September 23, 2025 • 18 mins
Every farm has hidden inefficiencies—whether it’s feed wastage, poor timing, or small leaks that quietly drain profit and add stress.
Episode two brought to you by Beef +Lamb New Zealand and powered by The Country, looks into Body Condition Scoring. A simple, cheap management tool, to help get the most out of stock performance, and ultimately improving your bottom line. This week Hamish Mckay is joined by farmers Bevan Proffit, and Steve Nicol, to explain what Body Condition Scoring is, how it is done, and how to turn it into an action plan on your farm that means better stock performance no matter the season, after all you cant manage what you don't measure!
No matter how many years you've been on the land and working with stock, this episode is a must listen for anyone wanting to increase stock performance.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Exploring ideas and innovations shaping the future of farming with
Beef and Lamb New Zealand, powered by the Country.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to episode two where we're exploring some of the
ideas and innovations that are shaping the future of farming
with Beef and Lamb, New Zealand and the Country.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
My name is Harmus mckaie. Great to be with you.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Last week in episode one, we had a look at
how system wastage can erode your farm profit in some
ways to manage and locate where wastage is happening. This
week we're looking into body conditions scoring and how it
is a simple, cheap tool that can help improve stock performance.
I've got a great team to look at this and
help explain some answers and answers and questions around the
(00:43):
whys and hows of BCS and why it is such
a valuable tool or our farmers across New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
And we've got a couple of very.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Intelligent, learned blokes joining us Otago based Steve Nicol a
farm on the Tyree and Bevan Propit who farms on
the hill country and.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
The Power of Paris. You know that's sort of between
FINOI and Rata.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
He right, Stephen, as mentioned, runs eight thousand stock units
on his property down there in the Otago, who runs
farm Life Advisory, offering a range.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Of agricultural services from production.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And financial advice to business management and farm environment planning.
A Bachelor of Agricultural Science from Lincoln University and a
Certificate of Advanced Sustainable Nutrient and Management runs the farm
down there with wife Kelly and two young children.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
So a lot of expertise does he bring to the table.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Bevan, of course, along with his wife Mary and two boys,
farm nineteen hundred and seventy hectares of hill country on
the Power of Paris and an extensive breeding system there
with seven thousand US and four hundred and fifty cows
plus replacements. All male progenies are sold. Demon has been
on the deeper Lands Western Norboland Farmer Council and of
(02:04):
course the Farmer Research Advisory Group. Both of our guests today,
our experts today, have.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Been involved in that role.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Right, let's crack into it. Gensa body condition scoring a
simple cheap pathway to improve stock performance. First of all,
let's go to the land of cribs and tailing and
then we'll come back up to docking in batches.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Stephen, Body condition scoring? What is it and how do
we do it?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
So?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Body condition scoring, as you mentioned, is a quick and easy,
low cost management tool that is essentially assessing the amount
of body fat or condition and livestock using manual palpation.
It provides an important measure of an animal's energy reserve
and fat and muscle, and it serves as a valuable
(02:51):
indicator of the animal's nutritional status and health. The beauty
of our body conditions scoring is it relates to the
production ability of that animal, regardless of the body weight,
gut fill and pregnancy status. So it's a really good
way of standing each individual animal on an objective basis.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Right Bevin, what's your view on why farmers should care
about body condition scoring?
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Keepney Hamish, it's very important to do it, and I
hope it's going to improve our bottom line big time.
So yeah, understanding it, like Steve said, and then being
able to do it and adjust the feeding accordingly to
what conditions animals are is important and improve the bottom
bottom line. Really, as we well know, the better body
condition that the better we're going to milk. And have
(03:43):
a better, better animal progeny afterwards. So it's just it's
a pretty important skill to have.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, pretty critical in terms of those birth rate percentages
and then that milk production and everything that flies on
from there.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Steved Look, how do we do it and when should
it be done?
Speaker 5 (04:00):
In terms of sheep and sheep and cattle are probably
a little bit different. Really sheep is the general way
that we do it is assess over the loin area
just behind the last rib, feeling the backbone or the
vertical process and the short ribs or the horizontal processes.
So essentially you're locating the last rib and you're using
(04:20):
the balls of the fingers and thumb, and you're feeling
the backbone with the thumb and the end of the
short ribs with the fingertips immediately behind the last rib. So,
as I mentioned, it's on a scaled one to five.
If the condition is between one and two, the bones
will be quite sharp and easy to feel, which is
that the animals are probably a little bit underdone. Anything
(04:44):
between sort of three and four, which is your target
often or range, you'll have a reasonably smooth cover of
muscle fat over those bones. They'll still be depictable, but
they won't be sharp and anything over four the animals
on the on the chunky side and you'll be difficult
(05:04):
to feel the spine and the ribs. You can also
use half schools as well for more accuracy, and that's
probably particularly important if you're somewhere around that two and
a half to three and a half. The cattles a
little bit different kettles on a one to ten scale,
and it can be done through a hands on assessment
similar to sheep or visually and it's definitely an average
(05:29):
of eleven different areas on the animal, the spine or
the backbone, short ribs, hit bones, the rump, pale heads
and bones in the side. Same Again, it's on at
the lower end three to four. Your bones are clearly
visible and the animals are probably considered under under conditioned.
(05:52):
Your optimal range is between five and seven. Again, you
can feel the bones, but under the pressure and they
have a good cover in the fat. And then Evan, yeah,
you'd be you'd be conceipted over fat.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Bevn That that sounds like a lot to take in,
but is it that complicated us? I mean I guess
that with the with the cattle with the cows is
probably the more visual side of it.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
But what Stephen was talking about there, is it that difficult.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
No, look it's not. It's not hamish. And that's the
biggest thing is not to make it complicated very much.
Put your hand on and and feeling to make a
decisions straight away. As soon as you're hesitated, you're actually
making confusing and just consistency is the key. And just
just getting in whack in the hand or making decision
and and and then making the marks he can draft
(06:40):
them off accordingly and the then prioritize that feeding and
and at those critical times is the way to do it. So, yeah,
we don't want to make it complicated because o wise
farmers won't do it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So in relation to our to our scale of one
to five for the for the US, what's our targets
across for tapping, So so.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Our target at tupp and top tupping is free. That's
what we're wanting for anything underwhe has to be pulled
off and prioritized.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Stephen, the consequences of low or high bcs and the
flow on effect. I mean, this is huge, but again
I guess it keeps circling back to it's pretty simple
as well.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Yeah, I'll be it's absolutely correct. You know, there is
definitely ways of helping reduce that complexity or the perception
of complexity, just by calibrating yourself or getting someone else
to have you just for those initial stages and then
once you keep going. Takes a couple of seconds to
do each year or cow. But in terms of what
(07:43):
the impact is, it's considerable. So really a condition of
the animal will have an impact on just about any
productive measure that you would use for a animal based system.
So if you're follow it through a seasonal calendar, any
animals will use sheep as an example, any animals that
(08:06):
would be below three will tend to have lower ovulation rates,
they will be cycling less eggs, and that will probably
lead to or does lead to lower conception rates as well,
so therefore more dries and that ultimately leads through to
lower scanning percentages. On our place, we have noticed between
the five and seven percent different for every half conditions
(08:29):
score below three, So that's quite considerable if you consider
the implications of that following through and then by landing time,
those lighter us that did get a lamb will be
impacting your performance in a number of ways. Firstly, the
lambs are born, the lighter used will have a lower
survival rate around eight to ten percent per conditions scored
(08:50):
less than optimal a single and twin bearing news and
even higher for triblets. This is probably due to another factors,
including lower birth weights due to inadequate nutrition through that
late pregnancy, in particular lower brown fat reserves, meaning they
can't generate heat. They're not as resilient lambing time, and
(09:11):
they have decreased vigor. They're slower the circle, and they
don't bind as well with their mums. Their mums tend
to prioritize themselves and they often leave their lambs letting
by themselves for long periods of time. Not only that
you will reduce will have reduced colostrum in terms of
the quantity of glossrum and the quality of it, and
(09:31):
your overall milk yield is decreased as well, so that
lamb that's manas to survive will have compromised growth rates
and have a poorer weening weight as well. So that's
been proven through a number of trials in the Zellen
and one trial showed that are half a conditions called difference,
so you that was two and a half for average
(09:54):
two and a half for a flight. They are five
percent reduction in the total weening percentage in the three
kinnograms and live weight reduction and average land we anyweights.
If you consider the implications over a thousand years, that's
considerable amount of unrealized potentially you've left at the farm gate.
Not only that those of us will have a high
(10:16):
death rate as well, and those good condition used and
they're more likely to have metabolic problems, especially around Lavington.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Stephen, how long have you been doing this on your
property at this level to be able to gauge that
amount of data or information.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
We've been probably doing it on and off for well,
myself and our current farm manager for I say nearly
ten years, and I think the first couple of years
in particular the noticeable improvement and performance. It can be
quite confronting that first couple of years when you realize
the impact it can have, but it's also now a
(10:53):
critical part of a yearly management schedule because we know
the implications of not quite getting it right. We seen
significant improvements and performance on farm and I'll put a
lot of that down to the monitoring those animals closer.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
So Bevan.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Okay, so there's a myriad of reasons there from Steve
and as to why we why we you know why,
it's an absolute no brainer to do your body condition scoring.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Okay, so you've done it. Now, you've completed it with
your use, how do you or what what kind of
action plan do you put in place?
Speaker 4 (11:27):
So, yeah, we've got it, and we've we've identified some
lower condition score ones, so we get them drafted off
and preferential feed them. And then if we've got something
some better, better, fatter, we can also draft them off
and actually hold them a bit tighter. So and do
matchat feed supply to a demand is a big thing.
And and you know, even doing a feed budget of
(11:49):
grazing planet, just working it out light ones first and
the fatter ones after all, or sell something or there's
lots of options we can do. To information is key
and to utilize it.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
How long have you been doing it on your property, Bevin.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
We've been in it for about three years now, and
it is making quite a difference. Like an you think
we've still got room for improvement and can even doualize
it better. We actually this autumn tough udum. We actually
we end up selling five percent of our use in
March because we just had too many light ones feet
And this has went right so weeks. You just made
some serious decisions quickly, and thank goodness we did.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I guess that's that's a lot of a lot of
the farming way, isn't it make decisions and you have
to make them quickly.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Jens.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Look, we'll start with you, Stephen. To those farmers who
say they just don't have the time to put into
body conditions scoring, what's your message.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Yeah, the good thing about conditions scoring is you know,
there's a lot of research out the has showed the
financial impact that it can have by getting the right
and so a lot of the areas to adopts and
are actually based more opposition than actual reality. So time
pressure is off and the one that you hear the most,
and and that's understandable in a busy schedule. So ideally,
(13:04):
if you can integrate it into other jobs, that's best
or existing times, you know, like sharing or drenching scanning.
But it's just recognizing that in terms of the financial
return that it should be prioritized in terms of the
farming calendar. The other one that I often see is
the belief that they can eyeball it through the race.
(13:24):
And there's been numeorous demonstrations to show unless it's straight
off shared, it is highly variable and you tend to
get about fifty percent right fifty percent wrong. So that
probably shows you how how good that particular belief is,
and just a lack of toughness or training and some
of the staff about getting it right. And that's all
(13:45):
about just making sure that you know, you get some
hands on training and just making it as simple as
you can so using like buddy systems without a farmer,
or potentially running beef for land workshops or getting your
beefin to show you. That's probably the key three. And
the perception of low value that it's not going to
make a big difference. But you know, I guess Bevan
(14:06):
and I would both show that it has made a
big difference on our properties and allow us for good
management decisions throughout the.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, Van, how long does it take to learn how
to body score effectively? And as Steven has said, you
know you just can't. You know that visual appraisal in
the wall just ain't gonna work. It's only fifty percent accurate.
If that who can train you up and who can
help who got.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
You up to speed?
Speaker 4 (14:33):
We're beef Land Workshop. We did on bodyking a score
and we jumped into that and it's having a confidence
famous to back yourself and just like like like Steve,
so you just get a bit of support. But after
a couple of races you can get a pretty good
handle as long as the variation the first one you
do just so you can feel with difference and then
your way and you just don't just having that conference
(14:54):
to do it. And of course some are going to
take it up quicker than others, but you just can't
reiterate just some importance and the benefit and like trying
to do it visually is just not practical. And and
tying in with other jobs. Scanning is a place of
one for us because they come out the race anyway
single file, so they're all there slowly. It's it's no
extra work, and it's it's efficient.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Well cut a couple of seconds, you know, like you
get through them fairly quickly, wouldn't you Bevan?
Speaker 4 (15:23):
Yes, definitely, And if you get the good good systems
and it's it's not not hard to do when, like
I said, scanning time when they come at race single file,
we also do it at winning time. We do it
at the race over if we're going to race, we're handler.
I actually have someone conditions scoring the cut the race,
and then I actually checked out as on the race
week and then draft them off afterwards. So I'm doing
two jobs at once and everything's it's all done.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Fantastic, Steve, And I guess I mean, I just you know,
as I sit here and listen to you gentlemen and
your experiences with body conditions, scoring on your properties, down
and tire, and the power of pawers, it does keep
circling back, Stephen falling into that category of a no brainer,
doesn't it.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Yeah, I think so. Like from a financial point of view,
if you are comparing lifting a U from two and
a half or two to a three to three and
a half on a seats per kilogram of dry matter,
there's no other animal enterprise that would compete, not even
finishing lambs through critical periods of the year, and it's
often up in the thirty or forty cents per kilogram.
(16:22):
So if you took that into consideration alone, you know,
rather than thinking about finishing every lamb on the property.
The return on lifting those us is going to be
better every single time. Not only that, make sure that
you're not you're addressing this year's problems and not lend
it follow through to the next year. So yeah, definitely
(16:43):
definitely need to add it into the farming calendar.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, and Bevin, it's one of those things too. The
more you prolong it at that critical time around topping it,
there's no easy escape from it.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
You've got to act quickly most definitely.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Yeah, And like like for so much stuff, do the quicker,
but you make decision the quick of the job's done,
and the better, the better the outcome.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, absolutely, gentlemen, thank you so much. I've been wonderful
to have have your input into this topic. But I
guess if you if you summed it up, I suppose
it is you can't manage what you don't measure and
body conditions. Scoring is fast, free and it only costs
you your time and it's effective.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I think. Is that sort of a fair wrap of things.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
That's a great And essentially, if you're not conditioned scoring,
you're leaving unrealized potential on your farm. And we're stock
pricing so good. That's just straight profit off your bottom lines.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Bevan your thoughts on that.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Too, totally agree what just yeah, totally agree?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Yeah yeah, Stephen Nickel, out of out of the otago
and out of the pair of pairs.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Bevon profit. Thank you very much, gentlemen, much appreciated.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
If you would like to know more about a body
condition scoring, head to the Beef and Lamb New Zealand website.
Now that said, beef lam in zed dot com and
ask Bella, the new AI assistant making finding information easier
than ever. That's beeflam in Zed or one word dot
com
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Exploring ideas and innovation shaping the future of farming with
Beef and Lamb New Zealand, powered by the Country
Exploring ideas and innovations shaping the future of farming with
Beef and Lamb New Zealand, powered by the Country.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to episode two where we're exploring some of the
ideas and innovations that are shaping the future of farming
with Beef and Lamb, New Zealand and the Country.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
My name is Harmus mckaie. Great to be with you.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Last week in episode one, we had a look at
how system wastage can erode your farm profit in some
ways to manage and locate where wastage is happening. This
week we're looking into body conditions scoring and how it
is a simple, cheap tool that can help improve stock performance.
I've got a great team to look at this and
help explain some answers and answers and questions around the
(00:43):
whys and hows of BCS and why it is such
a valuable tool or our farmers across New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
And we've got a couple of very.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Intelligent, learned blokes joining us Otago based Steve Nicol a
farm on the Tyree and Bevan Propit who farms on
the hill country and.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
The Power of Paris. You know that's sort of between
FINOI and Rata.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
He right, Stephen, as mentioned, runs eight thousand stock units
on his property down there in the Otago, who runs
farm Life Advisory, offering a range.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Of agricultural services from production.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And financial advice to business management and farm environment planning.
A Bachelor of Agricultural Science from Lincoln University and a
Certificate of Advanced Sustainable Nutrient and Management runs the farm
down there with wife Kelly and two young children.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
So a lot of expertise does he bring to the table.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Bevan, of course, along with his wife Mary and two boys,
farm nineteen hundred and seventy hectares of hill country on
the Power of Paris and an extensive breeding system there
with seven thousand US and four hundred and fifty cows
plus replacements. All male progenies are sold. Demon has been
on the deeper Lands Western Norboland Farmer Council and of
(02:04):
course the Farmer Research Advisory Group. Both of our guests today,
our experts today, have.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Been involved in that role.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Right, let's crack into it. Gensa body condition scoring a
simple cheap pathway to improve stock performance. First of all,
let's go to the land of cribs and tailing and
then we'll come back up to docking in batches.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Stephen, Body condition scoring? What is it and how do
we do it?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
So?
Speaker 5 (02:30):
Body condition scoring, as you mentioned, is a quick and easy,
low cost management tool that is essentially assessing the amount
of body fat or condition and livestock using manual palpation.
It provides an important measure of an animal's energy reserve
and fat and muscle, and it serves as a valuable
(02:51):
indicator of the animal's nutritional status and health. The beauty
of our body conditions scoring is it relates to the
production ability of that animal, regardless of the body weight,
gut fill and pregnancy status. So it's a really good
way of standing each individual animal on an objective basis.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Right Bevin, what's your view on why farmers should care
about body condition scoring?
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Keepney Hamish, it's very important to do it, and I
hope it's going to improve our bottom line big time.
So yeah, understanding it, like Steve said, and then being
able to do it and adjust the feeding accordingly to
what conditions animals are is important and improve the bottom
bottom line. Really, as we well know, the better body
condition that the better we're going to milk. And have
(03:43):
a better, better animal progeny afterwards. So it's just it's
a pretty important skill to have.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, pretty critical in terms of those birth rate percentages
and then that milk production and everything that flies on
from there.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Steved Look, how do we do it and when should
it be done?
Speaker 5 (04:00):
In terms of sheep and sheep and cattle are probably
a little bit different. Really sheep is the general way
that we do it is assess over the loin area
just behind the last rib, feeling the backbone or the
vertical process and the short ribs or the horizontal processes.
So essentially you're locating the last rib and you're using
(04:20):
the balls of the fingers and thumb, and you're feeling
the backbone with the thumb and the end of the
short ribs with the fingertips immediately behind the last rib. So,
as I mentioned, it's on a scaled one to five.
If the condition is between one and two, the bones
will be quite sharp and easy to feel, which is
that the animals are probably a little bit underdone. Anything
(04:44):
between sort of three and four, which is your target
often or range, you'll have a reasonably smooth cover of
muscle fat over those bones. They'll still be depictable, but
they won't be sharp and anything over four the animals
on the on the chunky side and you'll be difficult
(05:04):
to feel the spine and the ribs. You can also
use half schools as well for more accuracy, and that's
probably particularly important if you're somewhere around that two and
a half to three and a half. The cattles a
little bit different kettles on a one to ten scale,
and it can be done through a hands on assessment
similar to sheep or visually and it's definitely an average
(05:29):
of eleven different areas on the animal, the spine or
the backbone, short ribs, hit bones, the rump, pale heads
and bones in the side. Same Again, it's on at
the lower end three to four. Your bones are clearly
visible and the animals are probably considered under under conditioned.
(05:52):
Your optimal range is between five and seven. Again, you
can feel the bones, but under the pressure and they
have a good cover in the fat. And then Evan, yeah,
you'd be you'd be conceipted over fat.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Bevn That that sounds like a lot to take in,
but is it that complicated us? I mean I guess
that with the with the cattle with the cows is
probably the more visual side of it.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
But what Stephen was talking about there, is it that difficult.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
No, look it's not. It's not hamish. And that's the
biggest thing is not to make it complicated very much.
Put your hand on and and feeling to make a
decisions straight away. As soon as you're hesitated, you're actually
making confusing and just consistency is the key. And just
just getting in whack in the hand or making decision
and and and then making the marks he can draft
(06:40):
them off accordingly and the then prioritize that feeding and
and at those critical times is the way to do it. So, yeah,
we don't want to make it complicated because o wise
farmers won't do it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
So in relation to our to our scale of one
to five for the for the US, what's our targets
across for tapping, So so.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Our target at tupp and top tupping is free. That's
what we're wanting for anything underwhe has to be pulled
off and prioritized.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Stephen, the consequences of low or high bcs and the
flow on effect. I mean, this is huge, but again
I guess it keeps circling back to it's pretty simple
as well.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Yeah, I'll be it's absolutely correct. You know, there is
definitely ways of helping reduce that complexity or the perception
of complexity, just by calibrating yourself or getting someone else
to have you just for those initial stages and then
once you keep going. Takes a couple of seconds to
do each year or cow. But in terms of what
(07:43):
the impact is, it's considerable. So really a condition of
the animal will have an impact on just about any
productive measure that you would use for a animal based system.
So if you're follow it through a seasonal calendar, any
animals will use sheep as an example, any animals that
(08:06):
would be below three will tend to have lower ovulation rates,
they will be cycling less eggs, and that will probably
lead to or does lead to lower conception rates as well,
so therefore more dries and that ultimately leads through to
lower scanning percentages. On our place, we have noticed between
the five and seven percent different for every half conditions
(08:29):
score below three, So that's quite considerable if you consider
the implications of that following through and then by landing time,
those lighter us that did get a lamb will be
impacting your performance in a number of ways. Firstly, the
lambs are born, the lighter used will have a lower
survival rate around eight to ten percent per conditions scored
(08:50):
less than optimal a single and twin bearing news and
even higher for triblets. This is probably due to another factors,
including lower birth weights due to inadequate nutrition through that
late pregnancy, in particular lower brown fat reserves, meaning they
can't generate heat. They're not as resilient lambing time, and
(09:11):
they have decreased vigor. They're slower the circle, and they
don't bind as well with their mums. Their mums tend
to prioritize themselves and they often leave their lambs letting
by themselves for long periods of time. Not only that
you will reduce will have reduced colostrum in terms of
the quantity of glossrum and the quality of it, and
(09:31):
your overall milk yield is decreased as well, so that
lamb that's manas to survive will have compromised growth rates
and have a poorer weening weight as well. So that's
been proven through a number of trials in the Zellen
and one trial showed that are half a conditions called difference,
so you that was two and a half for average
(09:54):
two and a half for a flight. They are five
percent reduction in the total weening percentage in the three
kinnograms and live weight reduction and average land we anyweights.
If you consider the implications over a thousand years, that's
considerable amount of unrealized potentially you've left at the farm gate.
Not only that those of us will have a high
(10:16):
death rate as well, and those good condition used and
they're more likely to have metabolic problems, especially around Lavington.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Stephen, how long have you been doing this on your
property at this level to be able to gauge that
amount of data or information.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
We've been probably doing it on and off for well,
myself and our current farm manager for I say nearly
ten years, and I think the first couple of years
in particular the noticeable improvement and performance. It can be
quite confronting that first couple of years when you realize
the impact it can have, but it's also now a
(10:53):
critical part of a yearly management schedule because we know
the implications of not quite getting it right. We seen
significant improvements and performance on farm and I'll put a
lot of that down to the monitoring those animals closer.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
So Bevan.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Okay, so there's a myriad of reasons there from Steve
and as to why we why we you know why,
it's an absolute no brainer to do your body condition scoring.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Okay, so you've done it. Now, you've completed it with
your use, how do you or what what kind of
action plan do you put in place?
Speaker 4 (11:27):
So, yeah, we've got it, and we've we've identified some
lower condition score ones, so we get them drafted off
and preferential feed them. And then if we've got something
some better, better, fatter, we can also draft them off
and actually hold them a bit tighter. So and do
matchat feed supply to a demand is a big thing.
And and you know, even doing a feed budget of
(11:49):
grazing planet, just working it out light ones first and
the fatter ones after all, or sell something or there's
lots of options we can do. To information is key
and to utilize it.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
How long have you been doing it on your property, Bevin.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
We've been in it for about three years now, and
it is making quite a difference. Like an you think
we've still got room for improvement and can even doualize
it better. We actually this autumn tough udum. We actually
we end up selling five percent of our use in
March because we just had too many light ones feet
And this has went right so weeks. You just made
some serious decisions quickly, and thank goodness we did.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
I guess that's that's a lot of a lot of
the farming way, isn't it make decisions and you have
to make them quickly.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Jens.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Look, we'll start with you, Stephen. To those farmers who
say they just don't have the time to put into
body conditions scoring, what's your message.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
Yeah, the good thing about conditions scoring is you know,
there's a lot of research out the has showed the
financial impact that it can have by getting the right
and so a lot of the areas to adopts and
are actually based more opposition than actual reality. So time
pressure is off and the one that you hear the most,
and and that's understandable in a busy schedule. So ideally,
(13:04):
if you can integrate it into other jobs, that's best
or existing times, you know, like sharing or drenching scanning.
But it's just recognizing that in terms of the financial
return that it should be prioritized in terms of the
farming calendar. The other one that I often see is
the belief that they can eyeball it through the race.
(13:24):
And there's been numeorous demonstrations to show unless it's straight
off shared, it is highly variable and you tend to
get about fifty percent right fifty percent wrong. So that
probably shows you how how good that particular belief is,
and just a lack of toughness or training and some
of the staff about getting it right. And that's all
(13:45):
about just making sure that you know, you get some
hands on training and just making it as simple as
you can so using like buddy systems without a farmer,
or potentially running beef for land workshops or getting your
beefin to show you. That's probably the key three. And
the perception of low value that it's not going to
make a big difference. But you know, I guess Bevan
(14:06):
and I would both show that it has made a
big difference on our properties and allow us for good
management decisions throughout the.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, Van, how long does it take to learn how
to body score effectively? And as Steven has said, you
know you just can't. You know that visual appraisal in
the wall just ain't gonna work. It's only fifty percent accurate.
If that who can train you up and who can
help who got.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
You up to speed?
Speaker 4 (14:33):
We're beef Land Workshop. We did on bodyking a score
and we jumped into that and it's having a confidence
famous to back yourself and just like like like Steve,
so you just get a bit of support. But after
a couple of races you can get a pretty good
handle as long as the variation the first one you
do just so you can feel with difference and then
your way and you just don't just having that conference
(14:54):
to do it. And of course some are going to
take it up quicker than others, but you just can't
reiterate just some importance and the benefit and like trying
to do it visually is just not practical. And and
tying in with other jobs. Scanning is a place of
one for us because they come out the race anyway
single file, so they're all there slowly. It's it's no
extra work, and it's it's efficient.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Well cut a couple of seconds, you know, like you
get through them fairly quickly, wouldn't you Bevan?
Speaker 4 (15:23):
Yes, definitely, And if you get the good good systems
and it's it's not not hard to do when, like
I said, scanning time when they come at race single file,
we also do it at winning time. We do it
at the race over if we're going to race, we're handler.
I actually have someone conditions scoring the cut the race,
and then I actually checked out as on the race
week and then draft them off afterwards. So I'm doing
two jobs at once and everything's it's all done.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Fantastic, Steve, And I guess I mean, I just you know,
as I sit here and listen to you gentlemen and
your experiences with body conditions, scoring on your properties, down
and tire, and the power of pawers, it does keep
circling back, Stephen falling into that category of a no brainer,
doesn't it.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Yeah, I think so. Like from a financial point of view,
if you are comparing lifting a U from two and
a half or two to a three to three and
a half on a seats per kilogram of dry matter,
there's no other animal enterprise that would compete, not even
finishing lambs through critical periods of the year, and it's
often up in the thirty or forty cents per kilogram.
(16:22):
So if you took that into consideration alone, you know,
rather than thinking about finishing every lamb on the property.
The return on lifting those us is going to be
better every single time. Not only that, make sure that
you're not you're addressing this year's problems and not lend
it follow through to the next year. So yeah, definitely
(16:43):
definitely need to add it into the farming calendar.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Yeah, and Bevin, it's one of those things too. The
more you prolong it at that critical time around topping it,
there's no easy escape from it.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
You've got to act quickly most definitely.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Yeah, And like like for so much stuff, do the quicker,
but you make decision the quick of the job's done,
and the better, the better the outcome.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yeah, absolutely, gentlemen, thank you so much. I've been wonderful
to have have your input into this topic. But I
guess if you if you summed it up, I suppose
it is you can't manage what you don't measure and
body conditions. Scoring is fast, free and it only costs
you your time and it's effective.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
I think. Is that sort of a fair wrap of things.
Speaker 5 (17:28):
That's a great And essentially, if you're not conditioned scoring,
you're leaving unrealized potential on your farm. And we're stock
pricing so good. That's just straight profit off your bottom lines.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Bevan your thoughts on that.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Too, totally agree what just yeah, totally agree?
Speaker 2 (17:43):
Yeah yeah, Stephen Nickel, out of out of the otago
and out of the pair of pairs.
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Bevon profit. Thank you very much, gentlemen, much appreciated.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
If you would like to know more about a body
condition scoring, head to the Beef and Lamb New Zealand website.
Now that said, beef lam in zed dot com and
ask Bella, the new AI assistant making finding information easier
than ever. That's beeflam in Zed or one word dot
com
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Exploring ideas and innovation shaping the future of farming with
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