Page 62 - NZ Hereford Magazine 2023

A trio of 2022 Te Taumata sale bulls.

ladstone is known for being the driest district in
Wairarapa, with long dry summers and regular
droughts, and Alistair and Eileen McWilliam’s
farm, Te Taumata, is no exception. It ranges
Gfrom open river flats to rolling hill country, and
is home to three studs – Hereford cattle, and Romney and
Border Leicester sheep.
“We have a 50:50 sheep to cattle ratio in commercial dryland
conditions,” Alistair says. “Our cattle work for a living. They
compete with sheep on our summer-dry, winter-wet hills at
high district stocking rates.”
The farm’s average annual rainfall is 800 millimetres, but
last year was not an average year. “Wairarapa hasn’t seen
rainfall like this since a similar event in the 1970s.”
Rain fell right through the 2021-2022 summer, and
continued through to the end of the year and into 2023, which
damaged pasture.
“We prioritised paddocks to be re-grassed because of
damage done in winter to get things back to where they were
in six months, not the three years it would take otherwise,”
Alistair says. “We wouldn’t have had the grass growth because
the pasture was damaged, so it was best to be proactive and
get stuck in and get it done and we’re quite lucky because we
can do it all ourselves.”

Te Taumata cornerstones
Eileen and Alistair McWilliam.
Maternal ability, constitution, longevity and top-quality beef
production are the cornerstones of Te Taumata’s 120-strong over another, which is a terrific benefit to the stock itself.
cow herd. When the dry hits, there are no levers to pull. Everything’s got
“We see the benefit of the pressure on our cow herd and to stick it out.
sheep flocks; constitution and type really are the key. This “They have to be able to cope on very little feed for several
gives us confidence knowing our genetics will perform and months at a time. The calf has her mother and a bit of dry
be profitable for our commercial buyers. No stock class gets feed and that’s pretty much it. Cows have to be able to wean
preferential treatment. We can’t prioritise one class of stock a heavy calf right through the dry, and it’s the same with the

60 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2023