Aus beef strengthens Kazakh herds

About 19,000 Angus heifers have been sent to Kazakhstan since 2007 to establish a few large-scale beef herds.

SA's Bruce and Libby Creek have been the driving force behind one of these ventures, Sever Agro N near Karabalyk, 50 kilometres south of the Russian border.

Mr Creek has been building the 7000-hectare property from the ground-up with the Kazakh directors.

Their son Will is the livestock manager at Sever Agro N and his partner Jess is an agronomist.

Since 2011 Sever Agro N has imported 3400 heifers, which have been performance recorded on Angus Australia Breedplan.

About 1000 of these were airfreighted to Kazakhstan's capital Astana and then trucked 1000 kilometres by road to the property.

The remainder were unloaded at the Nov-orossiysk port in Russia and trucked 3000km.

Angus bulls have been sourced from four leading Australian studs.

The first 350 heifers are due to calve for the third time in May-June, and the second consignment imported in 2012 are due with their second calf.

With the Kazakh Black and Terra cow herds well into their breeding cycles, the business is entering the next phase of its vertical integration, processing its own beef.

Last month Sever Agro N's owners and directors spent six days in SA with the Creeks inspecting abattoirs, feedlots, saleyards and butchers.

Mr Creek says they were very interested in understanding each stage of the process chain from paddock to plate, and the quality and welfare practices we have in Australia.

"We hope to turn-off cattle at a carcaseweight of about 240 kilograms at about 16 months to 18 months," he said.

Kazakhstan is one of the world's largest wheat producers but one of the directors Alshan Khabiyev says it also has a growing appetite for beef.

"Most of the beef we eat is piece meat (from all different cuts) on skewers but people are starting to eat steak," he said.

"A steak that is $30 here would be $100 in Kazakhstan because it has to be imported in cryvac.

"We can now understand the direction Bruce has been working towards and the opportunities available to us in beef processing."

Sever Agro N plans to grow its herd considerably converting some of the 100,000 hectares of cropping land to beef production.

"We are looking at changing whole cropping farms to beef but still growing our own hay and grain to feed," he said.

"Kazakhstan produces five times more grain than we consume so we need to look at diversification. A lot of people realise cattle are a good business."

Establishing a large-scale beef herd in a country where most families own only one or two dairy cows which are kept in a barn during winter and grazed with a Kazakh cowboy in spring and summer is no easy feat.

The hard work is paying off with significant infrastructure including hundreds of kilometres of fencing, cattleyards, and a sophisticated watering system which brings water up from below the ground and a heating unit to prevent the troughs freezing over.

Ninety per cent of these agricultural materials have been sourced from Australia.

The biggest challenge, according to Mr Creek, is the environment but he says southern Australian cattle have acclimatised well.

He has been pleased with the conception rates of the heifers which are mated in the paddocks prior to entering winter confinement, and says the calves are achieving similar growth rates to those on Australian farms.

They make the most of growth after snowmelt in spring which adds about 150 millimetres to their 75mm annual rainfall.

Both Mr Creek and Mr Khabiyev see further imports of unmated yearling Angus heifers as likely.

"For Australian cattle, whether they are Angus or Herefords, live exports should be a continuously good market. Hopefully Russia will re-enter the market and China is showing good signs of being a large importer," Mr Creek said.

He said they preferred Australian Angus cattle for their good genetics, disease-free status and traceability.