Keeping cattle in New Zealand

Why keep cattle

Lifestyle-block owners keep cattle to manage grass, raise a steer or two for the freezer, rear calves to sell, or milk a house cow. Artificially reared dairy-beef calves supply about 65% of New Zealand’s beef.

Small breeds are popular on blocks. Dexter cows stand about a metre tall, weigh 300–350 kg, and need less in the way of fences and yards. Lowlines are about 30% smaller than Angus and known for being docile. Highlands do well on rough grazing but have horns. A Jersey house cow gives about 13–15 litres of milk a day and a Dexter 8–10, for 8–9 months after each calving.

Space, water, and handling

Cattle are herd animals and can become panicked or depressed on their own, so keep at least two. Stocking rates vary a lot with region, pasture, and season. Northland Regional Council’s very rough guide is 2–5 adult cattle per hectare on good flat country and 1–3 on rough country, and it warns that many lifestyle blocks are overstocked. Drier regions such as Canterbury carry fewer.

Mature cattle eat about 2% of their bodyweight in dry matter a day (feed weighed with its water left out) and young stock about 3%, so the young-stock estimate for a 200 kg steer is about 6 kg. These are rough guides; ask your vet or livestock adviser to plan feed for the animal’s age, condition and stage of growth. An adult drinks about 45 litres of water a day, a milking cow 70–150 litres, and intake rises sharply in hot, humid weather. The law requires enough clean water, shelter from cold, and a way to escape heat.

Electric fences are the usual way to break-feed: giving cattle a fresh strip of pasture at a time. You also need somewhere safe to handle cattle: at least a holding pen and a race or crush for vet work and loading. A race is a narrow passage for moving cattle in single file; a crush holds one animal still for handling. Handle bulls with care. WorkSafe advises never moving a difficult bull on foot or alone, never getting into the race with large cattle, and never standing between a cow and her calf without a barrier. Hand-reared animals and bulls can be less fearful of people and more aggressive.

Names for cattle

New Zealand farmers describe cattle by age as much as by sex, so the R terms are worth knowing when buying or selling.

Cow

A female that has had a calf.

Heifer

A young female, usually one that has not had a calf yet.

Bull

An uncastrated male.

Steer

A castrated male, usually raised for beef.

Bullock

An older steer.

Calf

A young animal still on milk.

Bobby calf

A surplus dairy calf, usually male, sent for slaughter within days of birth.

Weaner

A calf around weaning age. Beef calves are weaned at about 5–8 months.

Yearling

An animal between one and two years old.

R1, R2, R3

Rising one-, two-, or three-year-old. An R2 heifer is in her second year.

Springer

A cow or heifer close to calving, usually within about two weeks.

In calf and empty

Pregnant, and not pregnant.

Dry cow and drying off

A cow not being milked, and stopping milking before she calves again.

Carryover cow

An empty cow dried off and kept to be mated the next season.

Freemartin

A heifer born twin to a bull calf. She is usually infertile.

House cow and nurse cow

A cow milked for the household, and a cow rearing calves that aren’t her own.

MA cow

Mixed-age cow: one that has calved at least once, typically 2–10 years old.

Mob or herd

A group of cattle managed together.

Gypsy Day

1 June, when many dairy herds and sharemilkers move farms.

Rearing a calf

• Colostrum is the first milk after calving. Give it as soon as possible after birth. DairyNZ’s example for a 40 kg calf is about 4 litres of high-quality colostrum across two feeds within the first 12 hours. Check quality with a Brix refractometer, a tool that tests the milk: DairyNZ’s target is 22% or higher. Ask your vet or calf-rearing adviser to help plan and check feeding.
• Ask your vet or calf-rearing adviser for a feeding plan based on the calf’s weight, age and health. Follow the milk replacer’s mixing and feeding instructions, and agree when to change the amount or number of feeds.
• Offer meal, hay, and water from early on. Agree a weaning plan with your vet or calf-rearing adviser. For dairy calves, DairyNZ checks daily intake of at least 1 kg of meal or 2 kg of pasture, along with weight for breed, age, health and ability to compete in the group. Reduce milk gradually over 1–2 weeks and monitor how the calf eats and grows. The right weaning weight depends on breed and the rearing system.
• Check calves at least twice a day for changes in feeding, alertness, breathing and movement. Clean feeding equipment and keep bedding fresh and dry. Separate sick calves from healthy calves, and clean their pen and equipment. Agree a calf-health plan with your vet, including when to call for help.
• Arrange disbudding with your vet early. Timing depends on horn-bud development; agree who will perform it, the pain relief and aftercare, and check current MPI requirements.
• Agree a calf vaccination plan with your vet, including clostridial disease and leptospirosis. Follow the chosen product’s age, dose and booster instructions.
• Tag and register calves on time: tagging and registration have separate deadlines, and both are needed before a first move unless an exemption applies. See the NAIT rules below and OSPRI’s calf guidance.

Regular jobs

Health problems to watch for

• Bloat can quickly become fatal. Watch for a swollen belly, especially on the left, difficult or rapid breathing, restlessness and drooling. Call your vet urgently if you suspect bloat and follow their treatment advice. Severe cases need immediate help; do not rely on a prevention product to treat an emergency.
• Facial eczema, usually January to May in warm, humid weather. Affected cattle seek shade, and pale skin turns red, thick, and peeling. For every visible case there may be ten hidden ones.
• Milk fever is low blood calcium around calving. It often starts within 24 hours after calving but can occur two or three days later. Affected cows may still be standing. Call your vet promptly if a cow seems unwell around calving, and urgently if she cannot stand.
• Grass staggers is caused by low magnesium. Signs include nervousness, stiff movement and staggering; it can be fatal. Call your vet urgently if you suspect it. Ryegrass staggers is a different condition, caused by a pasture toxin, and can cause shaking and falls. Keep affected cattle calm and ask your vet for a diagnosis and management plan.
• Scours means diarrhoea. Watch for dehydration, including sunken eyes and skin that is slow to flatten after a gentle pinch. Ask your vet for a treatment plan. Keep feeding milk; electrolytes do not replace its food value. Follow the electrolyte label and your vet’s advice on amounts and spacing from milk feeds. Call a vet urgently if a calf cannot stand, has a weak or absent suck, or has a cold, dry mouth. Oral electrolytes alone are not enough for severe dehydration.
• Lameness and pinkeye.
• Mycoplasma bovis: OSPRI manages the national programme. Keep NAIT records up to date and check OSPRI for current surveillance and disease guidance.

What cattle cost to keep

These figures are approximate planning examples. Confirm feed quantities, treatment needs and current prices, including GST, delivery and whole-pack purchases, with suppliers and your vet before budgeting.

NAIT tags cost about $6–$10 each, bought once per animal. You also buy products by the pack: a 500 mL pour-on drench is about $130 and a 12-pack of zinc capsules about $196. Vet visits, yards, and the animals themselves are extra; compact steel cattle yards cost $10,000–$30,000. Home kill for a beef animal costs about $185–$260 to kill, plus about $2–$2.90 a kilogram to cut and pack.

What it costs to rear a calf

These figures are approximate planning examples. Confirm feed quantities, treatment needs and current prices, including GST, delivery and whole-pack purchases, with suppliers and your vet before budgeting.

Add the calf itself, NAIT tags, vaccines, disbudding, and any vet care.

New Zealand rules

• NAIT: register as a person in charge of animals (PICA) within 48 hours after the end of the day you take charge, and register each location. Tag cattle before they reach 180 days old or leave the property, whichever comes first. Register them within seven days of tagging or before their first move, whichever comes first. Record sending and receiving movements within 48 hours after the end of the movement day. Check OSPRI’s exemptions, including eligible bobby calves. Pet cattle are covered too; record deaths and homekills.
• Cattle movements need an Animal Status Declaration (ASD); check OSPRI’s special arrangements for bobby calves going to slaughter and its record-keeping guidance.
• Before disbudding, dehorning or castration, check MPI’s current rules with your vet, including who may perform the procedure, pain relief and aftercare.
• Before transporting young calves, check MPI’s current age, fitness, feeding, loading and journey requirements with your vet and transporter. Do not move a calf that is unfit to travel.
• TB testing depends on location and herd status; ask OSPRI when your herd is due. In a Movement Control Area, cattle over three months old generally need a clear test within 60 days before moving. Direct-to-slaughter movements are excepted, and other exemptions need OSPRI approval. C1 herds have extra movement and testing requirements; check before arranging transport.
• Homekill meat cannot be sold, bartered or traded. Before booking, check MPI’s current rules for animal owners and listed homekill providers, including who can use the service, any care period and who may receive the meat.
• The Code of Welfare: Sheep and Beef Cattle sets the minimum standards for food, water, shelter, and handling. Check MPI for the current version.