NZ Dairy Winter 2021

| 27 nz dairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Roslyn Shorthorns: David & Paul Murphy Roslyn stock snapped up by buyers Karyn Phelps Roan cows personal favourite • from page 26 www.energyvets.co.nz enquiries@energyvets.co.nz ENERGY VETS TARANAKI LTD Inglewood Clinic (06) 756 7228 Waitara Clinic (06) 754 8791 299 North Road, Invercargill Phone - 03 215 9237 vsi@vetservices.co.nz www.vetservices.co.nz Waikiwi Vet Services Ltd Run a smarter, better business with tools to help free up your time. Talk to us about Xero and Figured today. mmca.co.nz | 03 214 4166 S outhland dairy farmer David Murphy has traditionally preferred to keep his top cows for his own commercial business. But now that he’s running the farm in partnership with son Paul, the next generation has pushed David to share the genetics he has built over a lifetime at Roslyn Shorthorns with the wider farming community. This has seen five of Roslyn’s R2s sold recently at the NZ Milking Shorthorn Association Annual Conference held in March, which were snapped up by buyers. Considering the average per cow production in David and Paul’s herd is 400kg/MS it is likely that the top five will net the lucky buyers even better results. David and Paul’s top cow last year produced an impressive 598kg/MS. “I was a bit annoyed we didn’t get to 600kg/MS though,” says David, noting that one of this year’s purchasers had also bought Roslyn cows the previ- ous year and returned, which David takes as a very positive sign. David and Paul’s milking shorthorn cattle stud and dairy farm is situated just out of Invercargill. It’s a grass fed operation milking between 180 and 200 cows on 200ha of non-irrigated pasture. The farm also carries 70 to 80 replacement cows and 10 to 12 yearling bulls. David has always played an active role with the New Zealand Milking Shorthorn Association and now serves as its patron. All told, he has spent 33 years on the association’s board of directors, including three as president. One of association’s roles has been to help improve its members’ stock through a bull-breeding programme. Several bulls from Roslyn have been a part of that scheme and now, by sharing some of his top cows through the annual sale, he is further assisting the associa- tion’s aims. It is the second year that the NZ Milking Shorthorn Association has held an online sale hosted by Link Livestock at its conference. The move was prompted by the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 and it’s proved surprisingly popular. While in 2020 most animals were sold to local breeders this year they headed as far north as Canterbury. Some great prices were achieved across the board this year with average R2 sales $2,273.53, R1 $1,405.56 and males $1,000. The top sale was Cow Farms Ltd’s Brecon Po Mystique P who sold for $4,550. The conference also saw delegates visit some herds in the region including Roslyn. “We got a few comments that we should be classifying more cows. They were quite impressed,” says David. Milking shorthorns were brought to this country originally to provide milk, meat and transportation. The breed’s dairy heyday lasted through to the 1920s, when the jersey breed superseded it. While milking shorthorns have their honoured place in the dairy history books, their attributes have continued to be valued through to the present day. David says more farmers are including the breed in their programmes to give hybrid vigour. David and Paul target fat and protein in the own programme using Illawarra semen and genetics from Scandinavia. David says the milk companies changing requirements with regards to what they will pay a premium for has made him target both traits to cover his bases. He steers clear of English genetics due to the focus on litre production and low fat and protein content. “It certainly makes it very challenging when the milk companies pay a premium for fat one year and protein the next considering it takes several years to breed traits in you will see in the vat.” “It certainly makes it very challenging when the milk companies pay a premium for fat one year and protein the next considering it takes several years to breed traits in you will see in the vat.” Herd scene at David and Paul Murphy’s Milking Shorthorn cattle stud and dairy farm near Invercargill. calving and their good feet. “In the dairy industry today the cows do a lot of walking. I’ve done the statistics on my herd and we have less feet prob- lems with the Milking Shorthorns than any of the other breeds,” says Ross. He believes that, as with many other things in life, the breed of cows one chooses to milk is largely a matter of personal preference. He tends to aim for the white and the roan cows not least because of their popularity. “The roans are a very pretty cow,” says Ross. “It’s another good reason to get out of bed in the morning to go and milk the cows.” The roans are a very pretty cow. It’s another good reason to get out of bed in the morning to go and milk the cows.”