WITH research decisively showing cattle that are pre-vaccinated, yard weaned and conditioned for feedlot life perform, Hereford breeders are on the front foot in terms of introducing protocols that will guarantee the lucrative market wants their product.
Following trials late last year where pre-vaccinated Here-ford steers emerged with lower health costs and morbidity rates for bovine Rhinotracheitis than other feedlot cattle, on-farm workshops have been organised free-of-charge to Herefords Australia members covering the most current and effective weaning, acclimation and cattle handling skills.
They will be run across the country across the next six months and into 2016 and include the application of appropriate vaccination programs.
Improving the acceptability of Hereford cattle into feedlots has been an ongoing focus for the breed, said Herefords Australia chief executive officer John McKew.
"Feedlots continue to be an important market opportunity, especially as we move toward offering a Hereford grain-fed brand in association with our grass-fed brands in the marketplace," he said.
"We are aware Hereford cattle can have a reputation for under-performing within feedlots, especially with regards to conditions associated with bovine respiratory disease (BRD).
"But at the same time, improving Hereford feedlot performance is not a mystery.
"What the feedlot trial demonstrated was cattle that were pre-vaccinated, yard weaned and prepared adequately for the feedlot environment would perform in the feedlot.
"It's not just Hereford cattle that will benefit from following an appropriate pre-feedlot entry protocol, all breeds of cattle will."
BRD is characterised by acute inflammation of the upper respiratory tract and symptoms include fever, coughing, appetite loss, nasal discharge and conjunctivitis.
Herefords Australia and Elders joined forces to run the 70-day trial at the Elders-owned Killara feedlot at Quirindi.
It involved 205 Hereford and black baldy steers vaccinated with Bovilis MH and IBR, yard-weaned, socialised and bunk trained before feedlot entry.
Bovilis MH and IBR is a combination vaccine given subcutaneously to protect against bacterial and viral causes of BRD.
Cattle in the trial were compared to a control pen of British breed steers, of which just over half were pre-vaccinated.
Across the feeding period, both yards recorded an average daily gain of 2.1kg and a Meat Standards Australia index of 55.9.
The Hereford pen had an average feed conversion efficiency of 1:6.1kg compared to the control pen of 1:6.04kg.
On morbidity percentage, pulled and treated, Herefords recorded 9.08pc which was 2.92pc less than the control pen.
Health costs for the Herefords averaged $2.80 per head, which was well under the $5/head of the control pen.
There were no differences between the Herefords and black baldy steers.
Mr McKew said the trial provided a robust, real-world situation where cattle could be tracked, managed and recorded appropriately with-in the overall day-to-day business operations of a fully functioning commercial feedlot.
"The results for Hereford breeders from this trial are very clear - Hereford cattle that are pre-vaccinated, yard weaned and prepared adequately for the feedlot environment will perform in the feedlot equal to other breeds," he said.
Slow uptake of pre-vaccination costly
POOR producer uptake of pre-vaccination and preparing cattle for feedlot entry was costing the industry a lot of money, according feedlot cattle buyers.
Feedlot trading manager at the Elders-owned Killara feedlot at Quirindi Andrew Talbot said the shortage of supply meant feedlots had temporarily stepped away from demanding pre-vaccination.
For Killara feedlot, which estimated performance loss caused by bovine respiratory disease cost the operation $1.6m a year, the hope is pre-vaccination will become normal practice.
Mr Talbot said Killara paid a premium for large lines of single vendor cattle pre-vaccinated twice with Bovilis MH and IBR.
There were producers who wanted to work with the feedlot industry to ensure their cattle performed past the point of where they sold them.
Eventually feedlots would not buy cattle that were not adequately prepared, he said.
Killara provided suppliers with the vaccine at a cost of $7 to $8 per head of an on-farm vaccination at 10-14 days before delivery.
A second vaccination was carried out at feedlot arrival.
Pictured is operations manager Tony Fitzgerald and trading manager Andrew Talbot inspecting the barley and wheat based ration at the Killara feedlot.
"Ultimately we would like to get to a situation where all cattle we buy are receiving two shots on-farm," Mr Talbot said.