| 13 North American genetics focus for stud Denson Dale Vans Vestry. Hugh de Lacy Greenacre Jersey Stud is young for a registered herd – barely six years old – and you won’t nd its progeny on the market for a while, but when they arrive they’ll be nearly as big as a crossbred cow thanks to a recent in ux of North American genetics. The 60ha farm on the ats near Morrinsville has been in the Pickett family for more than a century, and that brings a fair weight of experience to current studmaster Brad Pickett, who farms with his wife Rebecca and parents Fiona and Graham Pickett. It was Graham’s father Stan Pickett who picked Jerseys as the family’s foundation herd in the early 1900s. Today, as the Greenacre Jersey Stud, the farm runs a herd of 230 cows, all of them registered, each producing between 530 and 550kg of milkfats for a total farm output of around 125,000kg a year, supplying the Tatua milk company. Production is under-written by a single centrepivot irrigator – something unusual in the Morrinsville area – that was installed by Graham Pickett 20 years ago, and which covers 80% of the farm. It proved a godsend in 2021’s historically dry Waikato summer, though this year the weather in the area has gone to the other extreme with what seems like near-constant rain. In founding his Jersey stud, Brad Pickett had a lot of help and encouragement from Matamata breeder Lloyd Wilson, whose Densondale Jersey Stud was dispersed in April of last year. Brad picked up eight of Lloyd’s highly valued cows at the dispersal sale, but he had already been introducing that bloodline to his herd as calves and heifers since he took over the farm nine years ago. As a second revenue stream, the stud operation is still at the embryonic stage. “We’re not selling any progeny yet: I want to build up cow families in the herd before we get into sales,” Brad says. He also wants to build conformation and milk into his animals, and to this end he’s got a policy RURAL PEOPLE » Brad and Rebecca Pickett • to page 14 CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS MORRINSVILLE Guiding you to success 226B Thames Street Morrinsville 07 889 1018 www.mbsadvisors.co.nz of gradually reducing stock numbers in pursuit of higher per-cow production. Again with an eye to size, Brad’s also been looking overseas for new genetic in uences for Greenacre, buying semen from Canada and the United
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