The New Zealand agriculture sector is seen by many as the pinnacle of low-cost dairy farming. Like Ireland, it has a grass-based system, which promotes and encourages low inputs. Unlike many parts of Ireland, cows are on grass for 365 days of the year.

Dairy and New Zealand. New Zealand and dairying. Like strawberries and cream. Like Kilkenny and hurling. The two go hand in hand.

Like Ireland, the red meat sector is seen by some as the poor relation. The perception is that drystock farmers are lesser farmers compared with their dairy farming equivalent.

Unlike Ireland, beef farmers are making strong profits. The New Zealand beef sector is booming. Indeed, it is largely down to the performance of the beef and horticulture sectors, which has resulted in the New Zealand economy remaining stable during the dairy downturn. Each time the dairy sector has suffered in New Zealand, the overall economy also went into freefall.

Speaking at the second day of Fieldays, the New Zealand equivalent of the National Ploughing Championships, Minister for Agriculture Nathan Guy singled out the beef sector for supporting farming during the dairy woes.

“As we all know, it has been a challenging year for the dairy industry with continuing global price volatility. At the same time though, it has been a stellar year for other sectors – particularly beef.”

Up to the year ending June 2016, New Zealand will have processed 661,000t of beef and veal, up from 463,000t last year driven by large volumes of dairy cows being culled. The value of beef exported was NZ$3.2bn (€2.1bn).

Beef prices averaged NZ$4.92/kg (€3.14/kg) and farmers have much lower input costs than in Ireland, with grazing taking place all year round and no housing costs. Farmers are receiving, on average, NZ$1,700 (€1,100) for cattle from processors, with weanling cattle making approximately NZ$900 (€580)/head. The majority of beef cattle are Angus, Angus X, Hereford and Belted Galloway.

Minister Guy’s department is forecasting that “beef prices (will) continue to come down from 2015 highs due to recovering herds in Australia and the US, combined with increasing competition from Brazil.”

It is also forecasting some pressures in the export market. “Brazilian competition in our main beef markets (the US and China) is expected to keep prices in check in the medium term. Access for chilled meat into China could have positive impacts on the value of future meat exports, but it may be some time before these benefits are realised,” Minister Guy said.

Despite these concerns, New Zealand still has access to the two largest importers of beef in the world, China and the US.

In 2015, China imported 474,700t of beef with 70,000t coming from New Zealand, a 74% increase on the previous year.

New Zealand and China are working together to facilitate the trade of chilled meat into China. Australia is the only country with the ability to export chilled meat to China but it is only doing so on a trial basis.

Over 144,000t was shipped to the US last year, although forecasts are showing a reduction in that number for the next season due to the rebuilding of the national herd.

The New Zealand processing sector is different to the Irish sector. There are four main processors who concentrate solely on exporting. These include ANZCO, Greenlea and Silver Fern Farms. There are smaller exporting processors and those which target the domestic market only. Butchers source their meat from processors and rarely have their own slaughter facilities.

It is the choice of farmers to bring their produce to either an export or domestic processor depending on the price.

David Kidd Helensville, Auckland

David Kidd (pictured below) is a progressive and award-winning farmer from just outside of Helensville on the country’s North Island.

Kidd, a former banker, farms 550ha of mainly grassland where he keeps 1,200 head of stock including 150 cows. Kidd buys in weanling bulls and heifers. He brings all bulls, steers and heifers to finish between 20 and 30 months of age.

Kidd summed up the mood of beef farmers in New Zealand.

“There’s a fair bit of positivity around the beef sector and beef farmers at present,” Kidd, who was the 2014 Young Farmer of the Year, explained.

“The good thing for us is the competition. You have four main processors who export and then you have another three who ship a bit too and then you have smaller abattoirs who are focused on the domestic market. It is up to you as a beef farmer to decide on what you want to do with your cattle.

“I think the fair way of saying it is that mood is good. The sector is sustainable. New Zealand beef farmers can compare with dairy prices on the world stage,” he said.

For Kidd, the future of beef farming in New Zealand is simple: low borrowings, low costs and high exports.

“Dairy farming can carry debt, beef can’t. You have to keep costs to minimum and let it run off the smell of an oily rag… You should grow grass and let the four legged mowers do all the work.

“We could consume ourselves to death and we would have only eaten a 10th of what we produce, so we have to be totally export-focused.”

While profits are strong for beef farmers at present, Kidd does not want to see the reintroduction of subsidies, which New Zealand abolished in the mid-1980s. He believes that subsidies do not help European farmers.

“Of all the problems I have with the EU, CAP is the biggest one. It supports farmers to farm in areas and systems that they just shouldn’t be doing. Us getting rid of subsidies was the best thing that happened for New Zealand farmers,” he added.

Paul Bodle Morrinsville, Waikato

Paul Bodle (pictured) is a dairy, beef and sheep, as well as kale and manuka, farmer from near Morrinsville in the dairy heartland of the Waikato region.

While he plans also to get into poultry farming, Bodle’s primary enterprise is dairying, although he confesses to being a beef farmer first and foremost. The red meat sector has taken on increasing importance to him as dairy prices have.

Of his 850ha of total farmland, Bodle has 390ha dedicated to his beef and sheep enterprises.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal on his farm near Morrinsville, Bodle explained the system he uses.

“I buy in store animals, they are all steers and heifers. We take in about 650 animals mostly weaners (weanlings) but they are rising up to two years of age. They are all Angus and Angus X. I run a Hereford bull with my dairy herd to take care of cows after AI,” Bodle explained.

While prices are strong and demand is set to remain broadly positive, Bodle has expressed concerns with how finishers can continue to make profit in the face of competitive issues.

He said that beef farmers like him are “nervous” at how expensive weanling cattle are becoming. He said the margins for finishers are getting tighter and they could become exposed if the US ups beef output on the back of “cheaper grain”.