Solving the bobby problem
Reducing the number of bobby calves born on their South Taranaki farm is a priority for Jenny and Daniel Aplin.
About 890 calves are expected to be born this season on the converted sheep and beef farm the couple manage for Jenny’s parents, Gary and Marie Hawken, at Waverley.
About 300 of those calves will be wagyu-cross after the decision was made to use the Japanese cattle breed over the heifers in their dairy herd.
Formed three years ago and predominantly friesian, the herd had ‘a bit of everything’, Jenny Aplin said. ’’It’s an F8 herd with a handful of jersey and ayrshire but we’re breeding back to friesian.’’
For the first six weeks of mating, the herd was bred back to friesian bulls. Heifer calves were kept to increase the herd size while bull calves were sold to beef rearers. Hereford and murray grey bulls were used to get the rest of the milking herd in calf and those calves were all sold and reared for beef, Aplin said.
‘‘We used to tail up with jersey bulls but this year we used the wagyu.’’
Last year, about 18 per cent of their calves were bobbies, almost all of which came from their heifers.
Although it was common to use jersey bulls over dairy heifers to produce smaller, easily-birthed calves, jersey beef was not popular in New Zealand and there was little demand for the jersey-cross bull calves, she said.
‘‘I’d always wanted to find a way to not have bobbies and a lot of people talk about using low birth weight hereford but it’s too risky, your heifers are too important.’’
This season, the farm entered a contract with Firstlight Foods, a meat company supplying grass-fed wagyu to the United States, Europe and the UAE, as well as the domestic market.
Wagyu is famous for its marbled beef that is higher in omega 3 than traditional beef breeds. In Japan, the cattle are raised on grain, fed beer and sake and massaged to tenderise the meat. Wagyu beef sells for more than US$200 (NZ$275) for 100g in high-end Japanese restaurants.
In New Zealand, wagyu-cross animals were raised on grass, which gave a unique end product, said Firstlight general manager Gerard Hickey.
‘‘Demand from finishers for wagyu-cross dairy weaners now exceeds supply, supported by forward price certainty and premium prices,’’ he said.
When crossed with wagyu sires, dairy breeds can produce the superior marbled wagyu beef, making bull calves much more attractive to buyers.
‘‘We were averaging $28 for a bobby last year but we can get $100 for a four-day-old wagyu,’’ Aplin said. The family hired 10 wagyu bulls from Firstlight at a cost of $550 each.
‘‘When I put the idea [of using wagyu] to Mum and Dad, he said we lost about $650 on buying and later culling a jersey bull,’’ Aplin said.
‘‘With the difference in price for four-day-olds, it wouldn’t just reduce the number of bobbies, it made financial sense as well.’’
Firstlight would buy the bull calves, arrange for their collection and delivery to rearers, who would take them through to weaning, and liaise with the finishers.
Overall, the switch to wagyu had so far been trouble-free, Aplin said.
‘‘The bulls were nice to handle and we had no problems with them in the herd. We put the 10 bulls over 270 heifers and the empty rate was less than 4 per cent,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s been good so far and we’ve already booked to use wagyu again next season.’’