Page 66 - 2020 NZ Hereford Magazine

AN EARLY RISER, it’s not unusual for Raetihi farmer Kelly O’Neill Newcastle Grand 1133, Okahu Grand Slam, Okahu Raftsman and
to be up and working on his farms well before the sun hits Mt Okahu Sonny Bill.
Ruapehu, which dominates the view to the north-east. Sonny Bill won the Champion of Champions at the 2014
“Sometimes I get caught having breakfast mid-morning, about AgInnovation and champion of Asia/Africa in 2014 World
eight or nine o’clock, and people think I’m only just getting up,” Kelly Hereford Championships. He was bought by Otapawa for the
exclaims with a grin. “I’ve done half a day’s work by then.” top price of $40,000.
The 223ha property he calls the stud farm, home to 140 But Kelly’s strongest memory from growing up around
stud Hereford cows, is north of the Raetihi township and run Herefords was winning the national bull sale in 1994 with
in conjunction with an 81ha runoff on the Parapara Road (SH4) Okahu Genetic, who beat about 50 other red bulls to take the
on the other side of the town. The sheep breed of choice is championship and the top price of $26,000 (sold to Maungahina).
Romney and the numbers fluctuate with each season. In recent years, 30 bulls have been sold at each annual sale,
Kelly also has several other farms, including some bush but Kelly doesn’t like discussing prices and buyers.
blocks on the Whanganui River. He’d rather talk about how much he likes his selling rostrum.
He recalls the name Okahu came from the family’s original “When people come to the bull sale, they love my yards, they’re
Parapara property, on a large bend in the Mangawhero River multi-purpose. Maybe not quite unique, but different from everyone
(not far from the massive slip that closed the road in 2019), else’s. Our 50th sale will be on 14 May. Early bull sales used to be
where his grandfather had the original Herefords. about mid-June, but we got snowed out, so that’s why we moved
“He had a Southdown sheep stud too. They were both early, and we’re now one of the first, after the national sale.”
called Okahu, like Okahu Bay in Auckland. Okahu was an With the farm’s proximity to Mt Ruapehu, Okahu cattle are
extinct eagle. In the early days the local Maori called that bend run at an altitude of more than 610m, under natural conditions.
Okahu Point and that’s where my grandfather got the name.” “Our aim is to breed hardy, heavy muscled, good hindquartered
The stud celebrates its 50th sale in 2020 but has been cattle that can compete with sheep on the hills,” he quotes from
breeding Herefords for more than 100 years. the stud’s catalogue.
Kelly’s grandfather was Alexander O’Neill, who bought “One of my customers rang me up one day and said he really
registered animals from F.J. Moore, Bushy Park, in 1908. liked that precise sentence because that’s exactly what he’s trying
“But because of the hard times, he couldn’t afford to keep to do on his hard hill country. So that’s a selling point. I want to
his cattle registered. Dad started with the stud we’re running breed robust, thickset, good-doing cattle with good leg action.
now in 1947. He actually started with horned cows but went They have to be able to walk on steep hills. You know what that
polled not long after that.” means if you’ve ever ridden a bumble-footed horse down steep
Kelly’s dad was known as Pat, who together with wife June, hill country. We’re breeding them on tough hills to go on tough
had four daughters and one son, Kelly, who had already been hills. There are times when they’re down here on the flats but they
running the farm for many years before Pat died in 2008. spend a fair amount of their time on the hills.”
One sister, Trish Forrest, visits the farm twice a year to He says the altitude means Raetihi has later seasons.
coordinate marketing and help prepare for the annual on-farm “Even the daffodils flower late. That means we don’t want to
auction, as well as doing the bookwork and stud registrations calve before mid-August. Most of the calves are born in September
remotely from Australia throughout the year. and October.
Sires in 2019 included Australian import Days Robin Hood H38, “We get snow several times a year, but frost does more

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