adminThe Zimbabwe Herd Book, in partnership with National Foods Stockfeeds and Nurture Education Trust, have great pleasure in hosting the fifth Beef School for cattle producers. This two-day intensive event takes place on Tuesday October 18 and Wednesday October 19, 2016 at Agricultural Research Trust Farm and an interesting and varied programme has been arranged.
Topics include matching feed resources with the cow production cycle, holistic rangeland management and assessing rangeland health, early selection of beef heifers with reproductive potential and beef production from irrigated pastures.
There will also be presentations on ticks and tick control, global trends in meat quality and talks on the Australian beef industry, including the past, present and future of meat standards and a discussion about Australia’s eating quality journey in a global context.
The first event was held in 2011 under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Herd Book (ZHB) which represents all registered breeds of cattle and sheep in Zimbabwe.
Hosting this school was stimulated by the huge success of the Stockman’s School in South Africa and has a key event on Zimbabwe’s agricultural calendar and plays an important role in building Zimbabwe’s cattle industry. Beef School keeps the country’s cattle producers abreast of important global developments in beef breeding.
World-wide beef production is seeing rapid changes and Zimbabwe is no exception. Dramatic changes have occurred in the production and marketing environment over recent years.
The Beef School brings together local, regional and international experts to present a wide range of topics that influence beef production and the participants share two days of intensive lectures covering world beef trends, advances in genetics, practical management, health, nutrition, economics of production and production systems.
In Zimbabwe, cattle play important economic and social roles including production (tillage, manure, transport); consumption (meat, hides); finance (savings and investment of income) and social obligations (rituals, status and pleasure).
The beef cattle industry therefore has high potential to directly and indirectly to contribute to the economic development of the country.
Zimbabwe has a long history of producing top quality beef, meeting very stringent market requirements of lucrative local and external markets.
Over the past decade the country has seen a major shift in the meat protein industry from a predominantly beef producing and consuming nation to poultry production and consumption.
While the beef cattle population has remained fairly constant at just over five million, 90 percent of these animals are in the small-scale and communal sector.
This has important ramifications from a beef production perspective since cattle in the smallholder sector perform many functions apart from provision of animals for slaughter. Farmers in this sector keep cattle for tillage, manure, transport and as savings or an option for investment of income.
Because of these many functions, slaughter off-take is low at 3,3 percent compared to the national target of 15 percent. In addition, sales from this sector is very seasonal in response to a shock on the household income (as a coping mechanism) or to obtain funds for assets, building, payment of big debts such as hospital bills or school fees. Similarly, there has been a reduction in the average carcass weight from 165 to 200kg.
The enormous changes in Zimbabwe’s production and marketing environment necessitate paradigm shifts in management, inputs and marketing. Improving the competitiveness of the beef sector in Zimbabwe will require farmers to raise their management levels to achieve greater productivity.
This includes achieving higher calving rates, lowering age at first calving, enhanced use of superior genetics, lowering mortality rates, increasing off-take rate and improving carcass yields. Zimbabwe has one of the highest cattle population densities in the region – more than twice those in Zambia, South Africa and Botswana.
Thus any increase in beef production has to come from productivity improvement. The Beef School provides a valuable and much needed venue for producers and professionals to deliberate and share ideas to foster the growth and expansion of the beef industry.
Keynote speaker, Dr Kim Matthews, Head of Animal Breeding and Product Quality at the United Kingdom’s Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board, will set the tone in a presentation on how to meet consumer expectations and will examine meat quality from all angles – breeding and genetics, finishing cattle for prime beef, right through to meat grading and marketing.
Sarah Strachan from Australia will discuss the Australian beef industry. Prof James Gambiza, originally from Zimbabwe but now a Professor at Rhodes University, is an expert on rangeland management.
Professor Holm from South Africa will share new ideas about cow productivity and selection of beef heifers with reproductive potential.
Dr Douglas Bruce, well known large animal veterinarian in Zimbabwe, will discuss ticks and tick control and provide the latest technical information about these important pests. Dr Austin Jeans makes a welcome return to the Beef School to discuss the latest trends and research in low carb – high fat human nutrition.
Registration for the event is essential and the cost is $350 per person, inclusive of all teas, lunches and course notes. For further information, please contact [email protected] or telephone 04 756 600 or 777 391.
Meat Fair 2016
Zimbabwe Herd Book is also hosting the inaugural Meat Fair 2016. This is the first event of its kind in Zimbabwe and is a half day workshop.
Members of the public, cattle producers, abattoir operators, butchers, retailers and interested stakeholders in the livestock industry are very welcome to attend.
Dr Kim Matthews and Sarah Strachan will discuss processing, packaging and retailing beef in both the United Kingdom and Australia.
Understanding fat colour and its relation to consumer eating quality will be presented by Sarah Strachan and is particularly relevant to the Zimbabwean beef industry.
Range feeding and yellow maize, now being used in the manufacture of livestock feeds, results in yellow fat. The Meat Fair provides an opportunity to present the relevant facts regarding yellow fat.
Registration for the event is essential and the cost is $50 per person, inclusive of tea and lunch. For further information, please contact [email protected] or telephone 04 756 600 or 777 391.
Online Reporter