Page 64 - NZ Hereford Magazine 2023

Agents, clients and bulls before Te Taumata's 2022 sale.

Alistair’s McWilliam grandparents originally bought Te
Taumata as bare land in 1942.
Alistair and Eileen took over management in 2002, in
partnership with Jim, and with Jim’s death last year, are now
farming in their own right. Eileen says it’s a team effort.
“Alistair does most of the day-to-day work, but I help out
most days, especially if the work is in the yards. I am responsible
for the admin, accounting, stud recording and advertising.”
Alistair says they’re making continuous improvements to the
land to work better within the seasons and the local climate.
“Developing pastures, drainage, native planting, protecting
our soil, promoting clover growth. We are conscious of the
next generation to come after us. It’s about doing everything
better. We are the caretakers of Te Taumata and will leave a
more productive, sustainable farm for our children. This will
be here for them.”
Herefords remain the cattle of choice because of their easy
care, doing-ability, performance and production, as well as
temperament. Alistair and Ella on sale day.
“Our kids work in the yards with us so it’s important the
cattle are easy to work with," Eileen says. pedigree, as well as the phenotypical and genetic traits of the
“I love the Herefords; I’ve been brought up around them. bull itself. A bull must have a top-producing mother to be a
Both of my grandfathers had Herefords,” Alistair says. “It’s successful stud sire.
about constant improvement too. We’re always culling and The most recent bull imports were Tycolah Queenscliff N029
assessing them, and making decisions to benefit the people (Australia) and Churchill Big Jake from Montana, US.
we sell to and the wider beef industry. One of the biggest The stud has also had success with homebred bulls Te
things for us is that the clients are 100 percent happy when Taumata Foundation 14684, Te Taumata Horizon 16894 and Te
the animal turns up and performs and helps them achieve Taumata Deluxe 12520.
their production targets.” “We have a fantastic line of Foundation, Horizon and
Technology has advanced rapidly over the past few years, Deluxe cows in the herd,” Alistair says. “It’s a big bonus when
but Eileen says there’s a real risk of becoming reliant on you import genetics and then get sons out of a proven cow
technology and what’s on paper. and retain them to go over the herd; that’s when you get the
“You still need to be able to look at and assess an animal,” she biggest lift in production and the consistency.
says. “We need to keep performance records such as weaning “Foundation is by the international powerhouse NJW
weights, yearling weights and carcass results. But visual and Hometown 10Y. Deluxe is another outstanding bull that
structural assessment and stockmanship is important. It’s not stamped his mark on Te Taumata. His daughters are great
just about what’s on paper; it’s as much about the production mothers with beautiful udders. His dam Leonora 49 aged out
of that dam, what you see, how she handles dry summers, how of our herd last year as a 15-year-old.”
she coped with the wet winter – there are a lot of intangible Te Taumata has been importing the very best genetics it
things that can’t be accurately measured.” could source for a long time, Alistair adds.
They put a strong emphasis on that maternal side of a bull’s “We’ve been using moderate birth weight, good growth rate

62 HEREFORD MAGAZINE Year 2023