World Hereford Conference
New Zealand Presentation

Each member country of the World Hereford Council is invited to give a short presentation on their country and an update on their Hereford community.

Click here to view New Zealand’s country report given at the 15th World Hereford Conference, held in Copenhagen, June 2008

World Hereford conference, 2008

Travellers Tales From Europe

By Jan Wills

Thirty-five New Zealanders travelled to the 15th World Hereford conference and enjoyed the pre and post tours in Scandinavia.

Four countries, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway combined their resources to host the Hereford events and although most of their members have off farm incomes, or additional occupations, they love their Herefords and were thrilled that we had travelled so far to visit them.

The hospitality we received was quite overwhelming and we all have wonderful memories and tales to tell. There will be full reports of our visits at a later date. The Highland Show in Edinburgh was taking place just three days before the pre tour in Finland.

The President of the Scottish Hereford Society had invited me to attend the show on my way to Helsinki and said that if I would like to bring a few friends along with me that they would also be very welcome. President, Mr John Brown, was surprised when I arrived with 25 friends! However he arranged a most enjoyable stop over for us.

Show day was very cold and windy. Apparently quite normal for the Highland Show but unless one had packed a very warm jacket it was almost impossible to stand and enjoy the Hereford judging.

The judge was Don Robbie (Otapawa) and it was good to see our New Zealand judge in action. I stayed at the ring- side until the Supreme Champion was selected. The award went to a 27-month-old bull, Baldinnie 1 Cranmore. He was by the South American sire Leos Pride 1 Vanquish and owned by John and Margaret Cameron.

We were guests of the Scottish Hereford Society at their annual dinner that evening. The Chef probably cursed us as John Brown had ignored the normal menu and especially selected salmon for the entrée, Hereford steak for the main and then special strawberries and raspberries for dessert. The meal was quite delicious.

Donald Robbie, jugding at the Highland Show.

The after dinner speaker was Donald Biggar and it was then that I realised that the language portion of my brain was dead. Donald started his speech in English but gradually progressed into a Scottish brogue which I did not have a hope of understanding.

My school-girl French had not ignited my language brain and as the tour progressed into Scandinavia, I realised that I was really hopeless at understanding or attempting any foreign languages. Next day John escorted us around the Fife area. We visited John and Margaret Cameron’s farm which was quite amazing.

John began by telling us how he needed subsidies to survive but during his introduction most of us were just staring in amazement at his wonderful storage sheds, wintering barns and machinery. The capital expenditure involved would make most New Zealand bank managers fly right off their swivel chairs.

We all boarded a big long trailer and went on a farm tour. The cows were literally grazing in clover. The clover leaves were huge and apparently they had never experienced bloat.

Farm tours on the back of a trailer.

After a short walk around Ruby Bay and the Elie lighthouse point we were treated to a lunch at a fishing village.

The luncheon was also sponsored by the Scottish Hereford members. John included a short visit to the St Andrews golf course. Most of us purchased a memento from one of the many pro shops which frame the 18th green. We were then treated to another beef farm visit and a trailer ride. The views of the country-side were quite spectacular. John Brown’s brother-in–law owned a berry farm and we inspected the place where the berries we had dined on the night before had been grown.

The whole operation depended on one extremely energetic man and I hated to think what would happen to the enterprise if that man did not turn up one morning. We all enjoyed our day in the Fife area. Next day we flew to Helsinki.

I was lucky enough to have a window seat and had great views of Poland, the Baltic sea and the Archipelagos. It was amazing scenery. Our first official visit in Finland was to the Thorsvik Hereford stud owned by Tina and Antti Herlin.

As with all the properties we visited the history of the farm was really interesting. Antti’s great grandfather purchased Thorsvik in 1912 and farmed the land until 1941. In 1944 unwelcome tenants arrived from the East, as the entire area around the Porkkala peninsular was leased to the soviet union as a naval base after the war.

When the Herlin family returned to the area in 1956 all the wooden buildings had been destroyed and snow covered the floors of the main building. Antti’s parents re-established the farm which had produced milk until 1944.

The milk was transported across to Helsinki by water in the summertime and across the ice in winter. The first Herefords were introduced in 1975 and today they have approximately 50 breeding Herefords and a few Angus which graze 50ha of pasture in summer.

About 250ha are in crops and there is about 400ha of cultivated forest. Antti served as CEO of the Kone corporation until 2006. Kone is one of the worlds leading elevator companies and Antti is still the main shareholder of that company. After we looked at the Herefords and buildings we walked to the garden and entertainment building.

The garden extends down to a jetty and boat house. In summer Antti takes his boat to work to avoid the traffic.

A big wooden building set just apart from the house was the venue for our dinner.

Commuting to work in a boat avoids traffic.

This lodge was used for entertaining and a huge open fire cooked the steak. It a great place for a party and the five piece band playing in the garden really set the scene. Although it was still daylight when we left the party to return to our hotel there was only an hour or so left before sunrise. Sleep was the one commodity we had to learn to do without while away.

As we made our way across Finland and Sweden towards Copenhagen and the conference we enjoyed wonderful food, wine, Herefords and camaraderie with our fellow breeders.

There were lots of highlights on the way and these will be published in due course – keep an eye out on the website or in coming editions of the RedRag.

Back to Top