Page 38 - Hereford Magazine 2022

Herefords are usually hard to spot on the higher reaches of the Stonehenge landscape.

ormer All Black hooker Andrew Hore has swapped
the rugby field for a bigger playground – 10,000
hectares of Maniototo farmland at Patearoa. But
the size of the farm makes it hard to find Herefords
Fon the hills when you’re looking for them.
Photo opportunities abound, especially huge rocky
outcrops, the barren landscape where the Rohan scenes were
filmed in Lord of the Rings, and down over the now-irrigated
Maniototo river flats. Every now and then there’s a Hereford
heading in the other direction – away from the camera.
It’s a cool place. It’s home,” Andrew says. “We’ve always had
Herefords. They go better on these hills."
Stonehenge carries 300 Hereford cows and 100 first-cross
Hereford/Angus cows.
Horned Herefords are the first choice for the main cow herd.
Current bulls are from the Waiau, Pourikino Herefords and Above: Andrew passes under pressure against South Africa in the
Glacier Hereford studs, with Locharburn previously in the mix Tri-Nations at Hamilton in September 2009. Below: Andrew at
as well. Andrew doesn’t mind de-horning them, and has the home with one of his dogs, Fern, as in Silver Fern.
vet ticket to do it himself. Previous page: Water is the new gold, allowing grass to grow on
First-calvers go to a Shorthorn bull from Fraser Fletcher in Maniototo’s previously dry plains.
Heriot, who Andrew grew up playing rugby against. Angus
bulls are bought from Penvose Angus nearby at Wedderburn.
“We’ve just started putting a Charolais over those for hybrid
vigour as well,” he says. “Most of the progeny kill out at over
300 kilograms.”
Cows are calved on the hills, put to the bull on the irrigated
flats, weaned, and taken back out to the hills until sometime
in May, depending on the season.
On the sheep side, Stonehenge lambs 1500 half-bred ewes
and about 8000 merino ewes.
The property has been farmed by the Hore family since
Andrew’s great-grandfather Charles arrived in 1910. It’s a
family name – Andrew’s grandfather was also Charles, known

36 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2022