Page 47 - Hereford Magazine 2022

Where there’s a

will, there’s a way

Words: Rob Tipa. Photos: Rob Tipa/supplied.

ill Gibson is a young stud cattle and sheep
breeder on a mission: his goal is to breed
genetically superior stock that looks good
in the show ring, but more importantly, can
Wconsistently produce a profitable return for
the hill country farmers who buy them.
Will started a coloured Merino stud flock when he was still
at primary school, so it was no surprise to anyone when he
stepped straight from high school into a job working for
Merino New Zealand.
His grandparents and family have had a long association
with the Hereford breed. When he was just 15, Will started a
Hereford stud at his parents’ (Anton and Liz) Foulden Hill
property at Moonlight, near Middlemarch. Top: Will Gibson with a mob of mixed-age stud breeding cows
His first four breeding cows came from the final dispersal and calves at foot at his family’s Foulden Hill property at
sale of the Braxton Hereford Stud in northern Southland Moonlight near Middlemarch. Above: Will Gibson holds Foulden
in 2009 and he has steadily added cows from other sources Mustang, winner of the prestigious Christchurch A&P Show’s Meat
since then. and Wool Cup in 2017. His parents Liz and Anton Gibson were
“As a young fellow, you don’t have any clear goals at that runners-up with a Santa Gertrudis cow and calf.
point,” he says. “It was just about breeding good cattle. You
wanted to breed animals you liked the look of and which Show with a farm-bred Hereford bull, Foulden Mustang.
would hopefully be of use to someone else in the commercial This bull was also judged Supreme Champion and
beef industry.” Interbreed Champion at the same show, while his parents
He has since specialised in the genetics of stockbreeding and were runners-up in the Senior Meat and Wool Cup with a Santa
now, aged 28, works as a genetics consultant for neXtgen Agri, Gertrudis cow and calf also bred at Foulden Hill.
a job that takes him all over the country and – before Covid-19 Since then, the family has added further Christchurch A&P
intervened – regularly visiting clients across the Tasman. show titles – judged online last year – winning Supreme
Will says data collection and analysing estimated breeding Champion beef animal with a Santa Gertrudis bull, and
values (EBVs) has become a big part of both his working Champion Hereford and Interbreed titles with a yearling
life and on the home farm with his parents, who jointly run Hereford bull.
a diverse stud breeding operation with Hereford and Santa “I enjoy showing cattle,” Will says. “It has been great to
Gertrudis herds, as well as Suffolk and Merino sheep flocks. build knowledge within the industry. The animals we show
Will has enjoyed extraordinary success on the southern have to be right at the top end of breeding values and
show circuit, including winning the prestigious Junior and phenotype. I won’t show anything that I wouldn’t generally
Senior Meat and Wool Cups at the 2017 Christchurch A&P use in my own herd.

Year 2022 HEREFORD MAGAZINE 45