Page 44 - Hereford Magazine 2022

Referee Bex Mahoney at the Bayleys National Sevens at Rotorua Former international referee Nigel Owens with one of his
International Stadium in 2015. Mairwen Hereford Stud bulls.

The Mahoneys’ farm rears 3500 ewe lambs for the sheep- Nigel’s decision to choose Herefords stems back to a car ride
milking industry. They also lamb 1500 ex-milking ewes and with his grandparents when he was a child.
husband Luke dags half a million sheep a year from Taupo to “I remember seeing a field full of Herefords and my
Wairarapa. The property trades 500 to 600 cattle a year. At the grandfather said, ‘Nothing looks better than a field full of
time of writing, Bex had just bought 100 400kg Hereford store Herefords’, and it stuck with me really.
steers from a Masterton farmer. “When I looked more into it, the fact they are docile, easy
Retirement from refereeing meant a rugby twist closer to to handle, easy calving, the meat is top quality and sought
home – she played for Wairarapa Bush in 2021 in an unofficial after … and particularly in the UK, people are looking to know
women’s game against Whanganui. where their meat comes from.”
“I’ve wanted to represent my province for more than 20 Nigel was a referee on the World Sevens Series circuit
years. It was great to chuck on my boots and wear the green between 2002 and 2005, before becoming a regular at the
and red.” 15-aside game. He controlled three pool matches in the 2015
She’s likely to blow the whistle for some junior games but Rugby World Cup, including Ireland-France at the Millennium
has finished at senior level. “I’m done. I wanted to finish on a Stadium - the first time he had refereed an international
high note … loving every game.” match at the Welsh home stadium - and the final between New
She says her favourite game with a whistle was a Wairarapa Zealand and Australia. He won the World Rugby Referee Award
club semi-final, rated above the likes of Twickenham, Sevens that year.
World Cup and Ranfurly Shield. In November 2020, he became the first referee to reach
“It was two men’s club sides. It was pouring with rain, and a landmark 100th international match. Two weeks later, he
everyone was there for the right reasons. It was a cracker game announced his immediate retirement from international duty.
of rugby and memorable for that reason. “I don’t miss it at all, to be honest with you,” he says now. He
That’s why I did it; not the big field or the glamour.I like always wanted to be a farmer, long before he picked up a whistle.
being part of the game.” “Because the refereeing was coming to an end, I wanted
something else that was going to take my interest and fill my
From the whistle to the tweet time. I do a lot of speaking and TV work, and coach a couple of
young Welsh referees, but I wanted something I was going to be
One of the most high-profile personalities involved with passionate about, and that was farming, farming Herefords.”
Herefords in the UK is retired international rugby referee
Nigel Owens, who became a member of the UK Hereford
Society in 2020. New Zealand farming history is full of rugby names, or is our
With nearly 420,000 followers on Twitter – made up of rugby history full of farmers? – Tony Woodcock, Gordon Slater,
farming and rugby communities as well as the general public Sam Cane, and the Whitelocks and Barretts… or back to the likes
– he’s spreading the word. A video of young calves being of Ian Kirkpatrick, Colin Meads and Brian Lochore.
let out onto the grass last spring was watched by more than For now though, it's back to the farm for Andrew, Sam, Rob, the
27,600 people and a Christmas post featuring his Herefords in Robertsons, Bex and even Nigel Owens, so we can keep cheering
the barn by more than 37,400. He even welcomed the birth of for Herefords long after the whistle has blown.
his first pedigree Hereford calf on Twitter.
The Mairwen Hereford Stud, with about 60 pedigree
Herefords, is near Nigel’s home village of Mynyddcerrig, about
24 kilometres northwest of Swansea. Unwanted 15-month bulls
are sent under the Mairwen brand to a butcher in Cardiff, who
supplies a few city restaurants.

42 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2022