Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
- Predictability and sustainability equal genetic stability. These are the three cornerstones of Chippy Watson’s breeding programmes at Vova Genetics.
- The only way to make sure the industry remains profitable in the long term, he believes, is to introduce the best genetics possible and to improve management systems.
- He has relied exclusively on frozen in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
- “Cow lines,” he says, “form the basis of our selection programme. We try and ‘stack’ an animal with as many top cow lines as possible.
- Chippy is making use of sexed semen to produce more female than male calves.
Predictability, sustainability and equal genetic stability. These are the three cornerstones of Chippy Watson’s breeding programmes at Vova Genetics.
Chippy started his Vova Beefmasters stud in 2011 on the farm Glenside on the banks of the uMzimkhulu river near Underberg. In 2012 he also started the Vova Droughtmaster stud. His aim is to produce hardy, fertile cattle with good milking ability that deliver a small calf and produce excellent weaners that also perform in the feedlot and reduce labour costs.
The only way to make sure the industry remains profitable in the long term, he believes, is to introduce the best genetics possible and to improve management systems. Commercial cattlemen in South Africa will survive by cutting costs, generating higher prices, and running functionally efficient cattle.
Embryo flushing
From the outset, he used embryo technology in a bid to establish the best genetics in his herd as quickly as possible. Since around 2017, he has relied exclusively on frozen in vitro fertilisation (IVF). Currently, his success rate with IVF is around 51% with some programme results as high as 80%.
“The older embryo flushing techniques were harsh on cows, with too much disruption to the cows for my liking. IVF, on the other hand, is far less invasive. You can start collecting the oocytes from 30 days after calving up to three and a half months into pregnancy. So, you can get your cows pregnant while collecting oocytes.”
Chippy uses In Vitro Africa in Parys in the Free State. Although individual cows differ greatly, he gets an average of approximately eight embryos per cow per collection using the IVF technology. He finds that the production and viability of embryos very much runs in family lines, meaning if a mother produces many oocytes, her daughters will more than likely also be productive.
Only the best
“Cow lines,” he says, “form the basis of our selection programme. We try and ‘stack’ an animal with as many top cow lines as possible. This gives us much more consistency and predictability, and more confidence in that we can predict with relative certainty the value and quality of young heifers entering the breeding programme.”
He is no longer hesitant to use ovum pick-up (OPU) in heifers of 14 months, as he knows what the result will be given the stable lineage of those animals. Pedigree, he believes, equals predictability and consistency in breeding.
Over time he has made a fundamental shift in his approach to breeding. Whereas previously he believed in selecting from a large herd population, he now concentrates on identifying the truly superior animals from the population and stacking those animals with genetics from proven cow families by putting the best to the best.
“I think the large population approach worked very well for a while, as you get the best to rise to the top through selection pressure in a large population. Unfortunately, there is no genetic stability there, as you get superior animals popping up but then they just disappear back into the large pot. So, my approach now is to try and mate the best with the best, and select from those matings. In this way you should make genetic progress much quicker by multiplying the best on the best instead of continually diluting back to the average of the whole herd.”
International genetics
Another very important point in selecting genes from overseas, he says, is to not try and replicate the type of animal that is successful in another country, but rather to infuse specific traits into your own herd while retaining the basic phenotype that has proven successful in your own environment.
Taking the Australian Droughtmaster as an example, he points out the traits that made the breed so successful in the harsh Australian climate: the hair quality, loose skin and very smooth tropical coat that make the breed more heat, tick and fly resistant, longevity, walking and foraging ability – these are the traits he is infusing into his own herd, but without losing the type of animal that is economically relevant for the South African markets.
“An aspect that is very much dependent on your environment is mature cow size. The efficient cow produces a calf of around 50% of her own bodyweight. So, if the optimum weaning weight in South Africa is 240kg, there is no point in having cows heavier than around 480 to 520kg. With smaller cows, you can also carry more of them than heavier cows, which means more weaner calves. Our aim, therefore, is to produce a more moderately framed cow with specific traits that will produce an optimal weaner easily year in and year out.”
Breeding superior animals
Vova Genetics, says Chippy, is a seed stock producer. “We aim to breed superior animals that will make a marked difference in other studs as well as commercial herds.
In the Droughtmaster breeding programme, they identify the best genetics in Australia to use in their IVF programme, and on the Beefmaster side they target what they perceive to be the best local genetics. Beefmaster genetics in South Africa, he believes, are much better than anywhere else in the world.
Although pedigree and cow lines remain the basis of his breeding programme, he does not ignore breeding values, and more recently also genomics. What initially attracted him to the Beefmaster was the six essentials formulated by the founder of the breed in the United States, Tom Lasater.
“I have come to realise that those six essentials should be the basis of any production system. The fact that I took a different approach to multiply the top of the top through IVF technology does not mean that I have moved away from those principles. In fact, I have found that the deeper and more stable my pedigrees become, the easier it is to stick to the six essentials, breeding animals that are adapted and suited to your environment and production system.”
No fuss, robust animals
Despite the high-tech approach to breeding, their management system remains very robust and extensive, and no animal is wrapped in cotton wool.
“Most of the older breeding cows are here on Glenside, while all the young stock are weaned and shipped off to our farm, The Crown, in the Swartberg area. We run all our young animals together, whether commercial or in tough mountainous conditions where they must show that they are capable of thriving. The stud and commercial cows are also run together after weaning.”
The biggest challenge in this area, he says, is producing enough feed to get through winter. But on a practical level his IVF programme, in which he uses his entire commercial herd as recipient cows, means he has to manage at least four breeding seasons.
“We manage a June, August, November, and December IVF programme. As a result, our calves are spread over a long period. Our winter grass has very little nutrition but with the addition of good licks, and by resting camps for winter, I believe one can carry cattle way into winter – as late as August. That means the period you really have to provide extra feed in is actually fairly short – perhaps five to six weeks.”
Genetic variety
Although he runs a fairly large cow herd, the genetic variety among the calves born is actually very narrow. In the last calving season, for example, he had 399 embryo calves born from perhaps 20 cows. “At our last auction we sold a three-in-one cow that has 122 registered calves on the ground, and there are more in the pipeline. Our value, without doubt, lies in the cows and not so much in the bulls.”
For this reason Chippy is making use of sexed semen to produce more female than male calves. Without a top cow herd, you cannot breed bulls, he believes. “Especially in the composite breeds, only around 12 to 15% of bull calves born go to sale one day. With your females, on the other hand, you will only lose around 15 to 20%. This again illustrates the value of good females from the point of view of a sound economic enterprise.”
The new technology currently at play, he says, enables him to speed up genetic improvement quite dramatically. “I have heifers here that I flushed at 14 months. They’ve had five or six calves on the ground even before they calved down themselves for the first time. Not only do I speed up the generation interval but I am also increasing the number of calves per cow.” – Izak Hofmeyr, Plaas Media
For more information, phone Chippy Watson on 082 863 4975.
