From January onwards dairy farmers could apply to LIC for the Wagyu semen and have LIC manage the resulting progeny before the weaners moved on to Wagyu Producers Group finishing farms.
Wagyu Producers Group was part-owned by farmers and by the value-chain management team from First Light Foods, based in Hawke’s Bay.
LIC would make its first collections of autumn-born, Wagyu-cross calves from 2016 First Light Wagyu inseminations then look to increase numbers for spring and autumn.
LIC biological systems general manager Geoff Corbett said the collaboration between red meat and dairy industries offered value-add opportunities to farmers.
“It complements our work as a herd improvement company and provides a value-add opportunity for surplus calves from crossbred cows,” he said.
First Light managing director Gerard Hickey said Wagyu offered price stability for NZ farmers and an attractive premium.
The value chain was being developed for the high-value product under a Primary Growth Partnership programme with Brownrigg Agriculture (Wagyu cattle breeder) and the Ministry for Primary Industries.
“Farmers gain certainty of income with fixed price contracts on the back of a growing demand from finishers and international markets.
“This presents a great opportunity for dairy farmers to diversify their earnings.
“Combining forces with LIC builds momentum in developing a mutually beneficial relationship between dairy and beef industries.
“Utilising calf capacity in dairy for higher-value beef finishing will become the new norm for many dairy and beef farmers and this is an important enabling step.”
The Wagyu Producers Group, now five years old, produced about 5000 finished steers and heifers during 2016 for premium beef markets here and overseas.
First Light had plans to grow output by three times over the next three years.
First Light Foods was the value-chain manager and exporter and slaughtering and processing were done under contract by Greenlea Meats, Hamilton.
The marketing aimed to pay premiums by way of pool returns to farmers over normal beef schedule prices, which compensated for slower growth rates and lighter carcase weights (average 280kg) in the Wagyu-cross cattle.
Most slaughtering occurred between 20 and 36 months of age and returns were improving as farmers learnt to increase the marbling scores and First Light found markets for trims.
