92 | ON FARM » Glenacardoch Belgian Blues Thirty years breeding of docile cattle Belgian Blues Glenacardoch Magic (top). Belgian Blues Glenacardoch commercial cow & her BBx calf (below). Hugh de Lacy The Belgian Blues’ temperament was what first recommended the European beef breed to Charles Sewell when he decided 30 years ago to stop chasing skittery weaner calves around the farm and get into the breeding of docile cattle. “He started with some New Zealand-bred Belgian Blue cows but he had a clear idea of the characteristics he wanted in the herd so he began importing semen, initially from Belgium and then from the United Kingdom,” says Charles’ son Paul Sewell who today runs the family farm, 30 minutes inland from Ashburton, with wife Robyn Sewell. The 320ha Mid-Canterbury farm is on the Arundell-Rakaia Gorge road, and comprises 320ha of flat land with mixed soil types. The Glenacardoch Belgian Blue stud of 100 cows is part of what is otherwise a cropping and dairy support operation, bringing in 1100 dairy cows for wintering, and growing wheat, barley, maize and seed kale. “We winter and finish our own stock for the works and select about 25 bulls for sale as terminal sires to mainly beef breeders in South Otago and Southland,” Paul says. “We used to sell crossbred calves up until about five years ago, but now we fatten all our stock ourselves.” The characteristics that Charles, and now Paul Sewell wanted to develop in their Belgian Blue stud, along with the gentle demeanour, were calving ease, high growth rates, calf vigour and structure, and the breeding of bulls as terminal sires with high-yielding carcases and growth rates. The Sewells experimented widely by artificial insemination with various lines of the breed, gradually eliminating those whose progeny did not noticeably advance the stud’s breeding goals. “Over the 20 years that Robyn and I have been running the farm we’ve seen steady improvements which have delivered ease of calving combined with high growth weight, length and height while still retaining the double-muscling which defines the breed,” Paul says. “We feel we’ve improved the breed substantially for New Zealand conditions, and we see that in the lively calves and the high survival rates. “Beef farmers are the main clientele of our bulls but some go to dairy farmers who likewise use them as terminal sires, often over heifers to take advantage of the easy and early calving.” A family owned & run business specializing in working with family farms 027 279 8704 or 03 303 6300 o ce@donaldlovecontracting.nz Proudly supporting Glenacardoch Belgian Blues Proud to support Glenacardoch Belgian Blues IRRIGATE WITH CONFIDENCE · IRRIGATION SYSTEMS · REMOTE MANAGEMENT · PRECISION VRI The Belgian Blue is a lean, hyper-sculpted breed with a heritable double-muscling phenotype that gives rise to an increased number of muscle fibres. Line-breeding historically ensured that the double-muscling myostatin gene mutation was kept by successive generations long enough to become fixed as a permanent characteristic. Myostatin is a protein that, among other things, limits fat deposition, resulting in the Belgian Blues’ accelerated lean muscle growth. Calves are born with double the number of muscle fibres as a calf with no myostatin gene mutation. The breed also has a greater meat-to-bone ratio than other breeds, producing about a 20% higher muscle yield. The breed was first fixed in middle and upper Belgium in the 19th century from the crossing of local breeds with, surprisingly, the British Shorthorn.
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