Words & Images by Sarah Horrocks — AngusPRO Magazine 2024
When your business sits at the beginning of the supply chain, the obvious way to create demand is to look to the end of that same supply chain and find out what is wanted or needed.
Bryan Bendall at Seven Hills Angus has done his research and knows that for taste and flavour in beef, IMF (intramuscular fat) is the only answer.
Seven Hills has been artificially inseminating (AI) their entire herd of 250 mixed age Angus cows and 110 heifers for more than 10 years.
“To get more IMF we needed to shift to high-performance AI sires, and we’ve never looked back,” Bryan says.
At just under 1500ha with 200ha of finishing country in the middle, Seven Hills in Pahiatua is a medium to steep hill country property that is typically summer-safe and has a slow spring. They don’t calve till late October – 100 days later than the other Angus studs – to align with peak grass growth in mid-November.
The later calving does mean their bulls are younger than others when they’re sold in late June. The annual bull sale sees 60–70 high performance 18-month-old bulls sold, with 30 of them well suited to heifer mating. Another 20 bulls are also sold by private treaty as two-year- olds in the spring.
The AI sires used by Seven Hills are sourced from anywhere in the world, but predominantly from Australia and America.
A large number of AI sires are used across the herd, the key motivator being that it increases the accuracy of the herd’s estimated breeding values (EBVs).
“I’ve been going to America every year since 2013 to educate myself,” Bryan says.
It’s about more than just assessing potential sires phenotypically. He spends a lot of time visiting studs such as Gardiner, which sells 3000 bulls annually, Connealy Angus who sell 550 bulls (all penned in their sire groups), the AI Centres, and talking with Certified Angus Beef and others about international consumer demands and trends.
“We were looking at feed efficiency 10 years ago, so it’s great to have that EBV now available with our animals on Angus Australia’s database.”
Bryan stresses that constitution should be the most important aspect of every beef cow herd and Seven Hills is no exception to that.
The AI work starts in January, with the mixed age (MA) cows doing a single cycle and then going out with herd sires for another two cycles. The R1 heifers do two cycles of AI since they’re easier to manage without calves at foot, and then have a follow-up bull for a single cycle.
“Our AI uptake is 55% in the heifers and 65% in the cows – industry standard.”
The main herd sire is Storth Oaks Rover R104. He’s a standout in the top 5% for IMF in both the Australian database and the World Angus Evaluation.
“He’s 5.4 for IMF.”
The other follow-up bulls used are Seven Hills yearlings, which are subsequently sold in June.
Bryan says that while IMF is a huge focus, the reason he doesn’t typically use NZ bulls is due to their lack of data. He has strict criteria for bull selection, which sees mature cow weight capped at 90, and calving ease has to be in the top 50% – the Seven Hills birthweight EBV hasn’t shifted in the last 20 years.
“That’s been a big focus for us.”
On the other hand, growth has increased substantially through careful selection of bulls, with the right EBVs to bring in as much growth, EMA and carcass weight as possible.
“We also put our money where our mouth is and won’t sell a bull under 1.9 for IMF.”
The IMF levels in the herd are not only seeing the demand for sale bulls increase but Bryan is also reaping the benefits of the Alliance Handpicked program – he’s processing 70 R2 heifers annually and fetching the highest premiums available.
The sale bulls are run in a single mob through their first winter after weaning. Then as the 400 day weights are taken, they’re split into two mobs (based on weight). At EMA and IMF scanning in January, the bulls are split down again into their sale mobs of 30–40 bulls.
The feed program is straight grass all year round, with baleage given to the bulls for sale preparation only.
The farm is 50/50 sheep and beef and originally focused more on its performance recorded Romney sheep. There are 3200 ewes with 500 of those recorded, but Bryan is the first to admit that he’s let the sheep recording slide since his younger days.
While Seven Hills has always sold a few rams to regular clients, Bryan’s enthusiasm was piqued recently when he had years of IMF scanning of his ram hoggets validated in a private testing trial in the central North Island.
“I placed first, second and third for three years in a row, so I’m quite enthusiastic about the sheep again,” he jokes.
The Romney rams are bought from Piquet Hills and Ngāputahi and Bryan is finishing all his lambs, processing through Alliance.
For most of the year the sheep and cattle run together on the hills in a rotational grazing system. The cows and heifers are calved on the flats for ease of tagging and weighing at birth. Once the calves are 15 days old they’re walked back onto the hills to be set-stocked with the twinning ewes until January when they’re mobbed up again for AI.
The hills are abundant with manuka – 500ha scattered across the farm. Bryan and wife Nicky are in a joint venture with The True Honey Company, who supply the hives, extract the honey and store it. This brings in some business diversification, as well as having 200ha of the manuka in the Emissions Trading Scheme.
Bryan Bendall is passionate about marbling in both sheep and cattle. He knows it’s what gives meat its taste and flavour and he knows that genetics, feed and good management will fetch premiums right throughout the supply chain.