At Rancho Las Nieves in Spain, the slogan is "Grow Different".
The heifer ranch, in the town of Mallen, is a large and successful commercial contract heifer operation, handling about 8200 heifers and calves from about 140 different clients throughout the north of Spain.
The ranch's owner-operator Ahedo "Pepe" Jose, his brother, Alejandro, who is a dairy specialist, and nutritionist Alex Bach were in Otago recently, outlining their operation and the opportunity to improve performance and farm results through heifers.
While the circumstances between Spain and New Zealand were "completely different", there was still a big opportunity for farmers, wherever, to improve their operation.
"Some ideas, maybe, you can import to your country," Pepe Jose said.
Rancho Las Nieves was developed in June 2002, but, before it was established, the owners visited the United States where Pepe Jose estimated about 25% of heifers were grown on heifer ranches. Unlike Europe, where he believed Rancho Las Nieves was probably the only one, it was very common to see them in the US.
Land levelling started in October 2002 and the first animals entered in January 2004. The occupied surface was 45ha and all feed was bought in.
Calves, usually aged between 14 and 15 days, were picked up from source farms every fortnight and every animal entering the ranch was inspected by a vet and a comprehensive report prepared.
Over the life of the heifer at the ranch, there were 11 zones to organise its growing, each with different objectives.
The operation was targeted at achieving the highest quality possible and the animals were fed to get the highest milk production in the future.
There were 29 salaries paid and the team included two full-time vets.
In 2011, the ranch returned 3954 animals at an average age of 675 days, weight of 616kg and height of 151cm.
The dry, sunny and windy climate was ideal for the operation, and while such a ranch could be designed for a wet climate, it was more difficult as it required more investment and it was also riskier for health, especially in young animals, they said.
At an altitude of 300m, winters were very cold, reaching below zero degC with summer temperatures up to 40degC. Annual rainfall was between about 380mm and 400mm.
The operation was very carefully controlled and managed, with the biggest risk to such a business being health problems. Respiratory illnesses were the most common in such an operation.
There were specifications concerning feed supply and it was constantly analysed.
It was sourced from as far away as 300km.
There was a complete biosecurity programme, with protocols in all areas. Clients could only visit the farm once a year, there was a fence around the ranch and it had vehicles specifically for internal use.
When a heifer left the ranch, all its historical data could be exported back to the farm.