Page 109 - NZ Herefords Magazine 2018

The Hereford Year

Will Gibson with Foulden Hill Mustang, winner of the Senior Meat and Wool Cup at the Canterbury A&P Show, and his parents,
Liz and Anton Gibson, who were runner-up with their 2-year-old Santa Gertrudis cow with calf at foot.

Herefords dominant

at Canterbury

WORDS REBECCA HARPER PHOTOGRAPHS AMY HOOGENBOOM & TONY STEWART, PHOTOSHOTS

A WIN IN THE PRESTIGIOUS Senior Meat and Wool Cup with want to win. To win (the Meat and Wool Cup) was pretty unreal.”
yearling Hereford bull, Foulden Hill Mustang, capped off a record- Will, who works for the New Zealand Merino Company, has
setting Canterbury A&P Show for Will Gibson and his family. been keen on breeding and genetics from a young age, starting
The Gibsons, from Middlemarch, became the first exhibitor his own sheep flock when he was 10. The money he earned
in the show’s history to take the one-two, winning both the from the sheep enabled him to purchase his first four Hereford
Senior Meat and Wool Cup and taking runner-up with their cows in 2009, sourced from the Braxton dispersal sale.
2-year-old Santa Gertrudis cow with calf at foot. “Hereford has always been a breed that’s been run within
Will and Foulden Hill Mustang completed a clean sweep our farming family. I didn’t want to be just another Angus
at the show, winning Supreme Champion Hereford, the inter- breeder; Herefords are as good a breed and I couldn’t see why
breed competition, and both the Junior and Senior Meat and it wouldn’t be worth investing in. In showing the Santas we had
Wool Cups, something Will understands is also a first for the really clicked with the Hereford breeders too.”
show. “For a junior to win the senior it’s very unusual.” Will felt the Herefords would be a good contrast to the Santa
Even when the bull came through the Hereford and inter- stud his parents already operated and it would work well to
breed judging so strongly, Will was not expecting the Meat and have the two breeds on the property.
Wool Cup, particularly the senior title. “To win the inter-breed Because Foulden Hill is a newer stud, showing the animals
and Junior Meat and Wool Cup was great but the Senior I was helps lift their profile, and Will says EBVs are a big part of their
not expecting at all, being a junior bull and a newer stud. selection criteria – not only does the animal need to look good
“The whole reason you go out to show these animals off is to and show well, but it should also have the ability to breed on
display and advertise them, but the competitive edge is there – you and add value for the industry.
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