6 | RURAL PEOPLE » Beef It Simmentals ‘Cracker weaners’ may join sale bulls Richard Loader Northland stud breeders Aaron and Bernadette Gubb are looking forward to presenting their third offering of Beef It Simmental R2 bulls at the Kaihohe Saleyards on the 8th of June. Last year Aaron and Bernadette offered thirty R2 bulls to an appreciative beef and dairy market, averaging $3800 with all stock sold. “I guess it will be somewhere around that same number this time,” says Aaron. “By sale time the R2’s should average around 700 kilos, but I might also include a handful of Autumn weaners this year. There are some real cracker weaners this year. I weaned them at the beginning of January and the bulls averaged 375 kilos and the heifers averaged 336 kilos.” Aaron says while half a dozen Beef It Simmental bulls were sold into the dairy industry last year most bulls went to the beef market with farmers wanting to put them over Hereford Friesian cross for hybrid vigor. “In the Beef + Lamb Progeny Testing trials Simmental absolutely smashed everything. Of the top twelve bulls, ten of them are Simmentals, and the two that weren’t were ranked nine and twelve.” Aaron and Bernadette milk 420 predominantly Friesian cows along with a few cross breds on their 230 hectare effective dairy unit half way between Kaikohe and Kaitaia in Umawera, near the Mangamukas. For fteen years the couple had about fteen unregistered purebred Simmentals, which they bred to use over their dairy herd. Aaron says three years ago he and Bernadette thought they might as well go all the way and buy an entire stud consisting of fty cows and heifers from Peter Hill in Whangarei, along with other stud cows from disbursement sales. “The last year or two we’ve started to get our own heifers coming through from sires that we have picked ourselves. We’re breeding for a cow that is fairly easy calving, will grow once it’s on the ground, is docile and preferably polled. The idea is that the progeny will be nished before the second winter. I use the Simmentals over my dairy cows too so they have to be relatively easy calving.” Most of Beef It Simmentals genetics now come from Kerrah Simmentals. Located north of Wairoa, on the boundary of the Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne districts, Kerrah is New Zealand largest and one of the leading gene pools of fully recorded Simmentals. “We buy a mix of bulls and semen from Kerrah and I have bought about fteen heifers from them in the past too.” The Gubb’s stud herd includes 29 in-calf R2 heifers, 15 R2 autumn heifers, 75 spring cows with calves a foot and 32 autumn cows. During Northland’s Autumn there is no bobby calf run and Aaron has got around that issue by using Fleckvieh Semmental AI straws across a section of the dairy herd and nishing off with a Simmental bull. He currently has fteen Fleckvieh heifers, all Spring born weaners resulting from AI. “The ones I’ve reared look just the same as a Simmental Friesian cross. The bulls will go into the beef market, while the heifers will join the milking herd. It also creates a bit of hybrid vigor and a different dairy cross.” “By sale time the R2’s should average around 700 kilos, but I might also include a handful of Autumn weaners this year. There are some real cracker weaners this year. I weaned them at the beginning of January and the bulls averaged 375 kilos and the heifers averaged 336 kilos.” Last year Aaron and Bernadette offered thirty R2 bulls to an appreciative beef and dairy market. 160 Hariru Rd, Ohaeawai RD2 Kaikohe office@tractorthomas.co.nz 021 813 421 • Round & Square Hay and Silage • Cultivation, Cropping & Drilling • Maize Planting & Harvesting • Bulk Haulage • Conventional Hay • Weighbridge Services • Lime and Fert Spreading Ryan and the team at RTA Contracting are proud to support Beef it Simmentals Simmental Beef Stud Northland, NZ. 8th June2022 - KaikoheSaleyards 30 r2 Simmental Bulls Our bulls are guaranteed for structural soundness DNA tested Fertility tested Muscle scanned Beef classed EBL & BVD negative Contact Aaron Gubb: 021 590 915
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