Pay for your bulls with the extra days in milk

Why buy average or long-gestation bulls when you can buy short-gestation bulls and harverst the extra days in milk?

John and Liz McKerchar of Shrimpton’s Hill Herefords, South Canterbury, have been breeding for short-gestation for more than 20 years, tailored to service the dairy industry.

In the current environment, dairy farmers, stand to gain over $60 extra per cow per lactation, from simply using their short-gestation genetics.

On September 29, Shrimpton’s Hill Herefords will present 200 R2 registered hereford bulls at auction, on farm at Cave. A limited number of bulls are for sale right now, for winter mating.

All bulls are in the top 1 per cent of the hereford breed for gestation length (GL) and the top 10 per vent for calving ease (CE). Not only is GL and CE vital to dairy farmers, but the white face left by herefords is a very easy market, to identify the beed cross calves at calving.

Shrimpton’s Hill Herefords are exclusive suppliers of SGL hereford semen to LIC.

Accoring to LIC’s annual progeny testing of their bulls, they have this year identified the shortest-gestation herefords ever used in the dairy industry. This semen will be available this spring.

Through LIC, the Shrimpton’s Hill Herefords genetics are used in 10 different countries around the world. The feedback supplied is very valuable, in consistently selecting useful genetics.

Shrimpton’s Hill 19-126 was selected amongst six other hereford amongst six other hereford bulls to trial in Beef + Lamb NZ’s dairy sire trial. At the time of selection, he was the only hereford in the top 1 per cent in all breed indexes. He will also be progeny tested by LIC this year along with seven other yearlings for future semen duties at LIC.

Sire 126 has been used in the herd in both the spring and autumn AB.

In 2020, John and Liz McKerchar donated the proceeds to Lot 20, to Meat the Need, an organisation set up during the lockdown to provide meat to families in need, through food banks nationwide. This year Lot 21, 2021 will be donated to this very worthy cause and they encourage all livestock farmers to get on board.

Established in 1969, the 1420-hectare Shrimptons’s Hill Herefords at Cave has gone from strength to strength in reputation and size.

Today the herd consists of 750 females and about 750 support stock. Their native tussock block of 900ha is home to their stud cows for the winter.

The family also has a border leicester sheep stud that was established in 1869 in Southland.

Shrimpton’s Hill Herefords is the first in the world to sell one million straws of hereford semen.

Meet the people behind the bulls...

Behind every good bull there's an innovative breeder with a story and LIC's Short Gestation Length (SGL) Hereford team is no exception.

It all started way back in 2001, around a South Island in the Hereford SGL space LIC quickly recognised there kitchen table, when forward thinking farmers John and was one set of breeders who stood out from the rest. Liz Mckerchar of Shrimpton's Hill Herefords discussed From there a partnership was formed. the idea of breeding bulls with shorter gestations.

Waikato Times | Herefords to fore in short gestation...

Article by: PAT DEAVOLL

Short gestation cattle genetics is set to generate $11 million in extra milk production for hard-hit dairy farmers this spring, and John and Liz McKerchar’s South Canterbury hereford stud is at the forefront. Shrimpton’s Hill Herefords at Cave has entered into a breeding partnership with Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC) to supply semen and embryos, and is now the organisation’s exclusive supplier of short gestation length (SGL) hereford genetics. John’s father started the hereford stud in 1969, purchasing stock from the Maungahina dispersal sale. By the time John and Liz took over the property in 1990 the stud had 200 cows. They decided to increase the herd ‘‘because that’s what I was interested in,’’ John says. ‘‘This dovetailed into the growth expansion of the dairy industry and we could see to build the business we needed to market to dairy farmers because the beef industry was contracting. Today there are only 300,000 beef cows in the South Island and about the same number of dairy cows just in South Canterbury alone.’’

Rural News | Buyers after extra days in milk...

DAIRY FARMERS went home from one spring bull sale last week confident their purchases will mean extra days in milk compared to if they’d bought elsewhere. The sale was Shrimpton’s Hill Herefords, the leading herd in Australasia for short gestation genetics, a claim acknowledged by LIC bull acquisition manager Malcolm Ellis. “When we went looking for short gestation beef genetics we found they’re all in one place, here!” he told the audience as an introduction to the sale.