Elk Wapiti Southland Advance Party
6th May 2015
Meeting 4 at Murray Hagen and Jim
Cameron’s
Meet at Deer Shed, continue past house, 415 Weir Road,
Manapouri
Agenda
1.00pm Arrival and cup of tea
1.30pm Welcome and updates from the group, especially from Geoff and Sam regarding
progress since last meeting
2.00pm
Review the schedule and timeframes of the day.
Jim and Murray to introduce the property and the key stop points
2.30pm Farm Tour with key visit points:
 Velveting stags
 Summer brassica (rape) crop and winter feed pads
 Rising second calvers mob including discussion on grass grub issues
 Lucerne paddock
3.30pm
Return to shed and group discussion on what was seen on farm and any insights
or ideas that could assist with identified issue areas as below.
Discussion of the group’s weaner weights and growth rates
Farming Enterprises:



Stud herd
Commercial breeding herd
Finishing (home bred and bought in weaners)

Velvet herd
Murray and Jim’s Goals and Opportunities



Improve calving percentage of 1st and 2nd calvers
Lift venison production (kg/ha)
Grow more velvet
Issues getting in the way



Seasonal feed restrictions; farm typically dries out Feb-April
Grass grub
Low conception rates in 1st and 2nd calvers (around 70%)
Stock class
Effective area
Deer fenced area
Stock units wintered
Deer
MA cows rwb
R2 cows rwb
Cows culled/sold
R2 velvet bulls
R3 velvet bulls
MA velvet bulls
Breeding bulls
Bulls sold as sires
Bulls culled
Weaners reared
R1 deer
slaughtered
Deer Productivity
Av weaner wt (stud)
Av weaner wt
(others)
Av carcass weight
Av velvet weight
Av MA cow weight
Cattle
Beef cows
Finishing cattle
Numbers
333ha
333ha
5500
770
100
70
80
50
200
27
30
20
1000
800
75kg
72kg
62 (yrling M)
60 (yrling F)
Notes
Based on DINZ figures for
Fiordland Wapiti
Best growth rate bulls sold
(includes approx. 300 bought-in)
8th March
8th March
Average age at slaughter of 340
days
See table on last page
165kg
18
9
Bull calves finished, heifers sold
Autumn Stock Management and Wintering Policy
Weaners
Weaned on 8 March (those in stud mob under 45kg put back with the cows and their
mothers later culled; this year there were only about 10 out of 290 hinds)
Put onto swede/kale crop along with lucerne baleage at beginning of June; shifted every 2
weeks
R2 Bulls and Cows
Onto rape crop (+lucerne baleage) for a month from early Feb, then back onto pasture, then
return to rape for 2nd cycle of mating
All spikers are eye muscle scanned; top 35 used for mating with R2 cows
After mating they are mixed back with rest of R2 bulls (60) and put onto lucerne, and then
onto rape.
R2 cows also onto lucerne after mating, and then grass for winter
MA Bulls
Wintered on grass with silage and nuts fed for a month from 1st August
MA Cows
Stud cows are fed lucerne baleage + nuts after weaning. This policy extended to all first and
second calvers this year in effort to lift scanning percentage of these age groups (previously
achieving only around 70%)
Wintered on self feeding silage pads
Reproduction Notes
DEERSelect used for stud herd
Bulls joined with cows on 20th Feb, removed late April
Best spikers (based on eye muscle scan) used for mating with rising first calvers
Mob of 400 mixed age hybrid hinds typically achieving over 90% calving so these animals
are no longer scanned
Scanning confined to studs and first and second calving cows. Early scanning done to
enable foetal aging
Approx 30 stud cows are AI’d; usually get very good results; last season 85% conception
rate with a 75% of the remainder holding to the back-up bull.
Velvet Production
Velvet Herd (numbers)
Spiker
2yr
3yr
4yr
5yr
6yr+
Tally Numbers
100
80
50
30
30
87
Velvet Grades
Elk Supreme
Super A
A grade
B grade
C grade
D grade
Spiker
Regrowth
Damaged
Total
Average kgs cut across age-groups
600gms
3.3Kgs
4.5Kgs
5.5Kgs
6.5Kgs
10Kgs
KG
400
975
200
72
72
120
250
40
2,129