Hidden disease tests farmers
When Matthew Tayler discovered his cows had an in-calf rate of 65 per cent he knew something was going wrong.
The Lorne Peak Station owner, of Garston, opened up the Northern Southland property for a Beef + Lamb New Zealand It’s All About Beef Field Day on Friday. The 5600 hectare station runs sheep and beef, as well as wintering dairy cattle.
The farm runs 330 mixed age hereford-angus cross cows, 100 rising two-year-old replacement heifers, 60 finishing heifers, 180 finishing steers and 380 calves.
‘‘We ended up with BVD [bovine viral diarrhoea] a few years ago,’’ he told the crowd.
Tayler was responding to VetSouth veterinarian Keryn Cresswell about the impact and control of BVD in beef herds.
When Tayler discovered there was a problem all of the cattle were blood tested and two cattle were found to be persistently infected, he said
Now all bulls are tested each year, while heifers going to the bull also get tested. All bought in stock is also tested.
‘‘I think we’ve had a benefit with growth and our fertility has lifted.’’
Tayler said bovine tuberculosis had a national registry and it would be good to have a registry to track BVD because it had a bigger impact on farms.
Cresswell told the audience that about 65 per cent of beef herds had an active BVD infection, costing between $30 to $90 a beef breeding cow each year.
BVD can cause reproductive wastage in cows depending on when they are infected during their pregnancy, leading to early embryonic loss, mummified foetuses, slips and deformities.
‘‘The reason I say BVD is a hidden disease is because you’re not likely to get an outbreak of dozens and dozens of these things. I guess these things are just sort of warning signs that if you started to see these you might want to start to consider that you may have BVD,’’ Cresswell said.
Cresswell suggested farmers vaccinate their animals from the age of four months and give a booster annually three to four weeks out from mating to maximise foetal protection.
As well as disease management, Silver Fern Farms (SFF) agribusiness technical support officer Melissa Sowden spoke on Beef Eating Quality.
SFF’s Beef EQ grading system is used to select the best tasting beef coming through its plants.
Sowden said 80 per cent of everything New Zealand beef farmers produced was sold as a commodity on the world market. Farmers needed to be able to deliver a consistent standard of eating quality to ensure they received better profit for their product, she said.
The criteria which makes up good eating quality are pH, marbling, ossification, rib fat, meat colour and fat colour. While some of them could not be changed on farms, others could be managed, Sowden said.
Beef EQ has a 28 per cent average pass rate, with steers having an average pass of 31 per cent, and heifers falling behind with 19 per cent. Heifers were usually behind because of ossification because they matured quicker than males, Sowden said.
‘‘The top 10 per cent of farms produce an average EQ pass rate of 43 per cent, Lorne Peak has 43 per cent.’’
Tayler said the farm had a hit rate of 53 per cent for heifers. He attributed the high pass rate to the use of fodder beet on the farm.
The field day also included a tour of the property and a presentation by Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetics South Island extension officer Annie O’Connell.