Page 68 - NZ Herefords Magazine 2018

Our Breeders
Calving

the ezi way

WORDS REBECCA HARPER
PHOTOGRAPHS REBECCA HARPER / SUPPLIED

New calves are tagged, weighed and
recorded every day during calving at
Mangara Station.

ARDO HEREFORDS, MARTON
WITH MORE DAIRY HEIFERS BEING MATED in New Zealand
than beef cows, Marton breeder Will Morrison can see huge OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE
opportunities in the dairy beef market for Herefords. MORRISON FAMILY
The Morrisons have carved out a niche with their Ezicalve
brand, jointly owned and operated with the nearby Cranstone TWO PROPERTIES:
family, producing low birth weight, easy calving, yearling bulls • FERN FLATS, Marton, 600 hectares, predominantly
specifically targeted at dairy heifer mating. good fertile flats with some steep gorges and hill sidlings.
The Morrisons sell about 250 bulls annually, and included • MANGARA STATION, Hunterville, 900 hectares,
in that were 85 yearling bulls sold at their September on-farm hill country.
auction last year, predominantly to dairy farmers.
Last year’s sale had a 100% clearance rate and an average STOCK:
price of $3500, with the top price achieved $5700 – an • Over the total land area, winter between 16,000 and
outstanding result. 17,000 stock units.
Will prefers to think of himself as a sheep and beef farmer, • 50:50 sheep/cattle ratio.
rather than a stud breeder.
“Half our income is from sheep and half from cattle. Of the cattle Breeding and finishing – aim to finish everything, except
income, half is from the sale of bulls – so a quarter of our total farm bulls sold as yearlings.
income is from selling bulls and a quarter from selling beef. I’m Ardo Hereford Stud established in the 1960s.
proud of that, it’s not a stud farm, it’s not our focus. It’s about trying
to add value as best we can across all of the things we do,” he says.
“We are commercial sheep and beef farmers and we pride what was here and you work with the resources you have. As a
ourselves on an ability to optimise livestock performance across kid I was passionate about Herefords.”
a range a geography and stock classes. Within that, selling Will and his brother Richard, who is also a director of Morrison
Ezicalve bulls is just one component.” Farming, are the sixth generation to farm the original farm at
Will’s father John, and grandfather Max, started Ardo stud Fern Flats. They both came home after completing agriculture
in the 1960s. “We’ve grown up with them (Herefords), that was degrees at Massey University, and purchased their grandfather’s
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