in a four wheel bike accident on his beloved Tangiwai Station. Not only was this a huge shock and loss to the Knauf Families but our wider Simmental group as well. Julene and I had the privilege of visiting Tangiwai Station two years ago and Kevin’s passion for farming and Simmentals was very evident. Kevin and Colleen started out as sharemilkers, as a means to building up capital to achieve there goal of owning a Sheep and Beef Station. They progressed to a 160ha mixed farm then a 320 sheep and beef property which grew to a 520ha. In 1994 the 2000ha Tangiwai Station was purchased at Wairoa. In 1992 The Kerrah stud was born. Julene and I got great pleasure to see large numbers of Simmental cattle on Steep hill country and to listen to Kevin and John as they outlined their goals for the stud in the future. He will be sadly missed.

Gary