Page 18 - NZ Herefords Magazine 2019 Edition

He returned to the family farm, initially buying half and
leasing the other half. He played around with Simmental,
Charolais, Shorthorn and Angus trading cattle before settling
on Herefords. “I found the Hereford to be more profitable in the
long run and preferred their easy-going temperament.”
After deciding to go into stud cattle he started to sell off
the commercial cattle and replaced those with stud cows and
heifers bought from stud dispersals, purchasing approximately
185 females over three years.
“I kept the ones that performed the best. I looked for
heaviest calves, best growth rates, best milkers and mothering
ability. I went down to what I considered to be the very best
cows, about 45, and bred up again from those.”
In 1980 Martin purchased the second half of the family farm.
At the beginning of the goat boom in the 1980s, Martin and
his brother gained a permit from the local Catchment Board to
capture wild goats in areas of land the board was trying to protect.
“We caught 400-odd feral goats, selling half and farming a
couple hundred feral does along with 40 Saanen does. They
were quite profitable for a while, selling Angora cross progeny. I
collected a bale of wool over the years and sent it to the mohair
warehouse – when I got the cheque back I decided it was a
waste of time. That was in 1987 and I sold the feral does for
$200 each and the G3s and 4s for $500 each. Within a few
months the market crashed and they would have been worth
about $1 each – I had a couple of lucky shots with goats.”
As well as the goats, Martin had Lincoln English Leicester
cross sheep, breeding for wool. “Back then, I was making about
$75 a stock unit on wool alone.” Shortly after the price for wool
crashed, Martin went out of sheep and ran more cattle.
In 1992 the Taylors, keen to expand their business, bought
a bare land block in Dannevirke and in 1994 started with
Wiltshires. “You could say they are the lazy man’s sheep; I’d say
they’re the smart man’s sheep,” Martin jokes. “Martin is allergic
to dagging sheep,” Mary adds. Now they have a flock of 100%
shedding sheep, which means the sheep shed their wool on
their own. The Taylors don’t even have a woolshed.
THIS PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM: Consistency is important for the
Taylors - they place equal emphasis on dams and sires; Cows and
calves at Glenbrae; Daniel Taylor.

FAMILY CONNECTIONS
In 2008 Martin and Mary shifted from Dannevirke to Porangahau;
this move stemmed from the desire to have a smaller, warmer
and easier property. The current block ticked all the boxes. “It
was going to be our semi-retirement block, but when Daniel
returned to farming we actually got bigger.”
Son Daniel never planned to be a farmer. Like his father, he
did a building apprenticeship for four years after leaving school
and then went dairy farming for 18 months.
“Somebody was renovating his house and decided the roof
would make a good slide – basically, Dad fell off the roof and
broke his foot a week before Emma’s wedding,” Daniel says. “I
came home to give them a hand and never left.”
Daniel sees himself continuing with the Hereford stud. “They’re
easy to handle and really nice to look at too. A big mob of Herefords
in the paddock or walking down the road is quite impressive.”
16