| 43 Finishing, cropping, tourism new focus for family Sue Russell RURAL PEOPLE » Richard Rowe Merchiston Estates It is something very special when your family has tracked back ve generations on the one property, leaving a legacy built over 140 years. Merchiston Estate extends over 2300 acres near Hunterville, north-east of Marton, with Merchiston Angus established by the late Lloyd Rowe in 1955 on 910 hectares of beautiful land. Prior to this the land was used primarily for sheep and beef. Lloyd’s sons, John and Lloyd took over in 1980 and concentrated on expanding the stud stock herd. The Rowes also nish cattle, buying weaners from clients. This allows them to measure their own genetic gain. The farm is also home to approximately 3000 breeding ewes and grows grain and maize crops commercially. When Rural North spoke with Richard, he said the farm was like everyone else, behind on where it would normally be, given the weather this summer. He set aside a little time from hay-making to talk more about the farm. “We’ve decided to shift our emphasis away from breeding stock to nishing and cropping along with a bit of tourism as well,” Richard explains. That change started last year in March when the stud’s major foundation female sale offered 170 mixed age cattle, the entire Merchiston-based cow herd. This sale gave breeders the unique opportunity to purchase females and cow families going back almost 70 years. “The sale was a mix of on-farm and online bidding via bidr® and was very successful. It was a real turning point though in our farming journey,” says Richard. Merchiston Angus will now rely on its stud progeny from a satellite herd based at Rangiwahia, which it began with its owners, Mike and Kate GeeTaylor approximately 12 years ago. 120 stud cows calve each year and Merchiston takes all the bull calves to nish and sell and R1 and R2 breeding bulls in two farm bull sales. Richard says it was a farm advisor who presented them with the idea of running all the cows off-farm and concentrating on rearing the progeny. “You have to have complete and utter trust in the people you have doing it for you,” Richard comments. Two bull sales of R1 and R2 bulls are planned for June and September this year. Merchiston Angus had just nished killing 100 2yo steers on the Alliance Handpick programme, which provides a premium per carcass if they qualify. “Only ve didn’t qualify in this rst season.” In earlier days the farm had 5000 breeding ewes and now has 3000 high-performance Romney ewes and mates 1000 ewe hoggets each year. “Now we just buy high-performance rams.” Richard is Managing Director of Merchiston Estates while son William has returned from Scotland FoundationFemaleSale - Part 2 MerchistonAngus Selling 40 rst Calving females Monday 27thMarch at 7pmon the BIDR platform P.T.I.C to top performance Angus sires - 70 years of genetic excellence. Breedplan Recorded and DNA veri ed cattle Catalogues availableonline www.merchistonangus.com | www.angusnz.com 06 323 2944 027 2760963 t.kendrick@kinect.co.nz . . . Call us today! Manawatu Shearing Top Service Competitive Rates Covering Manawatu, Rangitikei &Wairarapa areas Proud to support Richard RoweMerchiston Estates Ltd 0272452910 RICHARD SIMPSON CONTRACTING LTD Cultivation, drilling, harvesting, baling and transport services. RANGITIKEI & MANAWATU WIDE Proud to be working with Richard Rowe & his team at Merchiston Estates Ltd rr.simpson@hotmail.com A group of yearling sale bulls on their daily break. Inset: Richard and Vicki addressing the buyers and crowd prior to a recent sale. and putting his skills into analysing all the data on the cattle. “My nephew Nick is also on the farm as sheep manager and my brother Lloyd looks after the cropping and machinery, so it is very much a family farming business,” Richard says. The bull sale is June is scheduled for June 7 and another cow sale is programmed for March 27, commencing at 7pm online. “We will be selling 40 rst-calvers at the March sale. This time though we’re not going to have an on-farm sale, just through bidr®.” Information provided on each dam is comprehensive, enabling buyers to understand their EBV’s and the history of each family. And when Richard mentions that there’s a bit of tourism in the mix, this isn’t on a small scale as well. The historic and famous Merchiston Homestead has a footprint of 13,000 square feet. Built by English craftsmen Richard says the interior is second-to-none. “It’s one of the big stately homes in New Zealand and features in a book called ‘The Homesteads’ written by Deborah Miller.” The family receive visits by a minimum of 10 visitors per entry to view the rooms and learn of the remarkable history of the home. “Groups just contact us if they want a private visit. It’s a lovely old home but takes a lot of upkeep.”
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