Angus 2 Year Bull Sale 2024
Years go by quickly, and this year is like no other. And that is why it’s so important to continue in a very aggressive way to breed the way you intend to finish, as that finish will arrive faster than you think. We have only eight generations of breeding in our farming lives, so putting up with substandard genetics will only hinder your future generations of cattle production. As we watch our children grow up we keep reminding ourselves why we're here doing what we do, and to make it more simple for them than it is for us is our primary objective.
In March Tom had another trip to America, and finding bulls to fit our programme has been very successful. We are excited to introduce the new genetics into our herd and pass them on to yours. There has been increasing discussion in America about feed efficiency, as feed costs keep going up. The American breeders and finishers see this as a major pathway in reducing costs, and they are making great strides toward this. By tapping into their genetics, we are also part of a very large database, which will filter through to your herd and keep your herd trending in the right direction.
Marbling is still by far and away the major talking factor in the American breeding systems. They are getting more than $300 USD/head premium for the mid to high grade marbling cattle. Those high grade cattle are now more than 45% of the top third of the nation’s grid system, and getting better each year.
It’s amazing to see this product in the flesh, and obviously, part of the trip to America was to sample it on the way, and it was hard to find faults in it with consistency. Unfortunately, we can’t say that for New Zealand beef. If we want to see a lot more high end product on our dinner tables in New Zealand and around the world, we will need to lift the standard in a big way. The alternative is that we will continue to see grinding beef paying more than prime, as we have seen this year. We do worry about our grading process and the way potential premiums don’t get fed through to the farmer. It’s simply not good enough. Farmers are not getting paid enough for the high quality meat that we do produce, despite the continued promises we get from our procurement companies.
Most of us have been under tremendous pressure with the dry conditions. At Kakahu we have had to sell all our 15 month old commercial cattle, which is something we haven’t done for more than ten years. We have culled heavily in cows and bulls, just so we can get through the winter as our crop yields are not high enough. Not only that - we are all feeling the pressure with commodity prices, interest and inflation. Consequently, we have decided to offer only 74 bulls for our June sale, the lowest in over 10 years. These bulls are the best of the high performance bulls, and have favourable traits in every sector to lift your production and herd performance. We all need to cut our costs. It can be done easily enough, however, you must remember that your female herd is what returns you're income, so think carefully about how you spend your money on the bulls that create the future for your herd.
Remember there is only one time hard work comes after success, and that’s in the dictionary.
We look forward to seeing you on June 17,
Tom and Anna