50 | Raupuha Shorthorns AGRICULTURE T T Russell Fredric Raupuha a multi-faceted business The multi-faceted business that supports Perendale, Romdale, Suffolk and Suftex sheep and Shorthorn cattle. Although they make up a small percentage of their overall farm operation, Shorthorns are a special breed to the Proffit family. As the owners of Raupuha Studs, Russell and Mavis Proffit are part of a family legacy that is producing top quality livestock from their multi-faceted business that supports Perendale, Romdale, Suffolk and Suftex sheep and Shorthorn cattle. Their farm covers 1100 hectares on easy to steep contour in the Mahoenui district, 30 minutes south-west of Te Kuiti. It carries about 12,000 stock units of which the Shorthorn stud comprises 100 cows of a total of 950 cattle. Russell and Mavis have three children and took over the farm in 2008 from Russell’s parents Jeff and Lyn, who started breeding Shorthorn beef cattle in 1972. “They have a good carcass, good maternal traits and good milking ability and good temperament and are hardy animals,” Russell says. Raupuha’s Shorthorn genetics include AI sires sourced from New South Wales, Australia. One, Sprys Heritage P73, is described by its owners as offering “serious genetic gain” in a sire they believe offers impeccable structure, mid-maturity, do ability and an “awesome” industry-leading pedigree with his dam, Spry’s Aces Primrose K45, fast becoming one of the elite cows in the breed. Russell says Sprys Heritage P73 is as a tremendous bull with very balanced estimated breeding values, and the “exceptional” progeny he is seeing from cows artificially inseminated from the bull are producing carcasses of excellent quality. Russell has also been using New Zealand genetics from Glendhu Genetics at Heriot, West Otago, and Morton Shorthorns at Katikati, Bay of Plenty. Actively involved in the wider industry, he served as the New Zealand Beef Shorthorn Association’s president until March this year for six years and remains on its council. He also spearheaded the establishment of the Shorthorn progeny trial in conjunction with Beef and Lamb New Zealand as part of its own beef progeny test involving about 2000 beef cows and heifers and 1300 dairy cows each year, on four large properties across New Zealand. The Shorthorn trial involves 350 cows artificially inseminated to Shorthorn Angus Hereford industry-leading bulls, with 135 crossbred steers being finished on the Proffit farm and grown to 18 months old before being killed and data recorded from the carcasses. BDO Taranaki are proud to support Raupuha Shorthorn Stud Ryan Stockman ryan.stockman@bdo.co.nz 06 777 1539 AUDIT | TAX | ADVISORY STEPPING BEYOND THE NUMBERS Get in touch today to see how we can pair up in helping reach your goals The trial aims to provide data that is not currently available about Shorthorns, to prove that they can perform as well as any other breed and to potentially help growers achieve a premium for qualifying carcasses. “We’ve got a lot a data of live animals and live bulls, but for the carcasses of the progeny there’s not as much you’d like.” Russell is also involved in a facial eczema action group that is aiming to achieve a collaborative, farmer-driven, prioritised research and development needs analysis of facial eczema in the sheep, beef and dairy industry. “We’ve been heavily involved with the sheep and we are in the process of trying to help get an alternative non-invasive test going across species. If we get the sheep one working it can then come into the cattle to make it easier to then start breeding for tolerance in cattle.” While it is currently possible to test for facial eczema, it is “real expensive and pretty brutal”. The ability to have a non-invasion test over a variety of species would be a game changer in the wider industry, Russell says.
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