South Devon Cattle Society of New Zealand

There are 17 promising bulls entered from studs situated from all areas of both the North and South Islands. There is a good variety of bloodlines, including both polled and horned bulls.

With a top overall daily weight gain of 1.57kg/day for 2005, 1.60kg/day for 2006, 1.59kg/day for 2007 and 1.38kg/day for 2008 it will be interesting to follow the current group of bulls through to 2011. It will also be interesting to compare how the South Devon bulls compare with the Angus bulls that are being run on the same property under the same trial format and conditions.

All the bulls will be:

Run together in one mob
Grass fed, with summer crop or baleage in reserve
Weighed at monthly intervals
Assessed for structural soundness and docility
Ultra-sound scanned for Eye muscle area, fat depth & intramuscular fat %
Evaluated for fertility & breeding soundness (Beef Expo sale bulls only)

Monthly weight sheets will be emailed to all participants and also available on the website.

Gavin Osbourne is the local co-ordinating contact should you require any information. Please DO NOT phone the property owners direct.

Gavin can be contacted on 06 375 8312 or email: g-mosborne@xtra.co.nz

LOCATION OF BULL TRIAL

The bull trial is located at Maurice and Margaret Berwick's property, Milson Line, Palmerston North. For a detailed map of how to get there use the link below:

http://angusnz.com/beu_location_2.php

IDENTIFICATION OF BULL TRIAL BULLS

Some of the bulls arrived at the Trial without the correct tagging or tattooing requirements. In some cases this made identification very difficult.

Any bulls that do not comply with the Society rules for identification of Registered cattle can not go to Beef Expo until they are tagged correctly. After the bulls have been inspected in March, the bulls that are selected for Beef Expo will have their identifications rechecked.

If there are any that do not comply with the Society rules, the owners will be notified. The appropriate tags will need to be supplied by the owner well before going to Beef Expo. All the bulls going to the Beef Expo sale must also comply with the Animal Health Board tagging requirements.

Bulls that are not selected for Beef Expo, must comply with Animal Health Board regulations before leaving the graziers property. If an unselected bull is returning home or not going direct to slaughter they must have 2 tags. ie: a bar-coded primary tag and a secondary tag. If a bull is being moved directly to slaughter it must have a bar-coded primary tag. It will be individual owners (not the graziers) responsibility to supply replacement tags if any bulls loose tags.

If you have any questions regarding the above information please contact a Board of Management Member.