AT Wildorado, about 40km west of Amarillo on the Texas Panhandle, the Quality Beef Producers feedlot is home to about 25,000 Holsteins in its 50,000 head facility.
QBP manager Blake Deyhle said that while the dairy steers were slower growing than US bred beef cattle, the Holsteins had proven excellent performers in the feedyard during the past three years.
“The drought has made cattle supplies extremely tight,” Mr Deyhle said.
“The Holsteins offer an alternative cattle supply that we can grow into very good carcases.”
One significant advantage the Holstein calves offer is traceability.
The dairy industry typically identifies individual calves at birth.
This allows US meat processors to service the Japanese export market which demands it can be proven that cattle are aged less that 21 months at the time of slaughter.
The steer calves are sourced primarily from calf raising farms in southern California, which grow out young stock for the dairy industry.
These calf raising farms take the calves from dairies at four days and process the heifers for the dairy industry and the bull calves for the feedlot industry.
Strict livestock regulations mean that all of the calves transported across state borders must be incapable of sexual reproduction.
The calves are bought on the weight (typically 136kg) at the calf ranch before they are transported by road to Texas.
“We pay on weight at the calf ranch but we are more interested in the weight the calves come off the trucks and the ultimate weights they leave the feed yard,” Mr Deyhle said.
At QBP the steers are processed as they come off the trucks, often after 20 hours on the road.
“Then they can go straight to the pens, settle in, start eating and then not be disturbed for another 120 to 150 days,” Mr Deyhle said.
“Despite the distances these calves are travelling we think giving them a few days’ break after coming off the trucks is more stressful.
“It’s better to get the calves processed, settled in and eating as soon as we can.”
The Holsteins are fed three times a day a ration of cotton seed, steam flaked corn, and a mixture of wet and dry distillers grain.
A micro-mixing machine is used to add specific nutritional and performance additives
to the ration.
A high performance growth enhancer is used over a 21-day period at the end of the feeding program.
“Basically we are feeding to overcome their frame,” My Deyhle said.
“We’re aiming to produce animals weighing about 1400lbs (635kg).
“Access to colostrum soon after birth is absolutely the single most important thing to ensure the future performance of a calf.”
Mr Deyhle said the feeding program was producing steers yielding 62.5-63 percent carcases.
The feedmill has four rollers each capable of producing 8-9 tonnes of feed an hour.
The Wildorado feedlot has a staff of 28 including five in the office.
“Every calf is looked at every day,” Mr Deyhle said.
“We also work to ensure every animal gets the best care we can provide and that every worker goes home safely every time.”
The Wildorado feedlot takes up some 720ha of the 1320ha property. The balance is used to grow dryland wheat.
Steve Stevenson, from the animal nutrition company Alltech, said the demand for Holstein steers was growing significantly based on his observations of major feedlots.
“Certainly the drought is having a big impact and is forcing feedyards to look for alternative sources of cattle,” Mr Stevenson said, whose territory takes in much of Texas.
“But we also now know a lot more about these cattle based on their behaviour and particularly their nutritional requirements.
“They have a bigger frame and that means they take longer to grow.
“But we also know they produce an exceptionally good carcase that offers marbling. “And because they are sourced from the dairy industry, they have the traceability that the Japanese market demands.”
Prior to joining Alltech, Mr Stevenson spent the past 15 years working in and managing a number of major feedlots across the Texas Panhandle.
One of the practical challenges of producing bigger slaughter cattle is that the hanging rails in many US abattoirs are literally not high enough to hang the carcases.
Another is that the Holstein steers are exceptionally curious and will test the yard infrastructure and even dig holes near waters.
Dairyfarmer Graham Forbes, Grandview, Gloucester, NSW, who was on the Alltech tour, said based on the US experience a potentially valuable resource represented a
possible opportunity in Australia.
“We really need someone to see and grab the opportunity with these bull calves in Australia,” Mr Forbes said.
“There is no secret in the quality of the meat and the marbling that these animals produce.
“But they are slower growing and bigger animals.
“Plenty of dairy farmers have tried to grow them out but they are not our core business and usually some of the first animals sold when a dry time comes along.”
Mr Forbes milks about 350 Holsteins and Jerseys and supplies the Norco Cooperative. He estimated there were about $50 in costs to process a bull calf before it could go
to a grower.
“Everything has to be done right and that in particular includes making sure the calf has colostrum,” Mr Forbes said.
