46 | “If you’d said 20 or 30 years ago that a farmer would be using Charolais bulls over their dairy herd they would have said you’re mad.” Rauriki focus on their younger cattle Virginia Wright It would be easy to say that life for Simon and Wendy Collin, their son George and his partner Brianna, was ‘more of the same’ as they continue to work the Rauriki Charolais Stud which has now been going for well over 20 years. Easy but not quite accurate as the last three years have seen a marked increase in the number of registered Charolais they’re mating, up to 140 from 100 three years ago. It’s part of their decision to focus on their younger cattle and to get their yearling heifers up to weight for mating. They’ve been using AI (Artificial Insemination) programmes as well as some of their own studbred bulls paying careful attention to the traits they’re after. “We’ve selected for low birth weight, good calving ease, gestation length, positive or moderate growth and bulls that have been polled bulls,” says Simon. After three years of constant selection in response to a steady market trend, 75% of their calves are now polled so they’re using either heterozygous or homozygous polled bulls for breeding. “Our goal is breeding bulls that are homozygous which is about finding the right bulls but at the same time we’ve got a lot of other traits to consider,” says Simon. In other words cattle that are sound, functionable, with good temperament and good growth, good fat, showing good data, and, as Simon puts it “that basically show good Charolais traits.”. The focus on their yearling heifers is part of the Collin family turning some of their attention to what they can offer the dairy industry. The bull calves that result from mating their purebred yearling heifers with carefully selected bulls are sought after by farmers wanting to put them over their Fresian or Kiwi-X cows. “They give a good calf that gets off the ground quickly and performs well in the rearing sheds. RURAL PEOPLE » Rauriki Charolais The rearers love them because they get out of the sheds quickly so they’re not having to feed them as much milk, and they just grow,” explains Simon. “It’s something that has massive potential behind it because those calves demand a premium, this year selling for $250 to $300 a piece.” While dairy farmers making the most of what they can get when selling their four-day old calves is nothing new, what is new is having the Charolais breed in the mix. “If you’d said 20 or 30 years ago that a farmer would be using Charolais bulls over their dairy herd they would have said you’re mad because they were regarded as big-birth weight, big-boned, big volume cattle that would basically just result in calves that would kill the cows. Now that the breed’s evolved there’s a lot more confidence based on evidence to encourage the dairy industry to use certain Charolais bulls that have been specifically bred to eliminate those problems they’ve had in the past,” explains Simon. They sell 15 to 20 of these yearling bulls to the dairy industry every spring but their main focus remains their May sale where they sell their top R2 bulls primarily to beef farmers. This year they expect to have 22 bulls for sale in farm on May 28. All being more moderate, with more softness to them, and showing the improved breed plan figures that the Collins have been working for, while at the same time expressing all the traits and carefully selected attributes typical of a Rauriki-bred Charolais bull. SIMON COLLIN: P 06 858 8045 M 027 636 3243 GEORGE COLLIN: M 027 7825 237 18 Ahiweka Rd, Rd 7 Dannevirke Bull Walk - Tuesday 14th of May 11:00am to 2:00pm Bull Sale - Tuesday 28th of May at 2:00pm Follow us on Facebook After three years of constant selection in response to a steady market trend, 75% of calves are now polled so they’re using either heterozygous or homozygous polled bulls for breeding.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=