Page 142 - NZ Herefords Magazine 2019 Edition

Our Breeders
BRIAN

MIERS

Brimai Herefords

WORDS / PHOTOGRAPHS KATE TAYLOR

A LOVE OF GOOD-NATURED CATTLE and a passion for well- him out on the third of January but he came in before Christmas.
bred Herefords is evident the moment Brian Miers walks into a His job was done. He’s out with 24 cows now. He’s been a busy
paddock with some of his heifers. boy. I’ve seen the heifers every day since he came out and there’s
“They are so even tempered and they have beautiful soft been nothing in season, which indicates he’s done a good job.”
coats. That helps their do-ability on this hill country,” he says. Miers also bought the last five AI straws of Australian bull,
After leaving school at age 15, Miers worked for his father Debarry Elliott.
on the family farm at Douglas in central Taranaki. “I put three cows to him and got three lovely heifer calves
“Dad was not interested in breeding stud stock, full stop, and I have two straws left. He has bred very well for me.”
but I established my Romney stud in 1964 and my Hereford There are 92 cattle on the farm including four 15-month sale
stud in 1971. I always had a liking for the Herefords and I think bulls, 24 cows and 24 heifers, as well as steers for finishing.
their temperament was a big reason.” Yearling heifers are grazed off the property.
His first female for the new stud, Brimai Herefords, was “I sold my three-year-old steers in November for $2100 each
a weaner heifer bought from David Reeves at Mokairau in at more than 400kg carcass weight.”
Gisborne for $900. This year, non-replacement heifers will be sold at the sale in
“I went back the next year and bought four in-calf stud Feilding in May.
heifers from Mokairau and two from Waihuka at Manutuke.” “I’m limited as to how many I can run on this acreage. I’d
After farming in Taranaki, Miers farmed 181ha at Oparau at love to keep them all but I can’t feed them.”
the top of the Kawhia Harbour, west of Te Awamutu, then 333ha Miers sold four two-year-old bulls at the Rongotea Combined
at Whangamata, before spending more than 16 years farming Sale in 2018 for an average of $2800. He will have four bulls for
300ha in the remote Pakaututu district, west of Napier. For the sale again this year.
past nine years he has owned a 55ha farm on Waitahora Road, On the sheep side of the business, he also has 22 two-tooth
east of Dannevirke. ewes. He’s proud of the sale of 24 in-lamb ewes last winter that
Asking about this year’s sire brings more enthusiasm from scanned 192% and sold at the market in Feilding for more than
Miers, this time for young bull Bexley 17017, bought for $6000 $200 each.
from Bexley Station at Awakino in northern Taranaki at their “I’m very proud of my stock. You know I love my Herefords
September sale. He had discovered the stud on an earlier herd but I also have beautifully bred sheep – purebred Romneys –
tour. although I don’t have the stud anymore.”
“He was 588kg at 13 months from a 34kg birth weight,” Shutting the gate to the heifers’ paddock to walk back to his
Miers says. house, the 82-year-old has some stories to tell about his South
“I put him out with 24 heifers on 22 November. He doesn’t Island ram buying trips; but those are for another day.
herd them and doesn’t waste himself. He’d be fairly busy with BELOW, LEFT: Brian with his some of his Hereford heifers.
two or three each day. During their second cycle, I was out near RIGHT: Brimai Herefords stud heifers with Westholm Dora (centre),
their paddock and nothing was happening. I had planned to pull bought for $3000 as a weaner calf at the national sale.

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