Page 16 - NZ Hereford Magazine 2023

hris and Amanda Jeffries have taken Grassmere “When I think back, I wonder how we juggled all that with
Poll Hereford Stud to the top of the industry, two little kids. It was a bit scary buying the block up the Wairau
selling New Zealand’s top-priced bulls three years Valley because it was a lot of money and we’d just put in our
in a row. first lot of grapes and borrowed money for that,” Amanda recalls.
C After the purchase of Monymusk Gallant, the Eventually there wasn’t enough space for the bulls on the
Jeffries went on to sell Grassmere Gallant 9 for $42,000 to land near Blenheim, so the Jeffries started looking for a farm.
Okawa Poll Herefords in Canterbury in 2016, Grassmere Finding nothing suitable in Marlborough, in 2009 they bought
Gallant 152 for $40,000 to Koanui Polled Herefords in Hawke’s the 598ha Benmore, just south of Cheviot in North Canterbury.
Bay in 2017, and Grassmere Gallant 244 went for $60,000 to the “It’s a lovely farm and really good for a stud operation. It
Beechwood and Richon studs in North Canterbury in 2018. has good subdivision, a lot of paddocks on the flats, irrigation
The Jeffries farm in North Canterbury but both are from for having some guaranteed feed, and a big block of hill for
Marlborough. Chris’s family owned a farm at Grassmere, but running the cows on for most of the year. It’s a good challenge
they extended the operation and moved to Blenheim when he for them, similar to a lot of the country where our bulls get
was still a baby. His father bought and combined several small sold,” Chris says.
properties to the east of the town, running sheep and stud The property also supports a sheep operation. They lamb
Herefords, and growing lucerne and grain before moving into 1050 Romney ewes, with about 600 going to Romney rams and
peas and corn for Talley’s. the rest to terminal sire, as well as mating 300 ewe hoggets.
Chris came home from school when he was 15 to help on Depending on the season, most lambs are finished. The mixed
the farm and by his mid-20s was managing both the farm age ewes lamb unshepherded on the hill; they scan about
and the Hereford stud, established by his parents Tom and 170% to 175% and tail between 140% to 150%.
Suzanne in 1966. In 2000 they added an Angus stud bought The Jeffries also have the Riverlands J Angus stud and
from family friends Geoff and Lorraine Hocquard. calve about 90 Angus cows. Both breeds are run together
“They’re both maternal beef breeds … we do have buyers throughout the year, apart from mating.
who will buy both breeds at the same sale, which is quite “As soon as mating is finished all cows and calves go onto
good,” Chris says. “But the heart is with the Herefords, they’re the native hill, only coming in for weaning in April and then
a really good breed.” for calving again on 1 September,” Chris says. “No intentional
At first the stud cattle fitted in with other farming cross-breeding goes on,” he adds with a laugh.
operations on the flat land near Blenheim, but as grapes They aim to see 20 Hereford and 20 Angus bulls through the
became a more profitable land use in Marlborough, the cattle sale ring each year and any surplus females are usually sold
were squeezed for space, so in 2004 Chris and Amanda bought for breeding.
a 280-hectare hill block in Wairau Valley. They ran the cows Over nearly 40 years of breeding cattle, Chris has seen
there and kept the bulls on the flat. At the same time, they enormous change, including in the tools breeders have at
helped Chris’s parents develop a vineyard. their disposal to accelerate genetic improvement.

14 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2023