Watch: Dairy farm breeding beef calves to secure a €1.50/kg breed bonus
Agriland recently paid a visit to a dairy farm in Co. Laois that has joined a programme offering a fixed price for Wagyu-sired calves and a €1.50/kg breed bonus when these reach maturity as beef cattle.
Speaking to Agriland at the farm, Cathal Doyle from Warrendale Wagyu explained that the Wagyu beef supplier is looking both more dairy farmers to produce Wagyu-sired calves and more beef farmers to rear these.
Commenting on the benefits to dairy farmers of using Wagyu artificial insemination (AI) straws on their cows, Doyle said: "They're easy calved and it's handy for the dairy farmer in that we will collect them off-farm."
Doyle said that Warrendale Wagyu is also looking for beef farmers and emphasised that "the option is there for any dairy farmer finishing their own cattle, or any farmer who wants to take calves and bring them through to finish, we offer a guaranteed flat price of €1.50/kg on top of the base price."
"There's no cuts, there's no minimum weights, it's just straightforward systems."
For dairy farmers producing calves, he said: "You get that guaranteed minimum [calf] price so when you're inseminating your cow, you know exactly what you're getting when that calf hits the ground the following spring."
Eligible farmers for the initiative
Doyle explained that Warrendale Wagyu is interested in talking to dairy farmers "with a black and white cow with no Jersey genetics".
"We also look for farmers that are part of National Genotyping Programme (NGP) so they know exactly what they're getting, that the calf is DNA-tested leaving farm," he said.
"We're reaching out farmers interested in the programme whether they want to finish their own stock or let them off as calves at three to four weeks-of-age."
The dairy farm manager's comments
Dairy farm manager Aaron Wheelan gave his experience of dealing with the Warrendale Wagyu initiative to date.
He said the farm has been involved in the programme for two years now and added that he has had no issues with the initiative.
The farm manager explained that the Wagyu-sired calves tend to be easily managed.
"When they're born, they get up, they're sucking straight away, they're very hardy, and they never look back.
"There's no issues with them and the gestation is very short, they're always calving before their time."
The farm manager also said that the guaranteed price leaves one less thing to worry about.
He said: "We're not worried what we're going to get for our calves this year.
"We know exactly what we're getting and at a month old, they're being collected off the farm, it's very hassle-free. There's no going anywhere, they're just collected at the gate."
Aaron said that the AI Wagyu straws used on the farm are sourced from Progressive Genetics.
"Gestation is good, the calves come and they're very compact and we're finding that conception rates are very good.
The farm manager also said that the Warrendale Wagyu representative Cathal Doyle is always available at the other end of the phone, adding that the initiative is farmer friendly and easy to engage with.
