Business Rural Autumn 2021

| 35 High fertility a key driver for stud All bull calves at Orari Gorge Hereford Stud are run as one mob from weaning with the best 30 -35 going through to the main two-year-old sale in June at 20 months. Richard Loader MEAT & WOOL » Orari Gorge Herefords they go out onto the tussock country with the commercial cows for the autumn and winter at around 609 to 914 metres, frequently subjected to snow. Robert and his predecessors have been perfor- mance recording for over 60 years with rigor- ous culling for structure, conformation, fertility, milk, growth and carcass values. All progeny are weighed at birth and regularly through their lives. “My grandfather, Charlie Tripp, was one of the first to start not only weighing cattle but also adjusting for age. “It’s not always the heaviest bull that is the best and you have to allow for growth rate per day. He was quite an innovator. All cattle are scanned for muscle and fat at 13 months of age. We also take scrotal measurements then as this measures early reproductive maturity.” All bull calves are run as one mob from wean- ing with the best 30 -35 going through to the main two year old sale in June at 20 months. This helps improve the accuracy of their EBVs and helps Robert and his team make accurate comparisons between animals with none getting any favourable treatment. “It also ensures we have an efficient, predict- able and reliable product which we are proud to stand behind. We’re trying to breed a balanced genetic package from calving ease, through to growth, carcass quality with high marbling; but also focused on the maternal traits. “We’re not chasing any one trait. Getting back in calf is a key driver. It doesn’t matter how easy they calve, how fast they grow, or how well they marble, if they don’t get in calf in the first place there is no second chance.” Until now Orari Gorge Station has been selling yearling bulls from its commercial herd into the dairy trade, unrecorded. This year all commercial cows will be recorded with New Zealand Herefords to develop breeding values enabling commercial bulls to be put over commercial cows, with the top commercial bulls entering the two year old sale. It will also enable better culling decisions of poorer mothers. S et in the South Canterbury foothills just north of Geraldine, Orari Gorge Station is one of the oldest in the country and was estab- lished by the Tripp family in 1856. Encompassing 4300 hectares including river flats at 250 metres above sea level, rolling clay downs at 300 – 500 metres and tussock country rising up to 1048 metres, Orari Gorge Station is considered very summer safe. Orari Gorge Hereford Stud takes its proud herit- age from Charlie Tripp, an innovative breeder who established the Nithdale Polled Hereford Stud in 1949 at Nithdale Station near Gore. In 1991, soon after Rosa and Graham Peacock took over Orari Gorge Station from Charlie, Rosa’s father, the decision was made to move the stud in its entirety to Orari Gorge Station and the stud name eventually changed to reflect its new home. While Rosa and Graham’s son Robert has over- all responsibility for the station’s management, he says his grandfather’s original main objec- tives remain the focus of the stud today; to breed structurally sound cattle with good conformation, constitution and high fertility. The stud heifers are run with the commercial heifers from weaning through to their first calving at two years old and much of this time is spent on the hill to keep them fit for calving in a mob of nearly 300, which creates a lot of selection pressure. Females have to get in calf at 15 months, calve unassisted and get back in calf every year. “They have to wean a good calf with poorer mothers culled each year,” says Robert. “We have to cull to make way for new heifers coming through. Last year, out of 160 mixed age cows we only had two dry, and we culled based upon performance. So the less dry cows, the heavier we can cull on production, which means the herd gets better and better.” The cows are made to work through the sum- mer cleaning up pastures to maintain pasture quality for fattening stock and then after weaning