| 55 Keeping an eye on the end-consumer is just one of the things that Kakahu Angus take care to do as they choose their genetics. Kakahu Angus get a lot of their genetics from America, also the source for many South American countries. MEAT & WOOL » Kakahu Angus “Proud to be providing independent fertiliser advice to Kakahu Angus for a decade” Jeremy Cunningham 027 615 7409 PROUDLY SUPPORTING KAKAHU ANGUS they choose their genetics, knowing they would rather supply quality steaks to customers than mince for burgers. They also farm in a way that gets the killing-out percentage those genetics are capable of, knowledge Uruguay is keen to acquire. Whereas a typical Uruguay farm might expect a 52% to 54% return (hanging carcass weight to live weight) Kakahu expect 56% to 58%. The difference is due to a combination of genetics and management, put simply genetics won’t perform if you don’t feed them, as Tom observed when he visited and recommended a number of tweaks on one 2500-hectare farm. Instead of paddocks of 30-40 h/a, running a mob of 200 cows on a two-month rotation, which means calves aren’t getting a good enough opportunity to grow he suggested smaller 10 hectare blocks with mobs of 80 shifted every week. “That way the calves are getting a fresh pick every week which gives them a better opportunity to grow and achieve what we aim for here which is 40 kgs more at weaning than there, that’s a lot more dollars per hectare. They can move them on faster, grow out their heifers better and older pastures can recover better.” To help the step change one Uruguay farm has invested in both embryos and semen from Kakahu. With their annual bull sale coming up Tom points out that three of the bulls will have their semen collected before being delivered to their buyers. Kakahu may be going global but locally 65 top Angus bulls are up for sale on farm as usual on June 16th, with a further 22 Charolais bulls available through private treaty.
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