| 21 Shorthorns – ‘great yield, wonderful meat’ Sue Russell RURAL PEOPLE » Glenrossie Beef Shorthorn Stud For well over 100 years the Ody family have been farming 40 minutes drive east of Whangarei on the Whangarei Heads, just inside the sand-dunes and underfoot there’s a mix of sandy and peat at, rolling clay country, and rocky volcanic soils on steeper hill straddling the 485ha property. Glenrossie runs about 85 registered Shorthorn cows and 30 registered Santa Gertrudis cows. Along with the stud herds there is also a commercial herd of 35 – 40 Shorthorn x Santa Gertrudis cows and a ock of 1250 Romney ewes plus all young stock. All replacement stock are grown out and the surplus are fattened on farm. David, and his wife Tracy each work full-time on the farm and in 2023 they will be taking on a new farm cadet through the A & P Society Farm Intern Programme. David’s uncle Will also lives in a home on the property. Their Glenrossie Beef Shorthorn Stud was established in 1969. Current owner David Ody’s father and uncle purchased Stud Loch females from Malcolm Anderson and an imported bull named Burnton Banter. Originally there was a herd of milking Shorthorns but the family nished milking in 1979 and went on to expand the Beef Shorthorn herd and moved in to sheep farming. David describes Shorthorns as very quiet and really good traditional cattle. “Shorthorns carry very high marbling with excellent quality meat. There’s been a lot heard about Angus, but Shorthorns produce wonderful meat and great yield.” The rare Santa Gertrudis cattle, that originated in Texas came into the business in the 1970’s, originally a mix of Shorthorn and Brahman breeds. Today, the Santa Gertrudis are all fully registered pedigrees and have been so since the late-90’s. Santa Gertrudis are very free moving David says, easily moving 15k in a day in Australia for food and water. “Our mountain rises 800ft from sea-level and they amble up and down it daily without any problem at all.” For cross-breeding purposes Santa Gertrudis bulls when mated to any type of cow are secondto-none, adding signi cant kilograms to calves at weaning time. They also produce animals with more lean beef, in line with today’s consumer demands. The gain from hybrid vigour is profound over traditional beef cattle, the crossbred able to thrive in hot dry conditions, suited to our warming climate. Sadly there are fewer Santa Gertrudis studs in New Zealand than there once was, with only a few dotted around the country. The heifers of both breeds are run on the hills while the stud Shorthorn cows are wintered in the dry rocky volcanic mountain, saving the lower country for later in the season. Each year in late June or early July the stud puts up a selection of rising 2 year old bulls to supply for breeding purposes at their on farm sale. Most demand for the offering comes from beef farmers in Northland and there is some concern about whether current demand will continue well into the future as more farms are being turned into pine forestry blocks. “Without a few southern buyers it would be hard going for us,” David explains. Arti cial Insemination is used each year to introduce new genetics into the stud and David says they have a few contacts in Australia for Santa Gertrudis genetics. “We also subscribe to the Australian Santa Gertrudis magazine and we pick up some new bulls that way. You have to keep your ears to the ground when it comes to sourcing new genetics.” Looking back at 2022 David says it was easily the wettest one yet, with 1950mm of rain having fallen to end of June, with an average of 12001300mm. “The last three winters up here have been very warm. The farm is almost entirely kikuyu grass although we have put in some diverse crops and pastures in the last couple of years. We’re looking to increase resilience in seasonal extremes. We’ve gone from extremely dry to extremely wet recently and that can be tough to manage.” By going on to the Glenrossie facebook page viewers will begin to gain a good picture of the situation of the property and see videos of the stock. “We have a great deal of respect for both the Beef Shorthorn and the Santa Gertrudis breeds. They are wonderful animals to handle and have a real presence about them.” • Fertiliser & Lime Spreading • Fencing • Post Ramming 22 - 27 Stonehoven Drive RD8, Whangarei 027 247 6221 Mobile Agricultural Contracting Shorthorn calves in the morning. GLENROSSIE Beef Shorthorn and Santa Gertrudis Stud www.glenrossie.co.nz All Glenrossie bulls are guaranteed. Glenrossie bulls are TB status C10 and have all been tested and vaccinated for BVD. We aim to breed quality beef bulls with structural soundness, conformation and muscle. We want our cattle to be easy to handle, good doers that yield high amounts of good quality beef. These are the values we strive for when breeding bulls for our commercial beef producers. GET IN TOUCHWITH US! 09 4340 987 Fred: 027 4340 987 Tracy: 027 543 1045 contact@glenrossie.co.nz Glenrossie, 405 Ody Road, R D 4, Whangarei 0174
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