The need to reduce bobby calf numbers has prompted many dairy farmers to look at alternative beef breeds that will give them a point of difference from finishers that use traditional Hereford and Angus bulls.
A breed that is garnering a great deal of interest is the Simmental – a Swiss breed well-known for the rapid growth of its calves.
Those calves return a premium price for farmers due to their ability to finish at a heavier weight compared to most common beef breeds.
The Simmental is among the oldest and most widely distributed of all beef breeds and has been in New Zealand for around 50 years.
They are hardy to all of New Zealand’s climatic conditions and any type of farmland.
South Canterbury farmers David and Jayne Timperley farm Simmental cattle at their Opawa Simmental stud farm 40 minutes inland from Timaru. They started their registered Simmental stud in 1993 and their first on farm bull sale was held in 2014.
They run 17,000 SU comprising 150 stud cows, 500 breeding cows, 4000 ewes plus replacements, 990 Dairy grazers (R1, R2) and they winter 1000 beef calves on their 1800 hectare farm and lease a further 600ha.
“We also own two dairy farms. A 150 ha Geraldine farm milking 500 Friesian cows and a 120 ha Hinds farm milking 400 Friesian Kiwi cross cows. We’ve always used Simmental bulls to tail our herds,” Timperley says.
“We have a winter milking herd at Geraldine and AI our winter cows to Simmental bulls. Any low producing spring cows are mated to Simmental. The Geraldine herd now has collars fitted, so instead of using catch bulls we’re relying on the collars and AI.”
Their main breeding focus is to produce animals that thrive in any commercial situation, have a good temperament, low birth weight, and good growth rates.
They don’t prioritise short gestation as a trait in their bulls, but aim to achieve a balance of traits to suit dairy farmers and finishers.
“It doesn’t always pay to focus on one trait. There’s nothing wrong with breeding for short gestation, but you have to be careful when breeding for a single trait that you don’t lose other desirable traits,” he says.
“If a calf reaches its 100kg target 10 days earlier than a short gestation calf, the farmer saves on milk and calf meal. Four day old Simmental calves do well for finishers and they’re prepared to pay a premium for them.”
Their calves are strong and rapidly attain their 100kg weight target. They have no problems calving their Simmental calves but they are reluctant to mate Simmental to a heifer.
“Finishers are continually knocking on our door because they know that Simmental calves do well. Those return buyers are willing to pay a premium for the calves which is a good recommendation that they meet their requirements.”
Many sheep farmers always mate a percentage of their ewes to a terminal sire, and Timperley can’t see why more cattle breeders don’t emulate the practice and mate their poorer cows to a terminal sire.
Some Angus and Hereford breeders are using Simmental bulls to achieve hybrid vigour.
Timperley describes hybrid vigour as a “freebie for farmers that costs them nothing and rewards them well”.
“You generally need to take a dairy/beef cross animal through a second winter before being able to get it away to a processing plant.
“Once a Simmental-dairy cross animal gets through the second winter you can utilise the spring grass to achieve high weight gains compared to Hereford or Angus dairy cross animals. The Simmental cross has greater potential and achieves that potential because it’s a bigger animal.”
Simmental bulls are generally strong on their feet.
The biggest problem occurring to catch bulls in a dairy herd can be lameness, due to the amount of walking they need to do.
“It’s mostly beef farmers who attend our May on-farm sale and we want those bulls to be big. But I would never send a bull of those weights to a dairy farmer because it would struggle with the amount of walking. We aim to have bulls that are destined for a dairy farm to be around 100kgs lighter.”
The breed once had a reputation for being temperamental, but 50 years of breeding has made that problem a thing of the past.
“In the 1970s when the breed was introduced to New Zealand the animals were very few and far between. As a consequence many breeders weren’t concerned about temperament, which gave the breed a bad reputation.
“Breeders know that Simmentals still have that unwarranted stigma, so critically focus on temperament. There are now very few temperament issues because breeders simply cull those animals.”
He feels that a consequence of reducing the number of bobby calves through the use of beef bulls will lead to many more calves being in the pool for finishers to choose from.
“Farmers need to have something in their system so that the finishers actively seek their calves,” he says.
“Simmental calves give farmers a point of difference. If you AI your herd to Simmental, the finishers will pay a premium to buy your calves. Receiving a premium price for four day old calves, while minimising bobby calf numbers, is a win-win situation.”
This article first appeared in the May 2022 issue of Dairy Farmer.
