| 21 Commercial focus over summer for stud Mahuta Skywalker. Kim Newth RURAL PEOPLE » John and Mary Allen SILAGE - ROUND BALES • MCHALE V660 • MULTI-CUT BALER WITH VARIABLE CHAMBER HAY ROUNDS - ALSO MOWING, RAKING AND WRAPPING OF SILAGE AND HAY BULK FERTILISER - SPREADING OF LIME, FERT AND UREA GROUND WORK - CULTIVATION POWER HARROW • SEEDBOX DISCING ROLLER TILLING • DIRECT DRILLING • ROLLER DRILLING CONTACT: Nelson Beckett - 0274 878 018 or 07 826 6777 Beckett Contracting Your agricultural contracting solution Mahuta Polled Hereford Stud is proud to have topped the spring bull sales last year. Mahuta Skywalker 2034 made the top price of $23,500 for a yearling bull and achieved a New Zealand record price for a 1 Year Hereford bull sold at auction. For stud owners John and Mary Allen, who farm at Glen Murray in the northern Waikato, the result came as an unexpected bonus. It has further cemented Mahuta’s reputation as one of the country’s top bull studs. “The sire of Mahuta Skywalker’s mother was Mahuta Ocean 8073, used in the Beef + Lamb NZ/LIC Dairy Beef Progeny Trial and a leading bull in terms of growth and with good carcass data to match. I knew that Mahuta Skywalker was a good bull and thought he would fetch between $10,000 and $20,000. You never know how it will go and it depends on who wants the bull at the time. I was lucky that another breeder came to us a couple of days before the sale and fell in love with him.” Grassmere Polled Hereford Stud bid strongly, but in the end Koanui Polled Herefords won the auction on the day. “They’re very pleased with him and are using him naturally and by AI.” Over summer, the farm’s priorities have shifted to lambs and fattening cattle. All the ram lambs have already been sent to Wilson Hellaby in Auckland. John aims to finish surplus heifers and steers before 18 months old, demonstrating that they are reaching where they need to be on weight and fat before their second winter. “We haven’t sent any cattle yet though as we have a good excess of grass. It seems sensible to keep feeding them for the moment but some will go by mid-February. At this time of year, we’re also pregnancy testing heifers and cows. Those not in calf will go off to be killed. We use the cows to clean up pasture for fattening cattle or other priority mobs. The 2yo heifers with calves are separated from the mixed age cows and get some preferable feeding.” Precautionary steps are also currently being taken against facial eczema, for example through feeding low dose zinc and ensuring pastures are well cleaned up. It is yet early days for the bulls that will be sold later this year. After weaning, initial selections will be made, followed by progressive culling to ensure only the best are selected for sale. “We’ll be feeding them well over winter and checking out their background for things like fertility, growth and structure.” Mahuta has long favoured high index bulls, with Limehills Stardom 190158 rated a showpiece in their breeding programme in recent years. “What led me to Limehills is that they have a breeding programme I aspire to, which means high calving ease, negative gestation, above average meat, and importantly, high IMF. I like to buy bulls from large herds where there’s selection pressures; I’ve also bought from Matariki and Koanui.” Mahuta has had several bulls in the top 1% of indexes used for beefheifer mating, dairy-cow mating and prime beef production. Current stars of the stud include Australian bull Yavenvale Nockout N 312, Limehills Starter 1078 and Limehills Gallant 160033. RESIDENTIAL • LIFESTYLE • FARMS • LANDSCAPING WORKS FENCE 0800 FENCES - 0800 336 237 | fence-works@hotmail.com | fenceworks.nz
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=