| 25 Vast experience in the farming industry In total, the couple farm 6,400 stock units, including 180 Angus cows, 3,000 Romney ewes and 800 replacement hoggets. As the farm has 80% sheep to 20% cattle, the breed of cattle was chosen carefully. Anne Boswell RURAL PEOPLE » Komako Angus Totally Vets is proud to support Dave and Nicole of Komako Angus by providing animal health care and supplies. Awapuni 06 356 5011 Taumarunui 07 895 8899 Feilding 06 323 6161 admin@tvg.co.nz totallyvets.nz An Angus cattle breeder that sells his bulls as yearlings has found the practice is beneficial for both the market, and his own property. “It is an advantage for us,” Dave Stuart says. “More and more people are turning toward this on farm; with yearling bulls there is less chance of a breakdown, less fighting and they are more agile on the hills.” Dave and wife Nicole - with children Jake (12), Ted (8) and Brooke (6) - own Komako Angus, a 530ha sheep and beef property north of Ashhurst in the Manawatu. Dave has vast experience in the farming industry, having grown up on a sheep and beef property in Pongaroa, East Coast before spending two years as a cadet at Smedley Station in the Hawkes Bay and then heading off to Taihape, working on various stations. He spent six years in Gisborne as a stock manager before he and Nicole purchased their current property 12 years ago. In addition to the 530ha Pohangina Valley farm, which is used solely for the breeding side of the operation, they lease two fattening blocks of 92ha and 75ha. In total, the couple farm 6,400 stock units, including 180 Angus cows, 3,000 Romney ewes and 800 replacement hoggets. The sheep come from a line of Ngapatahi Romney. Docking percentages are traditionally 145150%, and for a terminal option, they use Polled Dorset or Suftex rams. Lambs go to the lease block and are fattened to 80%+, ending up with a 18-20kg carcass on the hook. “Romney sheep have great fertility, good mothering ability, and they are quite tough and efficient for the size of them,” Dave says. As the farm has 80% sheep to 20% cattle, the breed of cattle was chosen carefully; they are primarily a tool to groom the pasture ahead of the sheep. “All of our cattle are purebred Angus,” Dave says. “The main drivers for choosing Angus was the maternal side: fertility, calving ease, getting in calf as a two-year-old without issue, and seeing lower mature cow weights, but early 200 and 400-day growth. We require good, medium size cows that are not too big to carry themselves around the hills. “Gestation length is a trait we are chasing, as well as temperament – we have clients coming back repeatedly saying how quiet our cattle are.” Most cattle are mated using AB – by Nicole, an AB technician and a big part of the success of the operation. Dave says they use EBV as a gauge, but “first and foremost, it’s about finding an animal in the flesh that is what we are looking for in type, constitution and soundness. “Cattle and ewes need to earn their keep. Everything is treated commercially; they have to prove their worth.” Komako Angus holds an annual on-farm sale, exhibiting their win-win strategy of being one of the few Angus studs in New Zealand that sell all their bulls as yearlings. “It was an opportunity to enter the market as relatively new breeders, but it also suits our operation,” Dave says. “We don’t have a lot of flat country. The yearlings are out in October, and the lambs are fattened on the land in November/December.”
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