<\/p>\n
\nLee Leachman from Wyoming was talking to New Zealand farmers about capitalising on global beef prices.
\nPhoto: supplied\n<\/p>\n
A longtime Hawke’s Bay bull breeder says dairy farmers are knocking on his door in search of a new source of revenue.<\/p>\n
Jeremy Absolom farms a large herd with multiple breeds across nearly 2000 hectares with his brothers at the Rissington settlement northwest of Napier.<\/p>\n
Supplying sheep and beef farmers with bulls and semen has been the farm’s bread and butter going back generations. These days large dairy operators are a growing chunk of the Rissington Cattle Company’s business.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nJeremy Absolom, a bull breeder in Hawke’s Bay, out in the paddock at the Rissington Cattle Company.
\nPhoto: supplied\n<\/p>\n
This week Absolom ran a seminar in Canterbury to show farmers the results of using beef semen to breed with dairy cows.<\/p>\n
The speaker was the leading American rancher Lee Leachman, of Leachman Cattle in Wyoming.<\/p>\n
Leachman said it’s a “significant source of revenue” in the United States and initial results from New Zealand are promising.<\/p>\n
“I remarked to the group that in the United States the day old beef on dairy calf is worth well over US$1200 per calf. Everyone was just shocked,” Leachman said.<\/p>\n
Beef-cross calves are generally more valuable than straightbred dairy calves, especially when sold for beef.<\/p>\n
![\"Rissington](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/4LD1BYW_Rissington_Station_farmer_Jeremy_Absolom_standing_at_the_site_of_the_now_destroyed_Rissingto.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nJeremy Absolom pictured in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle at the site of the destroyed Rissington Bridge.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Maja Burry\n<\/p>\n
“There was a fair bit of opinion that they’d be hard pressed to get them to perform as beef-cross calves. But the results we saw this week were promising. They looked to be quite valuable,” Leachman said.<\/p>\n
Absolom said the Rissington breeding operation was a trailblazer integrating beef to dairy in the 1990s. On a visit to the US this year he said it was interesting to hear how the industry talks about it.<\/p>\n
“In the United States it’s coined as a co-product, rather than a by product.”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile back in Hawke’s Bay on the farm at Rissington, Absolom said he’s grateful for the strong market as the business continues its recovery from Cyclone Gabrielle.<\/p>\n
They lost cattle yards, a wool shed and accommodation buildings. The river valley was covered in thick layers of silt and the Rissington bridge was washed out as the river gave way.<\/p>\n
He said it’s been a slow and steady recovery. And a lift in demand from a more traditional source of income has also come at the right time.<\/p>\n
“Traditional beef farmers have been over the last few years lifting the beef part of their business as a share of their overall stocking rates,” Absolom said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nLee Leachman and Daniel Absolom at Rissington.
\nPhoto: supplied\n<\/p>\n
“They’re down in their sheep numbers and up in their beef moving towards 50:50 rather than in some cases what was once as high as 80:20 in favour of sheep.”<\/p>\n