Business Rural North Spring 2021

| 33 Lazarus, a $102,000 purchase at 4 years. Winner of HB and North Island 4yr competition plus Champion of Champions for HB & NI. The sire was also winner of National 4-year-old Velvet competition. (Below) Sale stags lined up at Forest Road. RURAL PEOPLE » Forest Road Deer Farm / Grant and Sally Charteris with sustainable velvet farming We’re not simple commodity traders, we’re passionate about velvet and deer and we want to leave behind a legacy for the next generation.” VELVET • VENISON LIVE SALES • CONSULTANCY I I Kapiti Deer Services would like congratulate Grant & Sally on their amazing effort i i i l li l ll i i 26 Ratadale Rd, R.D.1 Waikanae l , . . i Noel W. Cudby 04 2937 260 or 027 444 4620 kapiti.deer@xtra.co.nz l . i i. . . Grahame Walker-Cudby 027 425 5628 gwcudby@hotmail.co.nz l il. . The premier Elworthy Environmental Award recognized the Charteris’ stewardship of the land as well as their meticulous planning, documentation and analysis. “Stocking levels and feed manage- ment are our main tools,” says Grant, ”and we base all our key decisions on the data we collect and analyse so we’re making the best use of what we’ve got with minimal input.” In its first year, the Dr Gyong Jai Lee Award for “leading, environmentally sustainable, velvet farm- ing”, underlines the increasing importance of sus- tainability for consumers both here and abroad. It’s at the heart of everything Sally and Grant Charteris do, and is obvious in their carefully thought out and instituted environmental farm plan. They’ve already planted over 15,000 native trees with more to come; waterways are being fenced off, non-cultivated strips left to protect gullies, and care is taken when choosing which paddocks to use for cropping. It’s his work with the stud that Grant most enjoys though, and there too he leaves little to chance, thanks to his carefully orchestrated use of cutting- edge technology combined with a half share in “Lazarus”, a velvet sire from Brook Deer in South- land. Together with friend, farmer and fellow enthusi- ast Jeremy Dearden the Charteris’ paid the top auc- tion price of $102,000 for Lazarus two years ago. Using AI and embryo transfer Grant is accelerat- ing his breeding programme using only his absolute top hinds. “Effectively you’re getting a whole life- time’s worth of breeding from your very top hinds to your very top stag. To put in into figures, this year after scanning it worked out that Jeremy and I have 150 in-faun hinds each to Lazarus, whereas if we naturally mated him with half my hinds and half Jeremy’s we’d have at the most 40 each. “ At the end of the day Grant says it’s this work with the stud breeding and genetics that gets him out of bed each morning. “We’re not simple com- modity traders, we’re passionate about velvet and deer and we want to leave behind a legacy for the next generation.”