Page 12 - NZ Herefords Magazine 2019 Edition

PICTURED: A yearling son of Grassmere Gallant 9.
OKAWA POLL HEREFORDS,
SPECIALIST CROPS FOR FINISHING and wintering cattle and ASHBURTON, CANTERBURY
sheep are all the rage, but Nick and Penny France are playing
a subtly different tune at Okawa, near Mt Somers, Canterbury. OWNERS: NICK AND PENNY FRANCE.
Despite about 60% of the 800ha property being workable CHILDREN: BLAISE, SLYVIE,
by tractor, they put just 12ha/year into a double crop rotation. VIOLET AND JACK.
With the rest, the focus is on maintaining a high performance SIZE: 800ha. 780ha effective.
but low-cost grass system off what are, in some cases, more TYPOGRAPHY: 60% downs, balance medium hill and
than 30-year-old pastures. gullies.
A herd of 300 Hereford stud cattle and their progeny play a ALTITUDE: 500m above sea level.
key role in that, as do ewes at certain times of the year. CLIMATE: Snow every winter.
“Two-thirds of our income is from sheep and that’s a real RAINFALL: 1000mm average annual rainfall.
strength of our stud, and probably a key strength of Hereford
breeders in the South Island,” says Nick. STOCK NUMBERS:
“The stud cattle have to work in with lamb finishing, 9500 STOCK UNITS
hogget mating; all the commercial realities you have on a high- SHEEP
production farm.” • 4500 breeding ewes.
Considerable commercial pressure is put on the stud stock, CATTLE
with the overall stocking rate of 12 stock units per hectare high • 300 stud cows and progeny.
for the area and class of country. STOCKING RATE
“Our cows are run in big mobs cleaning up behind other • 12 SU/ha, high for area.
stock: they’re the lowest rung on the stock-class ladder. If
the girls slip up or don’t have the constitution to handle the
pressure, they’re gone. Maternal excellence is the aim.”
In spring and summer, they follow ewes and lambs around
the farm with calves at foot, tidying up pasture to ensure there’s
high quality regrowth for the ewes and lambs (or from early
January weaned lambs) next time around.
“It’s a win-win, testing the cattle for their ability to perform
on less than perfect feed while grooming pasture for sheep.”
Yearling heifers undergo a similar testing process, sharing
grazing with set-stocked ewes and lambs.
Okawa’s cows are expected to wean a 250kg calf in early March;
before spending the winter in big mobs cleaning up hill blocks;
another strategy that sustains the commercial pressure on the herd. Maternal excellence is one of the aims of Okawa Herefords.
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