28 | RURAL PEOPLE » Tahau Jersey Stud: Josh and Kareena Sneddon ‘No downside’ to using polled genetics Josh and Kareena Sneddon of Tahau Jersey Stud are now mating 100% of their 290 cows to polled genetics. Kelly Deeks As world markets increasingly seek more humane methods of dairy farming, Josh and Kareena Sneddon of Tahau Jersey Stud are already ahead of the game using their first polled genetics about seven years ago, and now mating 100% of their 290 cows to polled genetics. Disbudding is an invasive and painful procedure for calves and it carries costs for farmers, not only of time and money, but also of the global perception of the dairy industry. Josh and Kareena could see future growth in polled genetics and by 2021, they were mating 75% of the herd to polled genetics, and 25% to base genetics to mitigate the risk. “But we found there was no difference in production from them,” Josh says. “There was no downside to using polled genetics, there were only benefits.” Tahau Jersey Stud aims to breed cows that can go into any herd and produce the same, without the horns. The Sneddons have always focused on breeding bigger, more capacious Jerseys, and the results of capacious genetics used about six years ago are now seen in the fully mature five year old increase in sales of polled semen as farmers start to see its advantages for themselves. A significant amount of demand in cross-bred polled genetics remains untapped in New Zealand and while Josh and Kareena want to stick to their pure Jerseys, they can see the introduction of a polled cross bred bull would send the market crazy. “That’s where the demand is. New Zealand dairy farmers want cross bred cows but they don’t have the polled option here. That’s the benefit of overseas genetics.” The Sneddons use a 50/50 mix of New Zealand and overseas genetics in order to get those polled genetics in. The majority of locally-sourced semen is coming from Ardachie Polled Jerseys, the first polled Jersey breeder in New Zealand. “We used them when we first started and we use them more heavily now because they worked for us, they gave us good production and the sort of good, strong, capacious cows that we want to milk.” Overseas, bigger Canadian cattle with added stature are starting to come through the system, and Danish genetics tend to produce stronger cows. “Bigger cows cope well with a high grass input system. We don’t feed a lot of supplement so we expect them to consume a lot of grass.” Jerseys on the farm. “We’ve seen the results and now we want to push for more.” In 2022 and 2023, they have used 100% polled genetics and this season, 75% of calves born were polled. Tahau Jersey Stud was proud to get one of its polled bulls, Tahau Foden Bruce PP, on to CRV Ambreed’s bull semen catalogue last year. As a double polled, A2-A2, 120BW bull, he has a great draw card, and his first daughters were born this spring, including 15 at Josh and Kareena’s place. This season six of their young sires are being tested for the CRV breeding team. Josh says the market is chasing polled genetics and the semen companies are seeing a huge AgPlus are now the direct importer and dealer for Strautmann mixer wagons and all associated parts within the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions. We also service and support all other Strautmann machinery. ADMIN@AGPLUS.CO.NZ SALES@AGPLUS.CO.NZ STAN KNIGHT
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