National Workshop 2018 Case Study B: Breeding and Finishing Easy to Medium Hill

Transcription

1 feed req kgdm/day* National Workshop 2018 Case Study B: Breeding and Finishing Easy to Medium Hill You will be provided with direction on how to work through the case material at the workshop. Overview This is an example of a hill country farm that is breeding and finishing different classes of stock. The farmer would like more consistency in feeding and stock performance. In particular winter feeding systems that will maintain stock condition and pasture covers though different climatic conditions. The farmer would also like more consistent weaners for finishing so as to be more certain of expected sale dates, growth rates and returns. You Should review the farm information Refer to the flow diagram of drivers of profitability that will be supplied on the day. Identify where there are areas for potential improvement. As a group determine the most important areas for this type of operation. Choose the top 3-4 topics to focus on for the rest of the day. Use the resources and reference material available along with the experiences of members of the group to explore topics in more detail. Do not attempt to solve the problems or make recommendations for this particular farm. Your discussion should include a range of options applicable across many different properties, and thinking about how to apply these to your own situation. Advance Parties are funded by Deer Industry New Zealand and the Ministry for Primary Industries via the Passion2Profit Primary Growth Partnership

2 Page 1 Land Resources contour Easy to Medium hill altitude annual rainfall rain distribution Land Class (1-9) irrigation 3-4 none Total area Effective area tractor cultivatable deer fenced 2650 ha 2500 ha 300 ha 1400 ha Sheep SU 5,367 Beef SU 4,403 Deer SU 8,353 % deer fenced 56% stock units wintered Other SU Total SU Per Ha 18, Cash crop area Main Farming Operations Breeding and finishing deer, breed and finish lambs, store or contract graze cattle Farm description A farm type of moderate to variable fertility or soil types. Generally divided into hill country for breeding and flatter areas for finishing. Cropping done (if any) on the flat areas. Finishing stock classes have to compete for finishing area on flats and easy hill country. Stage of development Flats all deer fenced. Areas that are tractor cultivatable and some areas that have been oversown and some that have been spray and pray regrassed or cropped. Mostly reticulated and some natural water sources. No irrigation or potentially some irrigated flat areas. Current recording systems

3 Page 2 Goals and Objectives General Farming Goals Leave the farm better than I took it over Succession Pay off debt Sustainable financially and environmentally Maintain right to farm Deer Objectives Healthy, easy care Improve wintering system for hinds - consistency in mild and hard winters Consistent high quality weaners Weaner growth rates Genetics, especially hind genetics and deciding on best terminal mating system Lifestyle Objectives Enjoy the farm Look after staff well Succession planning - eventually Issues Getting in the way

4 Page 3 STOCK June 2018 Whole farm Eff area 2500 Deer 1400 fenced Deer growth No. wgt SU/hd Total feed req kg/day SU kgdm/day* MA hinds 1, ,356 5, 025 Breeding stags 55 Velvet stags R2 stags R2 hinds , R1 stags , R1 hinds , Total deer 4,339 8,385 11,107 Sheep MA ewes ,126 3,280 MA rams th ewe Hoggets 1, ,034 1,044 Total sheep 4,654 5,367 5, ,151 1,034 Cattle MA cow 362 MA male , , R2 heifer R2 bull R2 steers R1 cattle Total cattle 797 4,403 4,272 Deer SU/deer ha 6.0 SR overall 7.3 SU % of total 46% 30% 24% kgdm/ha/day % of feed Deer 53% Sheep 26% Cattle 21% Comments * Feed requirement based on liveweight, growth rate and feed quality of 10.5MJME/kgDM, adjusted for winter.

5 Page 4 Stock Sales - Summary - This year Deer Stock class No. Av weight $/kg $/hd Total kg MA hind $8.95 $483 24,894 $222,801 MA stag $8.50 $ $8,160 U2 stag 1, $10.50 $609 60,204 $632,142 U2 hind $10.40 $541 29,796 $309,878 R2 hind in calf 18 $550 Total $ - $9,900 Stock Purchases - Summary Deer Stock class No. Av weight $/kg $/hd Total kg Total $ wapiti stags 8 $3,600 - $28,800 red stags 7 $2,500 - $17,500

6 Page 5 Stock flow and survival Year fawned Tally 2016 Sale/ purchase Losses Losses Hinds Mated 2,500 loss Non Preg 2,439 loss Non Preg Scanned Preg 2, (8%) 2, (8%) Preg hind bought 0 Preg Hinds Sold 18 Preg Hind Set Stocked 2,300 2,236 Year as weaner Loss Preg To Wean 178 (7.7%) 2018 Loss Preg To Wean 151 (7%) fawns marked fawns weaned 2,122 Loss Mate To Wean 2,085 Loss Mate To Wean Bought at weaning 378 (15%) (14%) Sold at weaning Loss During Winter 0 Loss During Winter Weaners Start Winter 2,120 Loss Wean To Sale 2,085 Loss Wean To Sale Weaners End Winter R1 sold by 31 Dec Year as R ,200 Losses 2nd year 2019 Losses 2nd year Sold 12 to 24 moths 441 Retained Female Retained Male 459 Survival/hind Set Sto 91% Survival/hind mated Survival/hind Set stock Survival/hind mated 84%

7 Page 6 Pastures On the flats there are a range of different pasture types. We are putting in more lucerne as this works well for weaners and lambs. 70ha in lucerne currently. Heavier areas into Base tetraploid ryegrass and clovers. Lighter soils into fescue or cocksfoot and clovers or lucerne. Ryecorn is used at times as a break crop for brassica and re-grassing and as a gap to fill in late Autumn or early spring. Crops Crops are used for sheep and cattle as well as weaner deer. Hinds may get some crop but usually not. 23 ha fodder beet 25 ha swedes 29 ha kale 21 ha turnips 12 ha rape Supplementary Feed Baleage kgDM Hay 200 Barley - fed to hinds with fawns if dry in summer. Fed to stock as required. Not usually on hills We would like to explore the option of self feeding silage for the hinds on the hills as set stocking hinds during the winter results in covers down to around 1200kgDM at the start of September and slow getting away in the spring.

8 Page 7 Weaner Management Weaner management and feeding policies Hinds and fawns brought down onto flats last week of Feb or first week of March. Hinds taken back onto hill with the stags and weaners on grass for first few days with maize. Also fed maize on the ground in the hill paddocks prior to weaning. Weaners then go onto lucerne or grass rotation, mobbed on sex and weight ranges in mobs of Smallest get preferential feeding. Terminal stags onto lucerne for the Autumn first. Hinds usually on grass rotation during autumn. Would like to improve autumn growth rates. We are considering weaning earlier in February and aiming for early conception in hinds. One issue is that the fawns are uneven, especially in the terminal mob. Is this due to a spread out fawning or inconsistency in the stag genetics? We think we can be using Deer Select to choose stags more wisely and hopefully even out the variation. Weaner Health Summarise actions to keep weaners healthy here Drenched every 4 weeks with oral 3 combination drench (Oxfen C + and cydectin oral drench) from weaning. At first drench get 7 in 1 and rumenzyme dose in March At second drench get 7 in 1 + yersiniavax in April At third drench get yersiniavax and selenium injection in May

9 Page 8 Mob description Sex Wean Wean Growth rates g/day date weight Summer Aut Winter Spring terminal stag fawns stag 1/3/18 56kg terminal hind fawns hind 1/3/18 53kg red stag fawns stag 1/3/18 54kg red hind fawns hind 1/3/18 49kg

10 Page 9 Hind Performance (kg weaned (March)/hind wintered) Breeding policies We are trying to breed a good maternal hind that will rear a good hybrid fawn that can be killed early or later depending on the season and the prices. Hinds are red hind base, not too large hinds are bred to red stags to generate replacement hinds to terminal wapiti bulls. Hinds are culled out of the replacement mob into the terminal mob based on temperament, conformation or age. Red mob multi sire mated at approx 8:500. Usually scan 96%+. Terminal mob multisire mated at approx 10:350. Usually scan around 90%. R2 replacement red hinds (~400) bred to R2 stags. Usually breed all replacement red R2 hinds and cull on conception. Target mating weight 90kg. Hind wintering management and feeding Hinds wintered on the hills and fed silage or baleage on the ground (lots of wastage). Grain has also been fed in the past. Traditionally they have been rotated around the hill blocks and pasture covers can get very low at the end of winter resulting in slow recovery and late spring starts. Hind condition depends largely on the weather conditions during winter. We have seen and heard that hinds go well on wintering pads and considering building a couple of self feed silage stacks. What are the costs and returns and what do we need to consider before building the stack? Fawning/calving management and feeding The fawning blocks are grazed with sheep during the first two weeks of September and then spelled for two weeks before set stocking with hinds for fawning in October. A few cows might be put in each paddock to control pasture and can be moved in or out in some paddocks. Grain is fed during January and February if it gets dry. Weaning policy All hinds have been weaned on 1st March. We are thinking about pulling this back to 20 Feb. Is this a good idea? What are the pros and cons regarding weaner growth rates and early hind conception? Grain fed prior to weaning. Hinds and fawns brought onto flats and hinds returned to hills the next day. Grain continued to fawns. Hind Health Summarise actions to keep hinds healthy here We believe we have issues with copper and possibly selenium. Hinds have been given selenium injections ad-hoc. Hinds condition scored and mouthed at weaning. Any skinny hinds are given a drench which is either cydectin pour on or injection depending on staff. Do we have lepto or any other diseases causes lost potential in the hinds? Hinds can lose condition in a hard winter. Are they losing their fawns as well?

11 Page 11 Deer Reproduction NOTES Year = year mated. Weaners counted in the following year HTS = Number put to the stags %Preg = scanned pregnant/number scanned. weaners = Weaners counted Survival scan to wean % = weaners counted/scanned preg Weaning % = number of fawns weaned/number of hinds mated. Include hinds that were sold or purchased pregnant after scanning. Do include dry hinds culled and hinds that died or were culled during winter. Breeding hinds 1,980 2,000 Breeding stags R2 hinds Velvet stags 3 years + Current Plan Joining date 1 March late Feb Stag removal date 1 May 15 April Wean date 1 March 20 Feb Year bred Year wean 2018 MA Hinds Mob red red terminal % preg 98% 96% 90% Surv scan to wean 95% 95% 93% wean % 93% 90% 84% R3 hinds (second fawners) % preg Surv scan to wean wean % R2 hinds (first fawners) % preg 91% 88% Surv scan to wean 90% 85% wean % 82% 75% Total % preg Surv scan to wean wean %

12 Page 11 Deer Reproduction - details Red Red Terminal Year bred Year wean 2018 MA Hinds HTS 980 1,000 1,000 mating Mating weight sold preg sold dry bought preg hinds set stocked weaners tally R3 hinds (second fawners) HTS mating weight mating Sold MT Sold preg Hinds weaned weaners R2 hinds (first fawners) HTS mating weight 92 mating 3.5 sold preg 18 sold dry 41 bought preg hinds set stock weaners

13 Page 12 Management and feeding of velvet stags/bulls Autumn including Roar Stags go in with the hinds at weaning when they go back up onto the hill. They are all multisire mated in mobs of 10:350 for terminal and 8:500 for red. We get consistently lower conception rate in the terminal mated mobs. Stags are removed on 1 May and we are planning to bring this back to 20 April and then to the 15th April to try and take the tail out of the fawns and encourage early fawning. Some of the bulls might be removed early April if they are standing at the gate. After the roar, stags are gradually mobbed and fed some baleage and maize to help settle them and put condition back on. Winter Stags are rotated around on pickings where it is available on the flats. May get baleage if required. Spring Rotated on grass with reasonable covers to gain condition coming out of winter. Not pushing too much as not concerned about velvet. Summer Used as a clean up mob on the flats. Stag health Summarise actions to keep stags healthy. Generally bulls are given a cydectin injection in May once we can get them in safely. This used to be a pour-on but we heard it wasn t effective. We get a few bulls that never really pick up over the winter and wonder whether there is anything else we should be giving them. Think we should be giving the stags copper but unsure of the best way to go about this.

14 Page 13 Genetics Plan Breeding Objective Ideal Replacement criteria Cull criteria Hind medium size, consistently rears a good fawn body size and conformation infertility, failure to rear a fawn, poor constitution Stag Fertile. Consistent fawns, healthy, worm resitance? Select from Deer Select? Haven t done until now. Stud reputation. Used for 4 years. Not throwing good fawns. Progeny Weaning average 60kg 1 March, good growth rates autumn, winter and spring, healthy. Genetic Priorities consistency, weaning weights, growth rates. Potential Sources of new genetics DeerSelect to choose studs. A I Returns Costs Plan Could breed replacement hinds?? If cost effective will consider DeerSelect Should get more reliable genetics yes DNA testing no Buy stags Match hinds to fawns Use for 4 years, produces about 160 fawns. $3,000-$5,000 Keep buying stags but get smarter about it. no Sexed semen no