Page 71 - NZ Hereford Magazine 2023

Springvale’s heifers with calves at foot.

The mainly Friesian trading cattle are rotational grazed in a
cell system. They are bought in as 15- to 18-month-olds in mid-
summer and are killed from October through to the following
February with a target weight of 350kg.
“It’s a similar system to the beef but with a bit more
flexibility. You can be hard on your target weight generally, but
if it gets dry, they have to go. They won’t make any target if
you’ve got nothing to feed them,” David says.
“It would be a lot nicer if we could run all beef,” Tim adds,
“but the bulls turn grass into money a lot quicker and a lot
easier, although they make more mess. You don’t have to
get a bull prime and perfect to kill him. You can kill him two
months earlier and it doesn’t matter; that flexibility is key.”
The Springvale sheep flock has always been Romney – the
family has had a long relationship with Wairere – although Beef progeny are finished on leased flats about an hour
David says some East Friesian genetics were added years ago northeast of the farm.
to bring fertility up. “Before Wairere, we were averaging about
128 percent lambing. We went with half East Friesian, quarter
Romney, quarter Poll Dorset for about five years, and then
back to straight Romney. It got the fertility up instantly. We’re
about 155 percent lambing now, season dependent.”
Two-tooth ewes are put to terminal South Suffolk rams. The
aim is to kill the bulk of the lambs, about 2000 of them, off
mum at 16.5 to 17kg aged 12 to 14 weeks. The rest are finished
on summer brassica crops.
Springvale and one of its neighbours share a 40ha QEII
National Trust covenanted block, and it still has large areas
of retired bush, including huge totara, remnants of the pre-
farming era.
“They really are worth preserving,” David says.
One of the Holdens' sire bulls.

Year 2023 HEREFORD MAGAZINE 69