Page 49 - 2020 NZ Hereford Magazine

camping in specific spots like they normally would on hill country “It’s satisfying for us as breeders to see our genetic choices
or in bigger paddocks, the cattle have less choice of campsites. being reinforced. It’s good to see the direction we are trying to
“It was an old pasture area and it’s coming back to life,” breed bulls for and identify the animals that finish quicker, and we
says Henry. “The whole theory is a quick graze and off – it’s know the bulls we are breeding are producing quality progeny.
regenerative farming.” “Carcass trait and growth rate selection has been strong for
He says with the trading cattle, they are trying to keep the us and it’s showing in the trading cattle we’re finishing.”
wintering and feed costs down. One of the benefits of supplying Bowmont Wholesale Meats,
“It cost $60/head to winter them on the kale,” he says. which is Hereford Prime’s Invercargill-based processing partner,
“Ideally we’d like to winter them in the cell grazing system, but is because they’ll accept lines of 20 head at a time.
it’s not quite the right country, but we are looking at our options “That’s helpful to us and our system,” says Henry.
for wintering on grass.” Chris and Henry say it’s convenient for their system to send
Yards have been built on the finishing platform, which makes away 20 at a time and PGG Wrightson agent Chris Swale, who
monitoring easy and keeps the trading cattle truly separate from is the procurement agent for Bowmont, has the cattle gone in a
the registered cattle. couple of weeks once they are ready to go.
The cattle take a couple of weeks to train and settle into the Chris says another reason they supply Hereford Prime
system and in particular ‘walk over’ the poly wire. Henry says and Bowmont is because they know the product and buy it
given they come off tussock country they adjust well. themselves. They say they also like how Bowmont hang the beef
“We pin the fence down and they walk over it to move to on the bone for a couple of weeks, which makes it incredibly
the next cell.” tasty and tender.
He says they respect the fences and not a lot of power is “Because we’re Hereford breeders as well we also like to
needed. The motorbike is set up to drive over the wires, which supply and support the programme; we’ve supplied the brand
helps speed up the process for Henry. since it began.
Henry and Chris select the calves from some of their “Bowmont is only 90 minutes away in Invercargill, we can sell
Monymusk Hereford stud bull buying clients. They travel to them 20 head at a time and the weight ranges suit us,” says Chris.
select the calves, mainly steers, and they include pure Herefords Another bonus is the flexibility offered by Hereford Prime in
and Hereford Angus cross. Sometimes a handful of other beef accepting the first cross Hereford Angus (also known as the
genetics make the mix. black-baldy or white face).
They are selecting the calves from particular clients – some “The price is also equal to any other local trade programmes
they take all the steers from, others a proportion. – it’s right up there,” says Chris.
The father and son team say they like the opportunity to
visit their clients and see the calves because it also gives them
a chance to maintain their relationship with their bull clients and
see how their farming operations are going.
Buying and finishing the calves their bulls have sired in
commercial herds also gives them the opportunity to see how
their bulls are performing in the environment they are bred for.
Chris went on to say it’s good to see the calves their clients
are breeding and seeing the end result of their seedstock
breeding programme.

CLOCKWISE, RIGHT: Henry Douglas has established a techno grazing
system used to finish calves the family buys in from their bull buying
clients; A yearling Monymusk Hereford bull exhibiting the carcass traits
needed for quality cattle; A mob of pure Hereford and Hereford Angus
cross steers being finished in a cell grazing unit near Te Anau and
being supplied to the grass-fed Hereford Prime programme.

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