Page 45 - NZ Herefords Magazine 2018

THIS PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM: The Donald family L-R Hannah,
Molly, Georgina, Bruce and Chrissina; The Donalds are mindful of
farming in a sustainable and biological way. They are undertaking a
tree planting programme, both riparian and pole planting; Bulls are
sold to both the beef and dairy markets; When a bull leaves Mironui
it’s not the end for Bruce, and his goal is to one day sell beef under
their own brand.
for an average price of just under $5000 and 11 two-year-old
in-calf heifers for an average price of just over $2000. “It was
awesome, we had great community support and it was well
attended. I think Chrissina did a magic job of marketing the
sale, and the stud, via social media,” Bruce says.
They hope to catalogue 25 bulls and 20 heifers for this
year’s sale.

THE COMPLETE PACKAGE

When a bull leaves Mironui it’s not the end for Bruce, and his
goal is to one day sell beef under their own brand.
“We want to supply a beef market butcher and buy our
client’s heifers and steers back to supply that market under our
own brand, that’s the ultimate goal.”
They sell bulls to both the beef and dairy markets and would
like to see their genetics spread around the country.
“When a bull goes out the gate I’m not finished. I want to see
them do well and the progeny do well. Our bulls have to help
our clients’ bottom line. We want them to enjoy the experience
of coming here and looking at the animals, seeing the farm and
how we farm them in conjunction with the other stock.
“With the stud operation we are becoming a lot more
technical with our sire battery and are working with five other
breeders in New Zealand to import genetics from around the
world and link them into our systems by using each other’s
bulls, and improving their figures very quickly that way. We’re
taking big steps,” Bruce says.
It’s early days yet, but the first calves from an American sire are
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