A farm based near Market Drayton joined Gamechanger, an industry-leading integrated beef supply chain, over a year ago to enjoy the benefits of greater security and stability, as well as the most efficient Angus genetics provided by Genus ABS.
Moreton Hall farm has been family-operated since the 1880s and has significantly grown in size having started with just 66 cows. Now with 1200 cows, the farm sees an average milk yield of 14,000 litres at 3.7% butterfat, 3.3% protein and a somatic cell count of 100 per millilitre of milk.
Upon learning about the Gamechanger programme, James Ailsby, the Dairy Manager at Moreton Hall Farm, was impressed by the fact they would know exactly what they would be paid for their calves in advance and that the programme had the backing of organisations within the cattle industry, including Sainsbury’s and ABP.
Genus ABS has been a genetic provider for Gamechanger since 2014 and provides exclusive access to sires which deliver proven calving ease and fertility, as well as improved efficiency, profitability, and sustainability within the whole supply chain. This is all driven by their NuEra™ Beef Genetics breeding programme.
Since joining the Gamechanger programme, Moreton Hall Farm has used all three of the approved dedicated sires available from Genus ABS for the scheme and has experienced very few calving issues. Average conception rates on the farm across the three dedicated sires is 43% since starting the programme, which the farm is very pleased with. The farm also sees the benefit of using the short gestation length sires with the lowest being 279 days which compared to a breed average of Angus at 282 days, delivers an additional 3 days of milk per pregnancy. This represents a significant financial value to the farm over all of their beef breedings.
Using Genus ABS’ dedicated Angus sires, James said: “Overall, the Angus have less issues than we experienced previously. We’ve seen a big difference in the performance of cows, there are fewer calving issues and less transition issues. No calf is worth as much as a full lactation from a cow.”
Alese Ray, the Youngstock Manager at the farm, is responsible for rearing the calves until they are collected by Blade Farming every two weeks. Alese said the beef calves are easily born and has been impressed by how quickly the calves reach their 45kg+ weights. In addition, they often achieve bonuses of £5 per 5kg, especially for the males.
With the outstanding performance of their beef calves and even greater efficiency from their male animals, James and Alese are eager to try Gamechanger male beef Sexcel®. James explained: “We are looking forward to trying the Genus ABS’ male sexed semen as we have limited space available for our beef calves. So increasing the proportion of male calves will help us achieve the required weights for the scheme more efficiently.”
“We are currently using female dairy Sexcel® on a number of our milking cows and by following the protocols and advice given to us by Genus ABS and our Sales and Breeding Advisor, Chris Davies, we are achieving similar conception rates to conventional semen.”
Efficiency is key at Moreton Hall Farm and they feel that using male sexed genetics will aid them in moving calves quicker and reaching weights faster. Male beef sexed genetics will be used on those dairy animals of lower genetic interest who are not needed to breed replacement dairy heifers but are still of high fertility.
James added: “The whole system is a pipeline and anything that stays in it longer than required creates inefficiency and obviously compromises things further down the line. So, if we can keep animals moving, then that’s a benefit for the business as a whole, and the individuals feeding them as well too.”
Using industry-leading genetics has allowed Moreton Hall Farm to accelerate their efficiency through producing higher value beef animals. Animals which enter the Gamechanger supply chain provide Sainsbury’s their premium British beef with transparency, traceability and reduced environmental impacts.
To learn more about Gamechanger and our sexed and beef offering, talk to your local breeding advisor today or visit our website for more information.
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