Page 39 - NZ Hereford Magazine 2023

Gavin Herrick loves farming Herefords. Arabica’s first twin heifers born at Okupata.

They employ experienced local stock manager Rodney “This was the first season of the heifers having white face
Limmer on Okupata. calves, and we had not one calving issue. We’ve put our heifers
“His passion is the sheep. He knows the district’s climate again to the Hereford bull and trust we’ll have the same success.”
well and he’s a great asset to us.” It was Dean Evans from PGG Wrightson who recognised
The sheep side of the new business hit the ground Gavin’s passion for breeding when he was selecting his
running after buying 1300 commercial Romney ewes and Friesian semen.
12 rams from the Alexander family at Matamata, who were “I’m very fussy and focused on the high BW-high PW [breed
exiting the industry. worth and production worth] genetics with my Friesian dairy
“Ross and his father had been part of the AgResearch facial herd, and I told Dean I didn’t want everyday Hereford bulls,
eczema and high fertility development programme. They’ve I wanted top quality and good confirmation, with good data
been breeding these ewes since 1974 so that set us in great behind them, so he put me onto Colin Corney and Andrew
stead going forward. Russo. When I looked at the data of what Colin and Andrew
“We scanned 183 percent in the ewes’ first season [on had been producing in terms of the low birth weight and high
Okupata] and 182 percent last year; docking 165 percent and growth, etc., I thought, ‘why not?’ It was a no-brainer.
163 percent – fabulous for our area – good genetics paying off.” “So five years ago, we started purchasing bulls from them to
The farm keeps Romney ewe lambs for replacements while tail off with. Let’s be honest, their bulls are far too good for the
Romney wether lambs and all terminal dairy industry, but that’s how it started, and
sire lambs go to Wilson Hellaby – the 500 “From Arabica they produce such a beautiful animal and
two-tooth ewes go to a CharBlack ram, a beautiful confirmation. That’s when I really
Charollais-Hampshire cross from Alastair coffee beans got hooked on Herefords.”
Reeves’ Waimai stud. to Arabica Gavin says he hasn’t found it hard
“We try to get them away at 18 kilograms Herefords.” to traverse between the dairy and beef
off mum pre-Christmas. This season we’ve breeding systems.
kept our tail-end lambs; we’ll carry them “With my financial and auditing
through and maybe get rid of them in July for a winter background, I just love the data. It actually just gets me so
premium.” excited. Learning how LIC analyse the data for our dairy
While the sheep are Rodney’s passion, the Herefords are breeding was like my little apprenticeship into learning
definitely Gavin’s. about beef data, which I’m still doing of course. I’ve loved the
The property had been home to the Okupata Hereford Stud, transition; it’s great. I’m a numbers man.”
which was dispersed before Gavin took over the property. The plan is to supply the dairy industry with quiet, quality
He bought 50 Hereford stud females from Andrew Russo at bulls.
Kanuka, Colin Corney at Colraine, Ian and Brian Clements “Having witnessed and experienced bulls with the dairy
from Matapouri, and the Ward family at Kairaumati. herd, we know it’s vital to have quiet yearling and two-year-old
“Their first crop of calves are on the ground at the moment, bulls. It’s important the contract milkers and staff working on
which is fabulous. They’re my pride and joy,” he says. “We also dairy farms can handle the bulls with no issues: nice and quiet
have 283 Friesian dairy heifer replacements, which was one and easy to move, and they’re able to actually walk into the
of the reasons for buying the farm to start with, as well as 140 cow shed and row up with the girls.”
white face trading cattle, which are the calves from the dairy One of Gavin’s stud bulls is a Colraine-bred bull from
farm. They came out here in December and will stay here until Limehills Streaker – Colraine Lawman 18276.
they’re finished.” “I’m a big fan of Limehills breeding. Last year we had two
They go to Silver Fern Farms with a target carcass weight of yearling stud bulls purchased out of TH Master Plan; their
250kg for the heifers, and 325kg and upwards for the steers. dams both have the Limehills Streaker coming through. When
Gavin’s pleased the low birth weight bulls from Kairaumati you look at the data – the IMF, the EMA, and moderate birth
and Kanuka mean there are no more bobby calves from their weight – and the calving ease is exceptional on both of these
heifers and tail-end cows. bulls. Watch this space.”

Year 2023 HEREFORD MAGAZINE 37