Page 72 - NZ Herefords Magazine 2018

and once they start calving life becomes a breeze – we don’t they are so quiet and docile, they are so gentle on the cows at
have any problems with them calving down,” Richard says. mating. They can stay in the mob and walk through the shed
Once the Hereford calves arrive they keep everything, about no problem; by the time we take the bulls out you can put your
120 to 130 calves annually. Kelly starts the calves off in the hand on them, they’re that quiet.”
sheds and gets them drinking, before they come to Christine at Richard likes the look of the Herefords, but the big attraction
10 to 20 days old. is the exceptional temperament. “When they are hand reared
“We have the infrastructure and facilities to feed them. Not they are so quiet, and we end up with a good beef product at
a drop of colostrum milk is wasted, we utilise it all and then the end of the day.”
calves are fed on whole milk from our dairy farm once we run Christine does the bulk of the work at the lease block with
out of colostrum.” the beef cattle and often she can shift mobs without needing a
They normally keep the beef cattle through two winters dog. “I like their nature. They’re nice and follow me on the bike,
and send everything direct to slaughter, killing heifers at about and they calve easily, that’s good for the kids,” she says.
285kg and steers at 300 to 320kg. The Herefords fit with their system and work well; they have
The Barnes family have been buying bulls from the Morrisons no plans to change anything. “It’s basic and simple, but it works
at Ardo Herefords since 2009. Prior to that they used Friesian bulls. for us. We have the milk, the feed, the equipment, the manpower,
“My father used to buy in stock for his block and he was and, at the end of the day, yielding at the works is good. You end
running Hereford cross cattle. The people he sourced them up with a good easy product to farm,” Richard says.
from were buying bulls from the Morrisons and I liked how quiet “Even though the bulls are dearer I went there (Morrisons)
and easy to handle they were, and I could see people were because I know the product. The price doesn’t worry me
paying a premium for them (calves). because I get a good product, and it’s proven. I went to buy bulls
“As we developed our run-off I went out of bulls and went and that was the market on the day. I know what I’m getting and
to steers and heifers – bulls were wrecking my developed farm, the Morrisons back up their product.
digging holes and making a mess.” “We’ve got our dairy herd into the top 5% for breeding worth,
Richard sticks with yearling bulls as it gives him two years, we’ve put a lot of work into getting there and take pride in that,
guaranteed, sometimes three. “I have no issues putting three- we don’t mind paying for a better bull to put across them.”
year-olds out with the cows if they’re not too big, because
CLOCKWISE, RIGHT: Christine Barnes raises the calves from about
10 days old; her daughter Kelly starts them off; The Barnes take the
cattle right through to slaughter; usually they are on for two winters;
Once the calves arrive at Richard and Christine’s property they live
outside; The Barnes family raise about 120-130 dairy beef calves
annually on their Dannevirke farm.

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