Page 3 - Hooked on Herefords Feb 2019

President’s Note News from Hereford Prime Headquarters

Welcome to 2019! people from ABRI will be travelling to NZ to meet with us. We Researchers trial grass-fed beef for
will be taking this opportunity to cover a number of items from
Only 14 months away from us hosting the 2020 Boehringer our agreement and discussing what traits are important to NZ
Ingelheim World Hereford conference. The organising committee breeders in our environment. protection against heart disease
has been very busy with just a couple of things left to tidy up
before announcing the registration prices and sending the Young Over the coming months there are exciting opportunities for all
Breeder’s competition packages to the interested international members to get together, build new relationships and expand By Gerard Hutching
teams. In January I was privileged to work with Rebecca Paterson your networks. This started with the Taranaki Hereford Club’s Day
and her team to select the NZHA Youth team who will represent the Herd Tour on the 26th January, followed by the National Herd Tour As a protection against heart disease, beef steak may be just
Association in the Young Breeders competition during the event. being hosted by the Northland Hereford Club from the 17th-20th the ticket - or so Auckland University researchers are setting
This group will also work as NZ Hereford Youth Ambassadors March. I understand this has received a fantastic following with out to establish.
over the next 12 months. We will be looking to profile them across close to 100 attending. Finally, our Hereford breed dinner and Not just any old red meat, mind. If possible it should be grass-
a number of different means. This team will be announced to all, AGM is on Monday 13th May, followed by the PGG Wrightson fed wagyu or failing that, ordinary grass-fed beef.
during the week of the 11th February. National Show and Sale held on-farm 14th May, 2019. I will be That will be good news to the New Zealand beef industry, with
attending all of these events along with other members of your Beef+Lamb NZ reckoning about 98 per cent of local beef is While grass fed Wagyu is the focus of the study, researchers also
Recently you would have received an email inviting you to take NZHA Board, so please take every opportunity to talk with us and grass-fed. In many countries beef is fed on grain. make the assumption that any high quality grass fed beef would
time to complete a survey around the Hereford indexes used share any insights. The Liggins Institute (based at Auckland University) has provide similar benefits because of the increased Omega 3s and
within our EBV’s. We appreciate that there is never a good time persuaded 45 men aged 35-55 “on the heavy side with slightly other good fats present in grass fed beef.
to conduct surveys. Thank you to those who have completed I am personally looking forward to these events. high cholesterol” to take part in an eight-week study to test the
this, as it will help with understanding how you use indexes as a heart-healing properties of a steak.
selection tool. It is not our intention to make whole sale changes Men only form the study because they have a higher risk of
to our indexes, however the numbers that drive the indexes and heart disease and consume more meat than women.
outcomes are different today than when first set up, e.g Beef Some of them are being fed grass-fed wagyu steaks three times
Schedule and Animal health cost. With this in mind the Technical a week, while others are tucking into grain-fed beef or a soy-
Committee will conduct a review with the BREEDPLAN Technical Talk soon based meat alternative. They do not have a choice over which
Consultant and adjust if required. The council will meet the week Colin Corney, food they consume.
of the 11th February which will be a very busy week, as key President, NZHA Study lead Professor David Cameron-Smith said the Japanese Exceptional marbling in grass fed Hereford Prime processed by
wagyu beef breed was rich in a fat called conjugated linoleic Bowmont Wholesale Meats in Invercargill.
acid, or CLA, and several other so-called “good fats”. But could consumers be just as well protected by eating ordinary
Registry Report While red meat had been identified as a possible source of heart grass-fed beef and not the very expensive wagyu?
disease and colon cancer, most of the evidence has come from
“That’s a consideration, you could expect to have many of the
people looking back at their diets from years later. same benefits,” Milan said.
CALF REGISTRATIONS approx. 5 weeks), please ensure DNA samples being tested to “The trouble is, it’s hard to tell whether these associations are Hawke’s Bay processor First Light promotes itself as specialising
2018 calf registrations due 30th April 2019 - Late meet transfer requirements are taken and sent ASAP. linked to meat, or other diet and lifestyle factors. Another issue in grass-fed beef, including wagyu. Many of its farmer suppliers
registration fees apply from 1st May. is that many studies do not separate out the effects of fresh and use wagyu genetics to produce a meat comparable with the
2019 PGG NATIONAL HEREFORD SHOW AND SALE ENTRY preserved, or processed, red meat. The link to colon cancer is Japanese product.
DNA FOR SIRES Remember that all sires used must have DNA REQUIREMENTS clear for processed meat. Marketing manager Gerard Hickey said the animals were entirely
a DNA profile in order to register any calves by them. NZHA All Hereford entries for the 2019 National Sale will require FULL “But very few scientific studies – this is the first in New Zealand – grass-fed and produced a marbled meat that growers in other
recommends also having them tested for genetic defects. parent verification (sire and dam verification), either by SNP or have extended this research to actually piece together whether countries could only attain through feedlots.
*New NZHA rule – all joining sires born after 1st January microsatellite testing. If you need any clarification on this please a modest intake of good quality, fresh red meat has any positive “We were taking advantage of the swing away from industrialised
2019 must be sire verified using a minimum of a 50K SNP contact the office. or negative impacts on health,” Cameron-Smith said. grain-fed beef. The high marbling scores we were able to
test and NZHA recommends best practice to verify the One of the researchers running the study, Liggins Institute achieve with our wagyu animals finished on grass were the key
dam as well. Hereford grouprun cut off - 3rd of every month research fellow Dr Amber Milan, said the grass-fed aspect was point of difference. Typically, grass-fed animals have an average
the key. marbling score of one to two. Our cattle have an average
SNP DNA testing - for more information please refer to the Kind regards, “The quality of the meat has a pretty big impact [on health] so marbling score of 4.5 on a scale of one to nine.”
NZHA website (under Genomics) MEGAN ELLETT different breeds like wagyu beef or different ways of having beef Researchers will analyse the participants’ blood, urine and
Registry, raised, such as grass-fed, will change the profile of the fats.” stool samples to look for changes in health indicators such
GET YOUR SAMPLES IN EARLY E: megan@pbbnz.com “Grass-fed cows naturally have more omega-3 and other as blood lipids, including cholesterol, and changes in body fat
In preparation for the upcoming sale season and with the move DDI: 06 323 0747 ‘good fats’ like DPA and CLA, which have anti-inflammatory composition.
to SNP DNA technology (with an extended turnaround time of properties. CLA is unique to ruminants because it is They will also check for gut microbiome changes, where they
produced by the bacteria in their guts.” expect to see clear differences between the red meat and
The researchers had not included ordinary grain-fed beef in vegetarian groups. Results are expected by the middle of this
Editor: Posy Moody, NZHA www.herefords.co.nz the study because the effect would have been small, when year.
Address: PO Box 503, Feilding 4740 www.herefordprime.co.nz
Phone: 06 323 4484 compared to measuring the impact of grass-fed wagyu against This story was published on stuff.co.nz and is reproduced
DDI: 06 323 0745 www.facebook.com/nzherefords a grain-fed animal. here with permission.
Fax: 06 323 3878 COMPILED BY Pivot Design, PBBNZ
Email: office@herefords.co.nz
NZ HEREFORD ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER 3