| 59 The end of an era for Wairere Angus In 1936, Cedric’s father started the Wairere Angus stud. On the 19th March, 2024, 88 years of registered Angus breeding will be up for auction at Wairere Angus, Hawera. In a move to retirement, Cedric Lander is selling the Wairere Angus herd of just over 100 females and their calves. The 284 hectares property is just south of Hawera, near the coast of the South Taranaki Bight. The stud is run on 93 hectares of this, mostly on the flatter country. The rest of the farm falls off to “pretty rough” hill country, dropping, sometimes steeply, 250 meters into some of the gullies. Occasionally the cows are required to graze these too, but mainly sheep graze the sidings. The back of the farm (over one of these gullies, runs dairy replacement stock). The farm was originally bought by Cedric’s grandfather and his great uncle in 1890, with his great uncle splitting off to farm on his own account before very long. The original small farm was added to over the years until it became what it is today. In 1936, Cedric’s father started the Wairere Angus stud and Cedric has continued it until the present time. Cedric has a son, Paul, who helps on the farm, but with an Honours degree in Horticulture and Plant Science, his interests are in a different area. “To keep a stud going you need dedication for the breeding program, and if you haven’t got it, the stud won’t reach it’s potential”. Paul came home to help his father after Cedric had health issues and dispersing the stud will allow him to pursue the interests that he has put on hold for quite a while. Although his health is now OK, Cedric is now 75 years old, and he feels it is time to take a step back from full time farm work. The stud has participated in most of the evaluation programmes available over the years, - Beefplan, Breedplan and now Trans Tasman Cattle Evaluation (TACE). They are also also members of AngusPure, an Angus program contributing to the assurance of Angus genetics into the meat and restaurant industry. Over later years, with the influence of DNA, the breeding business has become much more figures oriented, with EBV’s quantifying the attributes of animals. Although the look of the animal and structure are still very important, what you can’t see is RURAL PEOPLE » Wairere Angus what is under the skin. EBV’s give information on this. They are based on the actual weights, scans, and DNA of the animals. These are submitted to the breed societies for analysis, usually in Australia. Because of the large numbers in the Australian database and the Australian Angus’ progressive programs, Wairere Angus and several other NZ Angus breeders, left Angus NZ and joined the Australian Angus Association. This New Zealand group of Breeders is known as AngusPro (Angus Progressive). The AngusPro group is now compared to the larger Australian database where numbers allow a more accurate assessment of an animal’s traits. Angus NZ do not have the same benchmark as Angus Australia, so it is difficult to compare NZ and Australian EBVs. For example, the average NZ EBV for IMF is +0.9 and the Australian Average is +2.4 Beef has become a luxury item in the family shopping, therefore there is importance in producing a high-quality product, thus the focus on carsase traits. As beef animals are bred for their meat, it is important that we know what meat, or in some cases, fat, is under the skin. Wairere Angus has scanned their animals since the inception of beef carcase scanning in NZ in 1991. “We have been focusing on the carcase EBV’s that will improve our Eye Muscle Area (EMA) and our Intra muscular fat (marbling). The IMF is especially sought after to give tenderness and taste by overseas markets, and Randall Johnston The team at Spooner Toy & Hood are proud to be associated with Wairere Angus Proudly supporting Wairere Angus many meat companies offer premiums for them. We have been selecting AI sires that will pass this on to their progeny.” The sires have been bought in through purchases of semen from Australia and America, sometimes after a visit to these countries to find the most suitable sires. Australian Angus are also offering an EBV for feed conversion based on trials done in Australian Angus herds. Once these figures have consolidated these EBVs will contribute to Angus animals with lower feed requirements and methane emissions. Cedric says he will be very sad to be leaving the Angus world, but will follow it in the future with much interest. The 19th of March will certainly be the end of an era! Specialising inmetal transport &all diggerwork 027 452 8488 todd.stokes@hotmail.com
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=