Page 120 - Hereford Magazine 2022

Selling bulls for

an easy calving

Photos: Kate Taylor

elping their bull-buying clients have an easier
calving time is one of the main aims of Waikato
Hereford breeders Lance Baker and Sandy
Redman of Valda-Rose Herefords.
H Their target audience is the wider Waikato
dairy industry.
“We’re in the middle of dairy country so a good spot to be
in,” Lance says.
“We usually try for dairy merit sires, which are supposed to
calve easier and still grow well.”
They like well-tempered animals.
“Stock agents often comment how quiet our bulls are, and
we often hear from buyers they haven’t had any troubles
with their calving. Our two main sires for this year’s sale
bulls are really quiet. We have bought our sire bulls from
established breeders breeding similar type bulls, such as Above and top: Bulls waiting for their turn in the ring at the
Craigmore and Ardo, as well as a couple from the Wards at Valda-Rose Herefords sale.
Kairaumati Herefords on the Coromandel.”
They spent well at Kairaumati’s 2021 sale, making up four with Hereford bulls. Personally, I don’t like calving cows so
of the stud’s five transfers. I always wanted easy calving animals. We were also doing
They’re aiming to sell 40 bulls at their 2022 sale, after a dairy grazing at the time, and it seemed an obvious move to
good clearance – 27 out of 30 – at their 2021 sale. start an easy calving Hereford stud.”
They had 94 registered cows calving last year and 130 in It started on a small block at Tauriko, selling about 20
calf this season. bulls a year in the paddock. In June 2020 they took over
The Valda-Rose Hereford Stud was started in partnership 174-hectare farm, Eversley, at Walton. They had to finish the
with Lance’s mother Joan in 2003 (her middle name is Valda yards before hosting their inaugural on-farm sale, where they
and Joan’s mother’s first name was Rose) when 10 cows and sold 16 of 18 yearling bulls for an average of $2200, as well as
a bull were bought from Charwell Herefords. 12 two-year-olds for an average of $2772. Their top price in
“The bull was called Charwell Farouk, he was so quiet, with 2021 was $2600.
a lovely soft, shiny coat, and big kind eyes. He also came The farm carries 550 dairy grazers for a year at a time.
with low birth weight certification,” Lance says. “I had been “I was a dairy farmer for 24 years. I worked my way from
a dairy farmer for years and always followed up the cows farm boy to 50-50 sharemilker around Te Puke, so I know

118 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2022