Page 128 - NZ Hereford Magazine 2023

How we ended

up with Herefords

South Auckland Hereford Club member Sheryl Elrick tells how she and Bryan
came to be breeding their beloved Pukenui Herefords.

I transferring to Rotoehu Forest where he remained until

was born and bred in Te Kuiti and did all my schooling
he was made redundant in 1986. It was this time that I got
there. Dad had a carrying business and I used to love
going with him on the weekend to pick up the cream
precious about Herefords.
from local farmers, which was collected in cans and
Neighbours of the forest, the Drabble brothers – Neil, Wick
taken to the Otorohanga dairy factory.
They were wonderful farmers, and became family friends.
I was a bit of a naughty girl, smoking behind the toilets and Dick – retired from dairying to go beef farming instead.
(if only I knew then, what I know now), wagging, and Because they were not too keen on the paperwork side, the
eventually getting suspended. I was told by my parents to stud was started as Pukenui, Drabble Brothers and S. Elrick.
get a job or else. The first in-calf cows had been bought at a clearing sale and
Jobs were easy to get then, but I didn’t really want to be I went with them to the second sale. They bought 30 cows, I
a nurse or teacher. I worked for the BNZ in Te Kuiti then bought one: Woodlea Darlene 8.
Rotorua. I was very sporty and fit in those days with netball, A few years later the brothers retired properly and we
tennis, and athletics. carried on our own with cows Darlene had produced, and a
I had a relative in Ngakuru who milked 20 cows, all beautiful great bull, Koanui Giant 1. He was so quiet Bryan would stand
Jerseys, in a small five-bale cow shed. I spent time there on his back to pick plums.
during school holidays and visited them every week after I By now we had moved out of town onto a 12-acre [4.8ha]
moved to Rotorua. block, which very quickly became too small. We had about
Bryan and I married in 1978. He worked for the NZ Forest three small grazing blocks and in the winter Bryan would go
Service and within six weeks of our wedding, got a job in round each place to feed out before coming home.
Tonga with Foreign Affairs, taking over management of a At this stage I went off on a bit of a tangent with bloodlines,
forestry programme assisting locals to grow pine trees. It was chasing trendy bulls when I had no real idea what type of
a great lifestyle. Hereford we wanted. I then worked out that the best market
While there I became pregnant and planned to return to for our animals was in dairy beef, so changed tack a bit.
New Zealand before full term, but my three babies decided Our herd was the old fashioned-type Hereford – short and
they were ready 10 weeks early. The local doctor had thought fat and a bit gingery. The most important purchase for our
I was having two or I had my dates wrong. Yeah right. Because stud ever was Kairuru Remus R19. Kevin and Jane McDonald
the triplets were so premature although healthy, the NZ Air were supportive and after visiting their stud regularly over
Force sent a Hercules to Tonga, equipped with incubators, several years, we bought Remus for the second highest price
doctors and nursing staff, to pick us up. in their two-year-old sale.
We were posted to Taupo with the NZFS for two years and He was super friendly right from a calf and a great looking
then Bryan was put in charge of Mamaku Forest, before animal, and added huge value to our old- fashioned herd.

126 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2023