The Hereford breed’s climatic adaptability and market acceptance has made it the perfect fit for a new breeding nucleus project in China.
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More than 350 stud and commercial Hereford heifers were purchased from southern NSW Hereford stud, Injemira, by Frontier International Agri on behalf of a Chinese breeder.
The unjoined heifers, aged 10-13 months, are in Australian quarantine awaiting departure from Portland in November.
It is Australia’s first live shipment of Hereford heifers to China, according to the International Livestock Resource and Information Centre.
The heifers will embark on a 16-day journey to China’s Dalian port where they will spend another 30 days in quarantine before being trucked the 1100km to their new home.
The heifers are destined for the Heilongjiang Province, in far North East China.
Once the heifers reach joinable weights, they will be artificially inseminated with semen from Injemira sires.
Injemira Beef Genetics principal Marc Greening said shipments of live bulls were planned for the future.
Mr Greening said the Herefords adaptability to a cold climate and point of difference in the market against the existing Angus product made the breed a “perfect fit’’ for the Chinese project.
“The Hereford is exactly what this breeder is looking for as they are quality beef animals that will produce beef for the high end market while providing a point of differentiation for marketing a branded beef product,’’ he said.
“It is great news for the Hereford breed as the Hereford is a perfectly suited animal for this region and has great branding potential for the Chinese beef industry.’’
Mr Greening said future plans included opening the market to Injemira bull buying clients.
He said this particularly applied to southern producers below the blue tongue line.
“The feeder steer market is going to go crazy over there – a 50,000 head feedlot was built within seven months and there are approvals for another two,’’ he said.
Mr Greening said China was not an easy market to penetrate as the requirements were exacting but the potential was exciting.
Frontier International’s George Last said Injemira genetics were selected by the Chinese breeder for the stud’s proven record of live export of breeding females to Russia and Kazakhstan over the past eight years.