By Nikita B. Damsgaard
Burnley Farms is located in the steep and rolling terrain of Gore, Southland. Stan and Judy MacGibbon are the owners of the sheep and beef operation. The farm is 570 hectares, and they have between 300-350 beef bulls, about 3300 breeding ewes and 1000 hoggets. Stan has always had an interest in farming as he was born right into it. He loves the different aspects of farming and how every day can be different and most of all he enjoys seeing good animals go out the gate to produce quality products.
One of the challenges they have had on their farm has been the steep and rolling terrain. The terrain makes it difficult to access different parts of the farm when it gets wet. They need to maintain tracks and fence lines as well, which makes farming here a bit more expensive. However, the weather in Southland is reliable for rainfall, ensuring good grass growth almost all year to feed their cattle and lambs.
Their biggest goal with farming has been getting their farm to a reasonable scale. They have been working on this for the past few years, and they are now in a position where they are happy with the size of their farm. This has led them to take on an equity partner. Cam and Katie Russell come from farming families, and they wanted to work in farming, so they became the equity partners on Burnley Farms. Stan and Judy enjoy helping the next generation to learn more about farming and to share their passion with them.
Taking on Double Muscled Angus bulls
They’ve had Friesian bulls, together with some Herefords crossed with Friesians on their farm for the last 20-30 years. The Hereford crossed bulls tend to have a higher yield percentage of about 58% compared to the straight Friesian which is about 51-53%. They keep buying Friesian bulls as they are always available. When their stock agent proposed the idea of them buying other breeds such as the newly available Double Muscled Angus, to try and get a higher dressing percentage, they weren't opposed to the idea.
Stan and Judy usually buy animals with beef potential from dairy herds. They primarily buy bulls as they tend to grow more muscle and they have a better growth rate. Their stock agent told them about Glenn Taylor who has been a breeding consultant for Samen NZ for many years. Glenn has been farming for about 40 years and he has been using Dairy Beef Solutions on his own farm for 8 years. Samen NZ' Dairy Beef Solutions aim to breed value added beef offspring from the tail end of dairy herds. In 2022, Glenn put Double Muscled Angus over the bottom line of his herd, and when the calves were born in 2023, he would sell them to Beef farmers as his farm wasn’t suited to hold beef animals. Glenn has now managed to lease an extra block where he will be able to have the beef animals moving forward.
In June 2023, Stan and his wife went to see the Angus cattle bred by Glenn, and they decided to buy the 46 bulls that Glenn was selling. When they purchased the bulls, they were 100 kg. Through the rest of the winter and the spring season, they managed to grow 1.2 kg per day, over the summer and entering autumn the growth rate sits at just over 1 kg per day. Whereas the Friesians on average have a growth rate of 800 grams per day. They will be getting Fodder Beet over the winter to supplement their growth and get them to their highest potential weight.
“From what I have heard, the rep said that some of these Double Muscled Angus could achieve a lift of 15% in yield, which would be quite phenomenal. If it flew through to that much extra carcass weight, that would be amazing” says Stan. He is looking forward to seeing their liveweight when they reach 20 months and get sent for slaughtering, but for now his line of Double Muscled Angus has an average weight of 460kg and the heaviest ones weigh 500 kg. This is quite impressive for cattle that are only a year old.
Cattle are double-muscled when the myostatin gene is inactive. Having double-muscled animals can help farmers benefit more with the same number of animals. Doubled-muscled animals generally have a better growth rate, and they can reach their full potential at 18 months.
Stan points out that the Angus bulls have a great temperament. They are very easy to work with and he can just walk through their paddock without any issues. Their herd is still primarily Friesians, but he would like to get more beef cross in there, especially with their good temperament and ability to yield better. He has been very happy with the Double Muscled Angus as they are stepping up things with the improved genetics in them.
“We are getting superior growth rates and then we are hoping that when we send these animals to slaughter that the yield in them is potentially going to be a lot higher,” says Stan. The Friesians they usually send to get slaughtered have a good carcass weight, but their yield is not quite as good as they would like. They are hoping that these new genetics will help improve that, “and it is good to get a quality product out of some of these dairy industry cows. Good to see that what those animals in calf go through makes a good finished product, rather than becoming a bobby calf” says Stan.
Using Samen NZ’ Dairy Beef Solutions has helped Glenn to produce good beef, lowering the number of bobby calves produced and helped increase his profitability on farm. Using good beef genetics on the lower preforming cows in dairy herds helps both beef and dairy farmers to become more profitable. Dairy farmers can sell their beef cattle at higher prices and the beef farmers would be able to do the same when the animals get sent to slaughter.
Stan is looking forward to seeing how the Angus cattle will yield when they get slaughtered in a few months, and they will keep looking for premium cattle in the coming seasons and try to source more Double Muscled Angus, lowering the number of bobby calves produced and helped increase his profitability on farm.
