Simmental schemes in the Rangitikei
Marton contractor Craig Pilet is sold on Simmentals and has a few initiatives going to farm them.
Craig runs a small mob of 25 Simmental cows on their 240ha Rangitikei drystock block and uses Simmental bulls over them.
Simmental bulls also go over Friesian cows as a terminal sire on their dairy farm and those calves grow very well, Craig said.
“We are conscious of avoiding any calving issues, so we have to be careful and choose lower birthweight bulls, but the calves are strong and they tend to do really well.”
The crossbred calves are grown on and sold store before their second winter, Craig said.
“Traditionally we don’t finish them because we are farming on clay and so we sell them at around 550-620kg.”
They are usually on sold through the local Feilding sale yards.
Alongside, Craig buys in weaners in autumn from around the country – preferring a good Simmental type.
“They are not easy to find in the Rangitikei but there are some scattered around the country – of course we have to factor in the cartage.”
This seasons weaners (yet to be bought) are in for a new experience. Craig has a decommissioned dairy farm with a couple of composting barns and he is keen to get alongside a nutritionist and have the weaners inside for the winter on the composting bedding.
“We have probably got the area to feed 400 weaners undercover. Once they are set up, we will feed them a mix of grass and maize silage and they can be out grazing on the sunny days
We are looking forward to seeing how this progresses.
We are passionate about the Simmental breed and growing quality Simmental stock.”