The meeting, held in Mossburn, was to outline Beef + Lamb’s plan for a new way to carry out market development and the review of the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Constitution.
The annual consultation meetings are also discussing the Beef + Lamb New Zealand 2016-17 budget and applications to the New Zealand Meat Board for funding from capital.
Despite the poor turnout, the presentation went on.
Beef + Lamb market development general manager Nick Beeby said the industry group had made a decision to undergo an independent review of its market development strategy in August 2015.
«We really wanted to understand what farmers were looking for.»
Breeding companies reported a mixed response to AI since farmgate milk prices were slashed, but all agree that there are ways to cut semen costs without affecting a herd’s genetic potential.
Genetics Australia general manager Anthony Shelley said the market was “extremely varied” because of the differences in market conditions between the northern and southeastern states, but the overall trend pointed to farmers spending less on semen.
“Everything from no AI, putting the bulls out, to reducing expenditure, to reduce AI breeding days and then (there are) some areas we are not seeing any significant change,” he said.
Mr Shelley said most farmers would look to cut their average semen unit cost by between $2 and $5, with the average spend ranging from “mid-teens” to $25/unit.
Mr Shelley said there were still a lot of good bulls in the $15-$18/unit range that would achieve good outcomes for farmers.
Semex Australia managing director Jim Conroy said farmers were mostly trying to decrease the average price per dose of semen and use up semen in storage.
“The average dairyman last year and the year before averaged something like the low twenties (dollars/dose), but this year they are looking at averaging $15-$16-$18 a dose,” he said.
Mr Conroy said about 20 per cent of clients would be using up stock from previous years, while a smaller portion had decided not to use AI.
“There are more bulls on farms today than there have been for the last 30 years,” he said. “It is easy to say we are not going to spend the $3000, $5000 or $10,000 (on AI) when we have five bulls out the back and you can let them out. Sure the calves will be worth less, but at the moment who cares?”
The top end breeder market has also been careful, according to Mr Conroy. He said farmers looking to flush cows for the bull market or show ring would traditionally buy five or six straws of a top end bull, use two and then store the others. This time, they are only buying what they need for the specific flush.
ABS general manager James Smallwood said farmers were polarised. Some continued to purchase the highest quality semen, while others had mixed top bulls with older or cheaper bulls to reduce the average price.
Mike Waite, an LIC district manager, said it was cheaper to use AI than bulls. He said bulls were currently between $1600-$2000 and each bull serviced about 25 cows. He said keeping total AI costs down to $17-$18 meant it was cheaper to AI.
Source: WeeklyTimes
Link: http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/agribusiness/dairy/dairy-farmers-look-to-cheaper-semen-options-to-cut-costs/news-story/7f082ddd839f5fd59bc9eff4645b770f
