54 | Julia & Stewart Eden Good genetic gains Koromiko supports a Crossley’s Angus herd, a 3800 Romney breeding ewes and 1400 hoggets . Sue Russell Russell Fredric Proudly Southland, Julia and Stewart Eden and children, 13 year old twins Jake and Ebony, are preparing for a new chapter in their farming journey, having made the decision to move away from dairy farming and to relocate to a new farm for their beef stock and Julia’s precious herd of South Devon cows, registered under the name JAVA stud. It’s a big decision to uplift and move, but Julia says the decision to move their business away from production of milk through their herd of Holstein cows is the right one at this stage in their lives. South Devon is an old breed dating back to the 16th century and the breed is near and dear to Julia’s heart, given she was raised in the part of England where the breed is common. “I like the idea of sustaining old minority breeds and when I first came to New Zealand I started breeding Dexters, however with a limited accessible gene pool that aspiration became difficult so I switched to South Devon.” Their current farm is at Balfour, 45km’s from Gore, where the twins attend St Peters School, coming home in the weekends to help on the farm. “I’m a great believer that if the children want things then they have to work for them. It’s only Stewart and I working the farm with the assistance of wonderful Kylie, so the children need to pitch in and do their share,” Julia says. Having last spoken with Julia in February this year the November discussion offered an opportunity for a good catch-up. Julia described last year’s summer-time drought as really tough to get through, with milk production plummeting. “It was the first time we had done 16 hour milking to keep condition on pre-calving.” Julia’s deliberating chosen South Devon blood-lines which are ‘easy-doing’. She is proud of how the herd managed to feed their calves through challenging times, with weaning weights in the high 300kg’s to low 400kg’s. Julia has 22 mixed age cows and 6 yearling heifers, all pure South Devons “Our commercial herd is a bit liquorice allsorts, not just Holstein crossed with South Devons but a lot are beef crosses with South Devon. We get our South Devon Holstein calves from the dairy herd and rear them from birth.” Attaining excellent weaning weights is definitely the goal. Julia likes to use the term ‘Barrels over Bullets’ to describe their emphasis on weight. The couple ceased their winter milking contract this Introducing artificial insemination has turbocharged the genetic gains being achieved in Hugh and Lucy Dampier Crossley’s Angus herd. The North Canterbury hill country sheep and beef farmers’ decision four years ago to move from natural mating was largely prompted by the cost of bulls, Hugh says. “We couldn’t afford the bulls we wanted. Probably it was more the price of bulls for a start that pushed me that way, and since then seeing the genetic gain the farm has got is probably what’s driving that.” The main focus of the farm’s cattle operation is to produce quality heifers and cows that perform on the hill country. Dubbed Koromiko, the 2288 hectare property supports 300 Angus cows and about 80 heifers in addition to its sheep flocks. Its steers are sent to Five Star’s feedlot near Ashburton at about 460 kilograms and it is good to see these also performing well, Hugh says. The genetic focus on the cattle is on positive fats, a moderate frame and soft, deep cattle that can winter well on “pretty average” feed and still produce a good calf, while temperament is also highly regarded. Breeding by AI has resulted in calves of a better, more consistent type, that have higher weaning weights and performer better overall. “It’s a fairly big step up from what we were able to produce with the bulls that we were buying at sales.” MEAT & WOOL » Julia & Stewart Eden / Koromiko Farm year giving a bit of space and time for the couple from the split herd system. “We didn’t have any down-time really from milking and I think this is why we started to seriously look at future options for the business.” Moving from the farm will be the Eden family and the commercial beef herd and Julia’s prized stud cows, she says she will never part with. An auction of the dairy herd is scheduled for 12 April, giving sufficient time post-auction for packing up ready for the shift to the new property. “We have an auctioneer coming from Australia because we are pedigree Holstein. Settlement on our farm is 1 May to avoid the busy 1 June Gypsy Day.” Plans to move began to form about 4 years ago and Julia says back then they ‘dipped their toes in the water’ to see what sort of interest there might be in the property. It was during the last calving period that Stewart and Julia realised they were just getting too old for dairying on their own. Having a mix of dairy and beef stock has been a good balance Julia says, flattening out the impact of lower milk or beef schedules and good for cash-flow.Casting their eye around at other farms for sale the plan is to stay in Northern Southland if at all possible.Travelling with the stock, once the move is underway will also be the pet dairy cows that no-one can bring themselves to part with. “We had a calf born 36 days prem and it was just like having a baby, with 4-hourly feeds. We called her Riley and she actually did very well, just getting a bit crook one day before due date.” Potential properties are being viewed with a critical eye.“It’s important we don’t buy a farm that is overcapitalised. We’re not so concerned about the housing but on the farm buildings and infrastructure.”Julia say the beefies are attaining great weights at killing. By 15 months its not uncommon to reach 300kg. The Holstein/ South Devon cross stock are coming in a 320kg. Once settled on to their new farm the focus will continue to be concentrating on the production side of things. The breeding programme will most definitely intensify around good calving weights. In the past Julia and the twins have attended agricultural events to show their cows, something she hopes, given the ravages of first, M-Bovis and then COVID in disrupting the annual cycle of shows. “We love the whole idea of showing our stock. Picking the ones to concentrate on, preparing them to be in top order at the show. It’s a great opportunity to pitch our cows against other breeds. I’m very proud of my herd and Stewart is equally of his Holstein’s and this interest has been passed down to the children.” Calves are now around 30 kilograms heavier on average at weaning than the naturally mated calves were and the steers 40 to 50kg heavier at 12 months. Heifers are pushed hard during winter and a lot more are retained than needed so poorer cows can be culled, while anything that cannot handle the winter challenge gets dropped into a fattening mob. “Every cow on the farm has had a calf every year. If they have a really average calf, they get pulled out and killed as well, they get no second chances.” A feature of the farm’s pasture system has been the inclusion of subterranean ‘sub’ clover during the past 12 seasons. Its ability to produce high quality, early season feed while fixing nitrogen, makes it enormously valuable in the dryland system, Hugh says. “Subterranean clover’s an annual, so most of our developed country now has gone through a pasture renovation and is in savvy cocksfoot and we put about 10kg’s [to the hectare] of sub clover in, three to four different varieties.” In the first spring after sowing, it is grazed to allow good residual cover and the clover to seed well and to become well established. “When we start getting the autumn rains the sub clover comes through and it really starts cranking a lot of feed out August, September, October, November when we’ve got a heap of lambs on and it’s rocket fuel for them. It fits our system really well. Koromiko supports a 3800 Romney breeding ewes and 1400 hoggets which are being transitioned with Romney Texel rams for greater meat yield and also buys in store lambs for fattening depending on the season. Silage and Baling contractor servicing the Northern Southland District Brent Eaton 027 485 5994 Matt Muir 027 220 4000 O ice 027 428 4328 Email ewl.balfouro ice@gmail.com Find us on Facebook EWL Limited Proudly supporting Stewart & Julia Eden BETTER BEET LTD Contact Erik 027 204 8019 • betterbeetltd@gmail.com CARRIERS OF LIVESTOCK, GENERAL FREIGHT, BULK & FERTILISER CHEVIOT TRANSPORT 2017 LTD 99 Ward Rd, Cheviot 7310 P: 03 319 8644 A/H: 0276 776 787 Spreadmark Certified Dan Thiele - 027 511 7656 - 03 319 2779 - cheviotlime@gmail.com
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