Hi,
It’s the first week of September this week, which heralds the start of Spring (supposedly!). It also means that ‘Balance Day’ isn’t too far away. The end of the first round and the start of the second is always a fairly nervous time when you’ve got most of your cows in milk, the weather is changeable on an hourly basis, and mating is just around the corner.
Abby and I would like to extend a warm welcome to the farmers who have joined us since our last NOTAM, whether you’ve booked your herd in for a WOF, or are doing ‘Herds for Life’ and the whole nine yards, thank you inviting us to be a part of your business and herd improvement journey.
Wingman Calves & Daughter Performance
We’ve had some great feedback this year about people’s Wingman calves, thank you for your messages/videos/Snapchats! Two bulls in particular have sired some exceptional daughters (119527 Anchor and 521005 Sublime), proving that caring about the conformation of your animals pays dividends. I can’t wait to see those daughters in milk in the Spring of 2028!
Dairy Beef & PW Selection
The dairy beef juggernaut has continued to gain momentum this season, driven by an incredibly favourable beef schedule. Putting your bottom PW cows to dairy beef is a sure fire way to speed up the process of herd improvement as it stops you keeping replacements from cows with poor production.
“PW focuses primarily on information from the first three lactations so farmers can [identify] the lifetime production potential of their younger cows, enabling them to make decisions on whether [or not] they should be retained in the herd.” (Source: LIC). If a cow has done 3 full lactations as a 4YO animal, and has a negative PW after 12 herd tests (3 lactations x 4 herd tests/lactation), then put her to dairy beef so her poor productive genetics don’t pass to her offspring.
Guest Article: Dairy Beef Opportunities
To that effect, we’d like to introduce you to the author of the latest article on our website, Dairy Beef Opportunities, Sam Cranstone. Sam comes from a sheep and beef background in the Whanganui region and is currently studying a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at Lincoln University. With an interest in beef on dairy and cattle genetics and breeding, I thought it would be a great time to ask Sam for his thoughts on the dairy beef supply chain and its key issues and opportunities, as well as understanding the US market as a major importer of NZ beef. Thanks Sam!
Locking in your Bull Team
If you’re coming back for a second year of Wingman, or planning on joining us for the first time, then please be proactive and get in touch with us; the sooner we start the process the sooner we can get your bull team together. Towards the end of September, some bulls stop being collected for frozen semen as they transition over to fresh collections for the start of AB. Our ability to work miracles is fairly limited the closer to 20th September we get, and we’d like to avoid the possibility of having to select a ‘C-team’ of bulls for you!
As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with either Abby or myself if there’s something you’d like our help with, or if you’d like to book in a WOF or Future Herd Audit.
Mark: 027 270 2403 or mark@yourwingman.co.nz
Abby: 027 946 4626 or abby@yourwingman.co.nz
All the best for Spring,
Mark and Louise Benns, and Abby Ross