January newsletter
Jan 6 2011
Wow – another year is over. They say times goes faster as you get older, and I can vouch for that!
The year started off well – sending off three animals in February to the “Steak of Origin” competition for the best steak in the country. All three reached the semi finals; one was rated the most tender steak in the competition, and one entry came third in the “Best of Crossbreed” section (the hardest section to win). Our combined entries were significantly the most tender animals, which is testament not only to our breeding program, but also to the caring Lake Farm environment. Stress free cattle respond with very relaxed, tender meat.
The quest to create the perfect steak is a never ending journey. We are looking to develop beef that matches the tenets of tender, tasty and healthy. They say that “fat equals flavour” – but too much fat cannot meet the requirement for healthy meat, and many breeds can be quite fatty. Its getting the blend right that is the challenge for us. Piedmontese cattle are exceptionally lean, very low in cholesterol, but very high in Omega 3 and essential fatty acids. In their pure form that could be regarded as too lean (everyone likes a little fat). So the future for us, is to use Piedmontese in a crossbreeding program – bringing in tenderness and healthiness from the Pied side, and a nice fat balance from a British breed (Angus or Hereford – or a cross of both).
So it starts with genetics – getting the perfect blend. Crossbreeding from two or three breeds (of known parentage) will result in a “hybrid” animal – with better size that the sum of its individual parents. A Piedmontese/Angus offspring has a significantly superior carcass to a straight Angus carcass, with more tenderness, less fat, less cholesterol and more Omega 3s – and still with a great taste.
Our development program saw us buy in some superior Angus heifers (all in calf) mid way through the year. The idea was to calve out the purebred Angus, and then put a Piedmontese Bull over the Angus for their next calves. “Sylvio” and “Marco” our two, young, Piedmontese bulls are running with the Angus herd now – fingers crossed. The downside in bringing in the Angus, and calving pure Angus calves is that we have fewer Piedmontese crossed animals for the next year. We don’t mind, though, as it brings us closer to our long term goals.
To grow a great carcass requires not only an excellent bull, but also a great cow. This year saw us start to develop an “elite cow” herd – and getting in the Angus heifers was only part of this herd development. An “Angus/Hereford” cow will be better than either a Hereford or Angus cow (because of its hybrid vigour). We used an IVF program on one of our Hereford cows using the very best semen from Australia’s top Angus bulls. We successfully flushed her twice – getting 43 embryos the first time, and 14 the second time. We implanted these into some surrogate cows and froze some. We will buy in some more surrogate cows to implant the remaining frozen embryos. This ET program is completely non invasive for the cows, and is a great way to develop of top herd.
Also – it means that the lower grade cows in our current herd can still remain with us as surrogate mums. Thats very cool! We’d hate to send them off.
Being entrepreneurial, we also successfully implanted 16 of these embryos into dairy cows in our local area. When born next year we will hand raise them (hopefully there will be plenty of heifers). We believe this implanting is the ultimate “symbiotic” relationship between the Dairy and Beef Industries – dairy cows calving quality beef animals instead of the low quality “dairy beef” animals . I hope we might start something here!
We still have some nice Simmental cattle here, and next year we will experient with crossing Angus with these Simmentals, to see if their progeny can make our elite herd.
Ultimately, we will have two herds – one calving Piedmontese cross calves for our beef program, and a smaller herd producing “elite cows” to use as replacements for older cows in the Piedmontese program.
Breeding, of course is only part of the process. We will keep developing systems to make the cattle’s lives on Lake Farm as stress free as possible. We handle the cattle a lot – and there is definitely a “no dogs” policy on the farm. We walk among the herds at least three times per day and talk to them all. The cows and their calves almost become pets!
We have plans approved by the district council to build a butchery on the farm. With our cattle purchases taking most of our funds, we have had to put this project on hold. This is frustrating, but, as they say, good things take time, and it will happen! This butchery, once complete will incorporate chillers to age the meat perfectly, to enhance the flavour and succulence of the meat. We will also be able to produce of own beef Jerky.
We also have created a relationship with New Zealand’s premier gourmet BBQ chef – Raymond van Rijk. Raymond is very passionate about great beef, and so is thrilled to see what we are doing. He is going to create a range of special rubs for our beef. Look for some great seasonings from us in the new year.
Of course the biggest part of any business is having great customers – and we certainly have that! We thank you so much for your business through 2010. It really means a lot to us.
2011 will be just as exciting as 2010, as our breeding program develops. Our New Years wish is to ship more great beef through 2011 – to thrill our customers with beef that is tender, tasty and healthy!
Wishing you a great 2011.
Colin and Keryn