Page 30 - Hereford Magazine 2022

Mary and John Allen, right, with worker Willem Smit.

e doesn’t kick around in cowboy boots, but John David Arvidson, Papakura, who is breeding for facial eczema
Allen’s love of Herefords stems from reading tolerance, an important issue in the area.
about cattle ranches. “We’ll consider another breed to cross in the future to
“When I was a kid I loved reading books about increase hardiness. Most ram lambs and cull ewe lambs, as
Hthe North American prairies and the cowboys well as any beef progeny not being kept for stud duty, go to
riding horses and moving mobs of cattle, usually Herefords, Wilson Hellaby in Auckland through December and January.
so, I guess I’ve always just liked Herefords. Then when I “We have different priorities at different times of the year.
started to farm, I also liked their temperament. They’ve met Over the summer, the priorities are lambs and fattening cattle,
my expectations over the years, although as a kid I saw myself and the cows come behind and clean up. Over the winter, it’s
working the cattle with a horse. That hasn’t happened,” he the bull calves. The cows get priority for a short time from
says, laughing. calving to mating and then their job is to clean up pasture.
Mahuta Polled Herefords Stud is at Glen Murray, in the “Cattle are my passion. That’s why we want sheep that don’t
northern Waikato, northwest of Huntly. require too much input. We have the sheep to keep weeds
John and Mary Allen’s 400ha farm, a mixture of gentle under control, and to graze areas that would be unsuitable for
rolling hills and steep hills, is home to 220 breeding cows and cattle in the wet weather,” he says.
800 ewes. John’s first big purchase for the stud was at the 1992 Beef
The couple started farming in Pukekohe with 20 hectares Expo Reserve Champion Matariki Quest for $21,000. He had
and a few cows, and then farmed at Ararimu, near Bombay, for previously been content to use artificial insemination (AI) to
23 years. In 2003, they bought the Glen Murray property and get access to the best bulls he could.
employed a manager. “I wanted to expand the herd and was never really in a
Both have always had off-farm careers – Mary was a secondary financial position to pay big money for bulls, not until then,
school teacher until 2020 and, after a 25-year career as a GP, John anyway. So I would buy semen of some of the best bulls
decided to specialise and is still a practising psychiatrist working around and use them on a section of the herd. I used a little-
two days a week in Hamilton and Tauranga. known bull called Braxton Muchmore 2 and he was the start
Four years ago, John decided he needed to return to of the low birth weight or easy calving section of our herd,
managing the farm himself. followed by Braxton Great Southern.”
“I’ve come to the conclusion, if I’m going to run a About half of Mahuta’s bulls go to dairy farms.
progressive breeding operation I have to be hands-on and it’s “We saw a need early in our breeding career for bulls for
hard to find good labour. That’s also one of the reasons I don’t dairy heifers. We’ve concentrated on that and have good
want to be wasting too much time on sheep, for example. We clients, from Whangarei to Taupo, who will pay good money
have more important things to do.” for bulls for their dairy heifers,” he says.
They are breeding towards a Wiltshire flock from a Romney “For the dairy-heifer market we aim to have low birth
base to minimise the amount of work the sheep flock needs. weight, well-structured cattle with good conformation that
Most of their young sheep don’t have any dags, they’re produce an acceptable beef calf; we concentrate on breeding
moving this season to once a year shearing, and hoggets animals that are born easily, grow reasonably and finish early.
will no longer be mated. Wiltshire rams are bought from That’s our philosophy for that section of the herd.”

28 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2022