May 13, 2026 • 7 mins
Jason Archer talks about the upcoming bull selling season.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The Muster Events Diary brought to you by Beef and
Lamb New Zealand click Beef lamb endz dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thanks to a team of Beef and Lamb New Zealand,
we catch up with Jason Archer, head of genetics for
Beef and Lamb. Jason, good afternoon, and welcome to the Muster.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Good afternoon. Thanks having me.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Right, it's ball selling season, so all of a sudden,
genetics comes forefront to mine for a lot of farmers,
especially well especially beef farmers.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Sure, yep, yep, that's that one day of the year
we're really I've got to concentrate on this, right, So what's.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The one thing. Okay, we're going back to the nuts
and bolts, and I mean there's no one size fits
for every operation, but the basics around genetics, I mean,
I suppose it evolves like anything.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so in terms of buying balls,
I think you know, the number one decision you make
is which driveway to drive up, So, in other words,
finding the breeder that's aligned to you and what you
want to do. So, as you just said, there is
no one size fits all because we've all got different
farms and farming systems, and we're all in different places
(01:14):
in terms of our genetic program as well, and so
you know, the first thing really is to think about
what are your goals and what do you want this
ball to do for you? You know, what's your priorities?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Is?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
You know, do you want extra growth to get animals
away at twenty months? Are your animals a bit lean
when you're killing them? So therefore we need a bit
more fat on the carcass. Do we want to think
about carcos quality, you know, intramuscular fat and chase those
premiums that are available from some companies. Or is it
more about the fertility of your cows? And you know,
is that a management thing versus a genetics thing? So yeah,
(01:47):
being really clear about what you want from the ball
that you're about to buy. And you know also as purpose,
are you going to use them over mixedage cows? Do
you have to go over heifers so which obviously carving
has becomes a thing more important thing then or is
the terminal and you don't need to You won't be
keeping any daughters, so therefore you fatility and those of
(02:07):
things don't matter at all. So yeah, it's been real
clear about what you want to what you want to.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Do first, hybrid vega and everything comes unto the equation
as well. I mean there's a pleasor of things and
like you say, it's about doing your due diligence.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so we've got a tool called
improof which we now have beef balls on and you
can go onto that tool that's improved dot MZ and
you click the beef button on it and basically the
balls from Angus that are registered with Angus New Zealand,
New Zealand, Hereford's New Zealand Semite and New Zealand short
on are on there, and we know there are some
(02:42):
gaps there, so we are working to get the Angus
pro balls on on the South of even balls on
and some other breeds. And in that tool you can
basically say, right, oh, I want a maternal ball, so
I click on an maternal button. I want it from
of this breed and it will give you an index
and then you can also then have a look at
(03:03):
all the individual components of that index and start moving
sliders to describe essentially what you what's important to you,
and then it will come up with a list of
you know, which are the breeders and which are the
animals that are most aligned to your to whatever objective
you put into there. So it's a really good tool
for you to be just looking at and saying, well,
(03:25):
you know, am I going to the right Am I
driving up the right driveway? Or is there some other
driveways that I could be thinking about driving up as well? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Can buying a ball though be unnecessarily complicated?
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yeah? It can. And so that's why I keep on
talking about it's about focus, right, so being real clear
about what traits matter and what ones don't matter. And
that applies to data, but it also applies to phenotype
as well, and it's really important that we just focus
on the things that are, you know, that either make
you money or save you money, and we don't get
(03:59):
distracted good by the other things. And I always say, well,
my suggestion is that you know, in a catalog, you've
got the data there, I'd say, you know, work out
the twenty percent of balls in a sale catalog that
best fit on data, and then go and have a
look at those balls and knock out the ones that
don't fit on phenotype, because phenotype is important right there,
(04:22):
is attributes a phenotype that are really important, you know,
such as will the ball last? You know, has you
got enough serving capacity to get cows pregnant, et cetera,
And so that is important. But once you found the
twenty percent of top twenty percent of balls for you,
not necessarily for others, for someone else, but for you
on data, and then you knock out half of them
(04:43):
maybe on phenotype, you're probably left with the target of
you know, five or six balls at their average at
their average sale, and you should be able to focus
on those ones.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
So improve is pretty as proving popular amongst bull buyers.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, for sure, we're seeing good uses, good use of stats.
It without last year and you know, it made a
bit of a splash last year. And you know, we've
had to improve operating in the sheep side of things
for five or six years now, and you know we're
fin out growing and growing. I think last year for sheep,
we think we had about nineteen thousand hits on it,
(05:18):
you know, and bearing a Mind is only ten thousand
sheep and beef farmers and the yelling. So yeah, it's
getting It is being used a lot by farmers, and
it's a useful tool. The other thing I would say
when people go to a sailor is you know, when
you've got those balls picked out, the number one ball
(05:39):
often goes for a really big money, and it might
be above your budget. And that's the ball that has
it all. You know, it's got all the data, but
it's also got the Fener type and the overall package
and the looks and it's a pretty ball and all
that sort of thing. That ball off goes for a lot.
But if you look at your list, the number two
ball in terms of performance and ability is often not
(06:01):
far behind that number one ball, but it's a long
way behind in price. So you know, there is some
good buying out there in terms of if you can
focus on what you need and you don't have to
get the number one ball because the number two ball
is almost as good and probably you know, only two
thirds of the price. So that's that's another thing I
(06:22):
think to bear in mind.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
With with this, And this is irrelevant considering the beef
markets on a high at the moment too.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah yeah, yeah, and you know, long may it stay
that way. You know, there's a worldwide shortage of protein,
as we all know. You know, things in the US,
which pretty much drives the worldwide beef price. You know,
they just can't get enough. They just can't get enough
beef there, and they've got a few of their issues
of their own in terms of screw worm in Mexico
(06:49):
is stopping close the southern border and there's normally about
a moving cattle come across that border a year. So yeah,
things are going crazy over there and around the world,
and that's been reflected and the opportunity and the prices
that we're receiving, So you know, I think all things
being equal, you know, there's there's a lot of value
in buying a good ball this year.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Jason Archer, head of Genetics of Beef and their New Zealand,
thanks for your time on the muster.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Believe you.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Jason Archer of Beef and their New Zealand. Clickbeflamendz dot
com slash events to receive the e Diary into your inbox.
Friday mornings, either pringles up next to before the end
of the hour with Nathan Burden
The Muster Events Diary brought to you by Beef and
Lamb New Zealand click Beef lamb endz dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thanks to a team of Beef and Lamb New Zealand,
we catch up with Jason Archer, head of genetics for
Beef and Lamb. Jason, good afternoon, and welcome to the Muster.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Good afternoon. Thanks having me.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Right, it's ball selling season, so all of a sudden,
genetics comes forefront to mine for a lot of farmers,
especially well especially beef farmers.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Sure, yep, yep, that's that one day of the year
we're really I've got to concentrate on this, right, So what's.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The one thing. Okay, we're going back to the nuts
and bolts, and I mean there's no one size fits
for every operation, but the basics around genetics, I mean,
I suppose it evolves like anything.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so in terms of buying balls,
I think you know, the number one decision you make
is which driveway to drive up, So, in other words,
finding the breeder that's aligned to you and what you
want to do. So, as you just said, there is
no one size fits all because we've all got different
farms and farming systems, and we're all in different places
(01:14):
in terms of our genetic program as well, and so
you know, the first thing really is to think about
what are your goals and what do you want this
ball to do for you? You know, what's your priorities?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Is?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
You know, do you want extra growth to get animals
away at twenty months? Are your animals a bit lean
when you're killing them? So therefore we need a bit
more fat on the carcass. Do we want to think
about carcos quality, you know, intramuscular fat and chase those
premiums that are available from some companies. Or is it
more about the fertility of your cows? And you know,
is that a management thing versus a genetics thing? So yeah,
(01:47):
being really clear about what you want from the ball
that you're about to buy. And you know also as purpose,
are you going to use them over mixedage cows? Do
you have to go over heifers so which obviously carving
has becomes a thing more important thing then or is
the terminal and you don't need to You won't be
keeping any daughters, so therefore you fatility and those of
(02:07):
things don't matter at all. So yeah, it's been real
clear about what you want to what you want to.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Do first, hybrid vega and everything comes unto the equation
as well. I mean there's a pleasor of things and
like you say, it's about doing your due diligence.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so we've got a tool called
improof which we now have beef balls on and you
can go onto that tool that's improved dot MZ and
you click the beef button on it and basically the
balls from Angus that are registered with Angus New Zealand,
New Zealand, Hereford's New Zealand Semite and New Zealand short
on are on there, and we know there are some
(02:42):
gaps there, so we are working to get the Angus
pro balls on on the South of even balls on
and some other breeds. And in that tool you can
basically say, right, oh, I want a maternal ball, so
I click on an maternal button. I want it from
of this breed and it will give you an index
and then you can also then have a look at
(03:03):
all the individual components of that index and start moving
sliders to describe essentially what you what's important to you,
and then it will come up with a list of
you know, which are the breeders and which are the
animals that are most aligned to your to whatever objective
you put into there. So it's a really good tool
for you to be just looking at and saying, well,
(03:25):
you know, am I going to the right Am I
driving up the right driveway? Or is there some other
driveways that I could be thinking about driving up as well? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Can buying a ball though be unnecessarily complicated?
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Yeah? It can. And so that's why I keep on
talking about it's about focus, right, so being real clear
about what traits matter and what ones don't matter. And
that applies to data, but it also applies to phenotype
as well, and it's really important that we just focus
on the things that are, you know, that either make
you money or save you money, and we don't get
(03:59):
distracted good by the other things. And I always say, well,
my suggestion is that you know, in a catalog, you've
got the data there, I'd say, you know, work out
the twenty percent of balls in a sale catalog that
best fit on data, and then go and have a
look at those balls and knock out the ones that
don't fit on phenotype, because phenotype is important right there,
(04:22):
is attributes a phenotype that are really important, you know,
such as will the ball last? You know, has you
got enough serving capacity to get cows pregnant, et cetera,
And so that is important. But once you found the
twenty percent of top twenty percent of balls for you,
not necessarily for others, for someone else, but for you
on data, and then you knock out half of them
(04:43):
maybe on phenotype, you're probably left with the target of
you know, five or six balls at their average at
their average sale, and you should be able to focus
on those ones.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
So improve is pretty as proving popular amongst bull buyers.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Yeah, for sure, we're seeing good uses, good use of stats.
It without last year and you know, it made a
bit of a splash last year. And you know, we've
had to improve operating in the sheep side of things
for five or six years now, and you know we're
fin out growing and growing. I think last year for sheep,
we think we had about nineteen thousand hits on it,
(05:18):
you know, and bearing a Mind is only ten thousand
sheep and beef farmers and the yelling. So yeah, it's
getting It is being used a lot by farmers, and
it's a useful tool. The other thing I would say
when people go to a sailor is you know, when
you've got those balls picked out, the number one ball
(05:39):
often goes for a really big money, and it might
be above your budget. And that's the ball that has
it all. You know, it's got all the data, but
it's also got the Fener type and the overall package
and the looks and it's a pretty ball and all
that sort of thing. That ball off goes for a lot.
But if you look at your list, the number two
ball in terms of performance and ability is often not
(06:01):
far behind that number one ball, but it's a long
way behind in price. So you know, there is some
good buying out there in terms of if you can
focus on what you need and you don't have to
get the number one ball because the number two ball
is almost as good and probably you know, only two
thirds of the price. So that's that's another thing I
(06:22):
think to bear in mind.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
With with this, And this is irrelevant considering the beef
markets on a high at the moment too.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah yeah, yeah, and you know, long may it stay
that way. You know, there's a worldwide shortage of protein,
as we all know. You know, things in the US,
which pretty much drives the worldwide beef price. You know,
they just can't get enough. They just can't get enough
beef there, and they've got a few of their issues
of their own in terms of screw worm in Mexico
(06:49):
is stopping close the southern border and there's normally about
a moving cattle come across that border a year. So yeah,
things are going crazy over there and around the world,
and that's been reflected and the opportunity and the prices
that we're receiving, So you know, I think all things
being equal, you know, there's there's a lot of value
in buying a good ball this year.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Jason Archer, head of Genetics of Beef and their New Zealand,
thanks for your time on the muster.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Believe you.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Jason Archer of Beef and their New Zealand. Clickbeflamendz dot
com slash events to receive the e Diary into your inbox.
Friday mornings, either pringles up next to before the end
of the hour with Nathan Burden
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