26 | Focus on calving ease at shorthorn stud Senior herdsire Hiwiroa Stockman 19037. Commercial rst cross cow with 3/4 shorthorn calf. Karen Phelps RURAL PEOPLE » Hiwiroa Shorthorns Nick Syme from Hiwiroa Stud has a true passion for breeding: “I like sourcing the genetics and thinking about how it will work in our herd. It takes a while to see the results but seeing the herd improve is hugely satisfying.” Parents Jim and Trish bought the home farm comprising of 150ha of medium hill country in the Flemington district 20 km south of Waipukurau in 1978. Now Nick and wife Claire farm in partnership with them. The Hiwiroa shorthorn herd was established in 2004 with the purchase of the Ryedale herd of Geoff Fausett. Females have been added from the Pinnacle, Errwood and Austin herds. Tahuna Stud, owned by the late Timothy Plumber who sadly passed away in 2022, has been amalgamated. The Symes ran Tahuna Stud alongside their own for a number of years prior. “Timothy was good at letting us run it as our own but with his guidance. He mentored us and his experience was invaluable,” says Nick. The stud comprises 50-60 cows and alongside this the family farm 1200 Romtex ewes and 200 commercial cattle (a mix of shorthorn cross and other British breeds) and will trade depending on the season. Nick says the focus of the stud is on calving ease and carcass traits. AI is used within the herd – mainly Australian and some Canadian genetics. They use their own yearlings or purchased herd bulls from New Zealand as well. “Our focus on calving ease has meant that bulls are sought after for heifer mating. A large portion of our bulls is below breed average for birth weight with positive calving ease EBVs. “The people that are using our bulls seem to be wanting to get an easily born calf but still gain hybrid vigour through the progeny,” explains Nick. For a number of years they have also been concentrating on lifting fats and IMF gures so their clients can target premium markets. Their aim is to produce animals in the top 20% for IMF equating to +0.8 EBV and above. Hiwiroa will offer around 8-10 bulls for sale by private treaty from early May that are good examples of the stud’s breeding philosophy demonstrating calving ease, good growth and high yielding carcass traits. The sale offering will feature sons of Hinewaka Balance72/16, Hiwiroa Kookaburra 19008 and Yamburgan Gigabytes N4. Gigabytes is a bull Nick purchased from Australia. “He’s proven to be a curve bender – low birth weight but higher growth. We’ve used him over heifers and cows and they still have good growth. He’s very balanced through his carcass and he’s in the top 5% self replacing index.” After completing a Bachelor of Applied Science at Massey University Nick worked for a couple of years on another farm before returning to the family farm in 2007. He and Jim run the farm together, which includes a lease block for earlier lambing ewes and nishing stock in Waipukurau plus the home farm at Rotohiwi Road, which runs the breeding stock. Trish works in town as a receptionist at a medical centre and Claire is kept busy as a full time mum to Florence, 4 and Isobel, 2. The family has recently sold a harder hill country block, choosing to consolidate the stud to the home farm and lease block with the view to being able to take advantage of opportunities in the future if they come up. In-calf replacement heifer group shot. TAHUNA and HIWIROA S H O R T H O R N S We have commercially focussed, high indexing shorthorn beef bulls available OUR GENETICS EMPHASIZE MATERNAL TRAITS and PREMIUM CARCASS QUALITIES Bulls available by Private Treaty Inspection anytime at: 300 Rotohiwi Rd, WAIPUKURAU Ph. Jim Syme 06 858 5369 or Nick Syme 027 428 8821 or Timothy Plummer 027 457 8001
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=