Dairy Farmers Encouraged to Enhance Collaboration with Beef Industry
Prem Maan, co-founder and executive chairman of Southern Pastures, has called on dairy farmers to form stronger partnerships with the beef industry. Speaking at Beef+Lamb NZ's Out The Gate 2026 event, Maan emphasized the importance of dairy farmers producing beef calves instead of traditional bobby calves, which he says are no longer viable under current social licenses.
Southern Pastures has taken steps to address this by partnering with Hawke's Bay bull breeders Rissington Cattle, utilizing their Angus-based Profit Maker genetics to produce high-quality beef calves. Maan highlighted that every dairy beef calf from Southern Pastures is now bred specifically for beef systems, focusing on growth rates, temperament, and carcass quality.
Feedback from beef finishers has been positive, with calves being described as consistent and predictable. Southern Pastures, in collaboration with Taylor Preston and Wilson Hellaby, has established the Better Beef Collective. This initiative encourages data-driven collaboration among dairy farmers, beef breeders, rearers, and finishers to enhance supply chain outcomes.
Southern Pastures aims to produce 6,000 beef calves, a number that requires careful planning and coordination. The Better Beef Collective facilitates this by arranging small deposits from finishers for future calves, ensuring they are born and delivered to specifications. This system allows for better information capture compared to traditional markets, improving efficiency and product quality.
The program also involves testing beef products at top Auckland restaurants, where feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Such trials are crucial as they confirm market demand for the product.
Southern Pastures remains committed to reducing its carbon footprint, an important factor for UK supermarkets. According to Maan, New Zealand's grass-fed pastoral farming is among the most emissions-efficient globally, and integrating beef production from dairy herds enhances this efficiency further.
Maan envisions a future where technologies like Halter enable beef and sheep farmers to intensively manage grass farming, leading to significant productivity gains for the country. This vision underscores the intertwined nature of dairy and beef farming, with both sectors benefiting from enhanced collaboration.
