Hastings, New Zealand
September 14, 2009

Country-Wide Southern

Growing high-sugar grass has the potential to earn a Southland station an extra $1 million a year in revenue, its management team says.

Mt Linton Station management aim to do this by growing more lambs to premium weights quicker on Aber high-sugar grasses

They are confident of the projected gains following trial plantings last December 2008 of the high sugar ryegrasses AberMagic and AberDart. They have also been watching and talking to other farmers in the area growing the varieties for several years.

"It's an awesome ryegrass ... it seems to be the silver bullet for us as far as finishing lambs," farm technician David Bielski says.

David is responsible for Mt Linton's pasture management.

He says the lambs grazing AberMagic early in March grew to 38.7kg, averaging 411g/day in nine days, while 566 lambs on AberDart grew to 38.4kg in 24 days to average 412g/day.

The trial showed that lambs on other ryegrass cultivars averaged only 172, 270 and 320g/day over the corresponding period and results were consistent with growth during the lamb finishing period January to April. "I wish we had planted more," David says.

He observed stronger clover growth and more even grazing in sugar ryegrass pasture.

Based on stock units, Mt Linton is New Zealand's largest privately owned station, carrying about 95,000 units, and covering 12,145ha.

Every year the station regrasses 400ha in the spring after swedes grown for winter feed. That 400ha will be sown in AberDart and AberMagic mixed with clovers this spring. The plan is to continue regrassing the station's entire finishing platform of 3800ha in sugar grasses over 10 years.

David's brother Hamish is manager of sheep genetics at Mt Linton where the focus is on the meat yield and quality of their maternal Texel and terminal Suftex breeds.

He says high sugar grasses have enabled the flocks' superior genetics to be fully expressed.

"We have invested strongly in genetic breeding and regular measurement with CT scans (of carcases) and the Aber sugar grasses are enabling us to capture that potential."

He calculates extra revenue of $1.1 million from a 10% increase in lambing and those additional 6500 lambs earning $520,000 at $80 each.

A further prediction is a 60% increase in lamb numbers from ewe hoggets, worth an additional $460,000.

Cattle revenue probably will increase by at least $150,000 from selling 600 Angus steers at finished weights in 17 to 20 months at 270kg carcaseweight (CW) instead of having to feed them through a second winter to sell as two-year-old stores.

"If we could take those steers from 270 to 300kg CW, then that's another $100 a head," Hamish says.

Station manager Ceri Lewis sees significant flow-on benefits, such as easier winter management with lambs finished earlier and high-quality pasture freed up for hoggets and ewes to graze before mating.

He says the key is to get a good flow of lambs finished and put more feed into the hoggets, "our next priority".

"We need to make sure all the hoggets hit the liveweight target at mating (43kg minimum), not just 50% of them.

"The sugar grasses have fast-tracked the whole finishing programme".

Ceri says a good indicator of flow-on gains was last season's improved ewe pregnancy and low winter attrition that were attributed to grazing management and good weather.

The team are confident of continuing to meet targets for an Alliance Group payout premium that's $2/head above the national average. The requirement is to grow more than 80% of Mt Linton's lambs to the specified carcase-weight (17.5kg) with a meat yield of at least 54%.

"The last dollar is the best dollar when you can produce for markets that pay the premium," Ceri says.

"It's also good for business when you're selling genetics and can point to your own performance as a commercial farm."

The Angus herd are producing steers for the Japanese restaurant market and being grown to finished weights of 500-520kg liveweight (270kg CW) between February and April, and there was potential for an extra 30kg in the carcase by grazing the sugar grasses.

Heifer calves are being grown to 310-330kg liveweight for mating mid-December for two cycles only. This year there was a 6-7% dry rate resulting in a 93% conception rate.

"We need good feed to maximise those genetic gains. It's mostly been about changes in our management system and now we have the Aber high-sugar grasses that hopefully can continue lifting performance."

Ceri is planning a comparative measure of cattle performance on the new pasture this summer.

General manager of Aber high-sugar ryegrasses' wholesaler, Germinal Seeds NZ, David Kerr, says its cultivars are naturally bred and offer significant production gains.

Based on what Mt Linton is achieving, it's not rocket science to work out that hundreds of millions of dollars are already on offer to NZ farmers simply by finishing livestock on the Aber high-sugar grasses.
He does not agree with AgResearch's case for a genetic modification (GM) programme to develop its own high-sugar grass when naturally bred cultivars are already proving effective.
"Why risk NZ's clean, green and GM-free image?" he says.

Caption: Mount Linton Station team members (from left) manager Ceri Lewis, sheep genetics manager Hamish Bielski and farm technician David Bielski.

Website: http://www.germinalseeds.co.nz/

Published: September 14, 2009