48 | Red Devons a strong, hardy animal Russell Fredric RURAL PEOPLE » Rockview Red Devons 4 year old Serenity 116 - Sovereign’s half sister. Consistent line of 18 month old heifers nearly ready for their patient buyers. Unseasonably cold weather late last year and early this year combined with and an absence of rain has not fazed Rockview Red Devons herd, Colleen Hunter says. “With the Devons it doesn’t matter what quality or quantity of grass you’ve got in front of them, they’ll perform.” Colleen and her husband Ross own a 62 hectare block at Arapohue near Dargaville in Northland, which they bought in 2017. It supports more than 90 head of Red Devons, including 35 spring calving cows, 20 rising two year-old heifers and a selection of breeding bulls. The farm’s pastures are predominantly kikuyu, but this and even the adverse weather has not been a handicap, and the heifers’ condition is matched by the cows which are also in “phenomenal order”, Colleen says. “When the season is challenging, the herd really shows it worth; they always produce good calves regardless of the grass quality and availability. I’m really impressed with the whole herd, the quality is there.” Red Devons are a medium-framed beef breed and Colleen and Ross are primarily focused on the beef industry. “As we’ve gone along we’ve developed what we’re doing, where we are headed and where the market is for us.” Quality, surplus 18 month old heifers are sold vetted in-calf as starter herds in autumn and there is more demand than Rockview Red Devons can supply. This season’s heifers were all pre-ordered months ago. Mating to a homozygous polled bull means all progeny will be polled, providing an added bonus for the buyers. “These are all quiet, attractive heifers which we would happily add to the Rockview herd.” Since purchasing the farm, Ross and Colleen have focused strongly on diversifying the genetics of their cattle. “We’ve kept the very best and the highest performing females. We’ve been bringing in anything from seven to 10 home-bred heifers a season and fine tuning those we selected as they join the herd.” In 2023, they also bought a line of quality breeding weaner heifers from another breeder resulting in a new small split-genetics herd. “The heifers would join the herd without any issue, but the problem with AI was I’d breed bulls, they’d be absolutely outstanding, and then I couldn’t use them over our herd as they were too closely related. So, it’s a bit of a game changer from here on in because we’ve now got two different genetic lines of females that I can AI and utilise the bulls over our herd and vice versa.” This season, the very best cows were artificially inseminated with genetics from Alison Heap’s Gowan Ross Devon Stud in New South Wales, Australia. “The herd sire we have calves by this season is an impressive AI bull we bred in 2021, sired by Australian-bred Belmur Clay B13. Because of the absolutely outstanding progeny from our herd sire, we will run him again at mating time in November this year.” “Our focus at Rockview is on easy calving, good growth rate, and the renowned docile Red Devon temperament is a must.” · Ground Spreading · Bulk Cartage · Limestone Supply John Dreadon Contracting: Proudly supporting Rockview - Colleen Hunter Contact John 021 273 2571 jjdreadon@xtra.co.nz TOKATOKA LIME Co Ltd Suppliers of good quality agricultural lime Contact David Dreadon 09 439 2154 028 2581 0102
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