Page 40 - Hereford Magazine 2021

All Angus and white-faced Hereford/Angus cross heifers are mated Hereford/Angus cross heifers with their first calves on Matarae
to a yearling Hereford bull to make the most of hybrid vigour. Station.

“Heifer calving is pretty much like hogget mating,” he says.
“For us it’s just a bonus. You do have to look after them really
well, but we’ve had no trouble getting heifers in calf.”
On the other side of their crossbreeding strategy, the
attraction of Angus bulls from Stern Angus was buying from
a larger stud with bigger numbers of breeding cows and more
mob pressure to produce bigger, stronger bulls.
On the sheep side of the operation, Matarae runs a split flock
of Merino and Romney commercial flocks grazed side by side.
It also has two stud flocks that are used primarily to maintain
the quality of the commercial sheep. The Merino stud flock
produces a superfine Italian style spinner wool; they are all
DNA tested with the emphasis on breeding values for footrot A mob of black coated and white-faced Hereford/Angus cross
and carcass traits. The Romney stud places breeding emphasis yearling calves that consistently fetch premium prices at southern
on growth rates, carcass traits, and mothering ability. calf sales.

38 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2021