![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www-dev.absglobal.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2019\/11\/201028-Fact-Sheet.jpg?w=724\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www-dev.absglobal.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2019\/08\/Logo-explanations.jpg?w=707\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian dairy farmers are looking to the beef market to diversify their income, with expectations dairy-beef animals could help fill feedlots as the drought continues to bite.<\/p>\n
In the past two years there\u2019s been a 600 per cent increase in the volume of the new ABS Beef InFocus\u2122 semen sold into the dairy market, something ABS beef key account manager for southern Australia Fletch Kelly said is boosting on-farm profitability.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraditionally all dairy farmers wanted to do was get cows in calf, now there\u2019s a focus on breeding replacement heifers for the better cows and heifers thanks to sexed semen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen they look to use beef over the rest of the herd to get more pregnancies as well as lift and diversify their income by breeding a dairy-beef calf which could be sold at a premium at the farmgate or reared for the beef market.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome farmers have said, \u2018it is like getting a thirteenth or fourteenth milk cheque every year\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who have tried\u00a0ABS Beef InFocus, it\u2019s one of the first thing they have been said \u2013 they are overwhelmingly happy with its calving ease, short gestation and high semen fertility. That\u2019s the first thing that really strikes dairy farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Traditionally beef semen fertility has fluctuated, turning dairy farmers away from the product.<\/p>\n
To counteract this, ABS created its Beef InFocus\u00a0semen which uses innovative technology to increase fertility and when used across a dairy herd, delivers a homozygous polled, Angus-looking calf.<\/p>\n
ABS Beef InFocus\u00a0off-spring have yield more saleable meat, grow faster and efficiently convert feed, with these traits combined with the befits of improved fertility and calving ease.<\/p>\n
\u201cFarmers want improved fertility, but they want it consistently,\u201d Mr Kelly said.<\/p>\n
Studies out of the US show Beef InFocus\u00a0animals gain an average 1.7kg a day in a feedlot, compared to Holsteins at 1.25kg\/day and beef animals at 1.8kg\/day.<\/p>\n
The dressing percentage of Beef InFocus\u00a0animals at a 64 per cent average, is more than the equivalent beef animal at 62 per cent and Holstein at 61 per cent.<\/p>\n
Mr Kelly has fielded a lot of enquiry about the product from meat processors as well as industry bodies, such as Dairy Australia, all investigating the economics of dairy-beef.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia is one of the largest beef exporters in the world and there\u2019s a large domestic demand for beef,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people are starting to talk about Beef InFocus in discussions. Feedlots in Queensland and NSW are talking about it as a legitimate option to fill the impending beef void caused by the drought. There\u2019s going to be a need to get numbers into feedlots and with the proven rapid growth of InFocus animals, they can fill the gap in the market.\u201d<\/p>\n
ABS Beef InFocus\u00a0animals are in feedlots and being backgrounded across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many benefits,\u201d Mr Kelly said. \u201cMorally it\u2019s good, it takes emphasis away from producing a bobby calf. Ethically, that\u2019s not great and financially it is certainly not a viable thing to keep doing. \u00a0Beef InFocus gives dairy farmers increased market access through ABS\u2019 supply chain partners or however they wish to market their F1 animals as part of their diversified income-base.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australian dairy farmers are looking to the beef market to diversify their income, with expectations dairy-beef animals could help fill feedlots as the drought continues to bite. In the past two years there\u2019s been a 600 per cent increase in the volume of the new ABS Beef InFocus\u2122 semen sold into the dairy market, something…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abs-australia-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n