Page 32 - 2020 NZ Hereford Magazine

In 2020, the farm is in two blocks 12km apart – the home a few Coopworth rams.
block is 520ha and ranges in altitude from 400m above sea “Lambs are sold as store lambs in the January lamb fair at
level at the top to 160m at the gate. The runoff is 243ha of Tuakau,” Dean says.
easier country at Taniwha. “We buy 200 commercial weaner steers every year, usually
“With the help of a part-time worker, that’s where we finish Hereford or Hereford-Angus cross, to be run on the hills then
our commercial cattle and winter our sale bulls. That’s also in they come down to the other block in January to be finished.
two blocks; the first was purchased in 1999 and the second From there, we send away a truck of steers a week as they’re
was purchased in 2009. We got sick of having steers in forward getting fat.
store condition but not being able to fatten them before the “We also buy in just over 100 weaner Hereford heifers, mixed
next winter was rolling on, so we wanted some easier country. with our second cut of weaner Hereford calves. We graze them
That’s when we bought the other property to add to the hills of for 12 months and sell them to a farmer in Raetihi as breeding
the home farm.” animals to be calved down as three-year-olds. It’s good to see
The Hansens calve 200 Herefords cows and the farm also so many Hereford heifers going as breeding stock rather than
carries 100 yearling heifers and about 1000 Romney ewes with just to the works.”

IT’S ALWAYS BEEN HEREFORDS

Hukaroa Stud has been going more than 50 years so he was are reared on tough hill country “and we have the same
brought up with Herefords, Dean explains. consideration when we’re looking for new bulls ourselves. They
“With fattening the steers, the Herefords seem to have the have to come from the same sort of country.”
highest daily weight gain of all the cattle we’ve bought in and “They need structural soundness otherwise they don’t
tried over the years. They have a great temperament, they’re survive,” Dean adds. “That’s part of the hill country process, but
easiest to handle and the first to go; they were always mostly it’s also good for the dairy farmers. The bulls have to walk up and
Herefords in the first cut of stock to leave the farm.” down the cattle race twice a day; they are hard rock races and in
Two-year-old steers go to the saleyards at about 700kg live most cases are a long distance from the milking shed,” he says.
weight (between 600kg and 730kg). “That’s where that fat cover comes into play as well,” Lisa
“They’ve been going by the truckload every week through says. “Our clients want that. Longevity. We’ve had 11-, 12- or
the winter and we’ve averaged 2100 so far, which is good. 13-year-old cows here that are still going strong.”
Good weights and good money,” he says. Hukaroa’s client base is mainly Waikato for the dairy buyers
The most important thing for the stud is a live calf on the ground. – Hauraki Plains, Thames, Waiuku – but the beef clients are
“They have to have high daily weight gain, great temperament; from as far afield as Gisborne, Kawhia and the Coromandel.
most of our bulls now are going to dairy farmers so an even They also have a few stud bull transfers every year.
temperament is a must. They also have to have good fat cover, for The Hansens have three daughters – Briar, 23, Gemma, 21,
two reasons. For example, the progeny from a Friesian Hereford and Erica, 19 – who become their workforce at busy times such
cross gets its fat cover from the Hereford bull. These animals
are then grown out for the beef market, whereas if the bulls are
going into a beef breeding herd, they need good fat cover in the
female progeny because these heifer calves are then kept as future
breeding cows and they get done hard in the winter.”
Lisa says their commercial clients like the fact their cattle

THIS PAGE, BELOW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Cows and calves on hill
country at Waerenga; The Hansen family with their silverware
and ribbons from the National Sale: Lisa and Dean seated in
front of their daughters, Gemma and Briar, and Dean’s parents
Peter and Glennis.

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