Page 139 - NZ Herefords Magazine 2019 Edition

members of people’s families you hadn’t met before who were When we left Gibson’s the Central Otago members piled into a
helping on the day or had just come along to say hi to everyone. vehicle and headed for home while the bus began its journey back
As much as the great hospitality is appreciated this finely to Gore. After chuckling at a few people for catching 40 winks over
tuned tour had to keep on moving, as Marc would sometimes the past couple of days on the bus, I have to admit that I, too,
sternly remind us. At the start of the day there was a headcount briefly succumbed to heavy eyelids before we stopped in Balclutha
each time we returned to the bus to ensure everyone was there. for dinner. Back at Gore the bus was stripped of its plastic and
This soon changed; if a certain person – who had become tidied up before being refuelled and returned. We had travelled
renowned for always being last back on the bus – was on the 1132kms and viewed more than 300 bulls. Some still had another
bus, then it was assumed everyone else must be too. The last couple of hours of driving ahead of them, but I knew I would be
stop on day 1 was at Earnscleugh Station; leaving there at 5pm tucked up in bed sound asleep by the time they reached home.
it was off to Alexandra for the night. The next morning we were I have always felt we had a strong club in the south with like-
having breakfast at 7.30am and leaving town by 8am. minded and driven people who share the same passion. For me
As expected, we covered a lot of ground I wasn’t familiar with. this belief was only amplified when I saw them together on the
You really felt like you were seeing the country when out on the back bull tour, from the abundance of good-hearted humour being
roads. But an unexpected highlight of the tour was the running bantered about to the clear comradeship that they share on
commentary on the bus. Hearing of farm ownership, boundaries display. Any tradition is special and due to the longevity of this
and farming operation as you drove past made it far more bull tour it has also become the glue holding our club together
interesting. Being able to put a farm to a name or learn something and keeping it strong. They may only see each other a couple
interesting of a farm’s history added to the tour and helped fill the of times a year, if that, but they just pick up from where they
hours on the bus. As you passed into the local patch of another left off each time. I know it grew out of a practical need for
breeder they would pick up from where the last person had finished everyone to view the bulls on offer each season, but the tour
and on it would go. If there ever was a lull in conversation you could quickly became more than that.
count on the priceless Colin Gibson to out of the blue begin reciting So a big thank you to the guys for letting me join them this
poetry of a sort from the back of the bus. His ability to reel off an year and for sharing their stories. A special thanks to Marc for
endless catalogue of lengthy poems off the top of his head was all his planning, which ensured it did run like clockwork, and for
truly impressive. And you could always guarantee they would have getting us home safely. I loved the trip. Great company, amazing
a punchline that would send the busload into roars of laughter. scenery and endless entertainment in the form of knowledge and
In recent years we have been lucky to have a couple of our humour… and I never tire of looking at paddocks of Herefords.
close farming partners come on board and join us on tour if they
were available, as well as being generous with sponsorship.
Richard (Ned) Cruickshank from Boehringer Ingelheim and Steve
Kelly at Allflex have always had a great relationship with the club
and have now extended this to the tour. Although looking around
the bus I was pretty sure James Speight was our major sponsor –
albeit probably unbeknown to him – going by the abundance of his
product being enjoyed from early in the day and fairly consistently
throughout the two days. Chatting to Steve, he said it was great
fun; every year you hear the same old banter, the horned vs polled
rivalry, red balls vs white, and so on. For Steve and Ned it’s a great
opportunity for them to catch up with a group of our members to
talk shop and farming in general. To be honest, most topics seem
to be covered inside the walls of that bus.
Obviously huge advances have been made in breeding
since the traditional sized, English-looking bulls were viewed
when the tour first began. The animals now easily weigh another
200kg with larger frames and are bred for sustainability and
meat production. It was commented on several times this year
how high the standard of cattle on display was. This was a
reflection of many breeders clearly having the same goals for
the breed, showing a strong emphasis on structure and depth.
On the way to our last stop on the second day at Anton, Liz
and Will Gibson’s property, we took the scenic shortcut called
Gold Bar Road. This road takes you right past Macraes Mine, so
we took the opportunity to stop and view the immense scale of
the operation at the viewing deck at Frasers Pit. The pit winds ABOVE, TOP TO BOTTOM: Monymusk bulls ready for viewing;
Some relaxed looking passengers being chauffeured around the
14km down and made the mining machinery at the bottom look countryside. Left to right Geof Brown, Chris Douglas, Robert Kane,
like Tonka toys from where we stood. An impressive setup well Colin Gibson, Anton Gibson, Laurie Paterson, Will Gibson and
worth the detour. Duncan Campbell.
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