34 | 12,000 stock units keeps the team busy New kayjay bulls. Richard Loader RURAL PEOPLE » Richard Webby Encompassing 2000 hectares of medium/steep hill country, Ruakaka Station is located sixty kilometres west of Gisborne, and for the last seven years has been managed by Richard Webby. Of the total farm area, 1300 hectares is effective, with 130 hectares of plantation pines, and a further 570 hectares of native planting. A lot of that land has fenced off waterways, bush blocks, riparian and reversion areas, all contributing to the farm being carbon neutral. Ruakaka Station is home to 12,000 stock units, with a 50/50 split between beef and sheep. “We have 4500 ewes plus replacements,” says Richard. “We do 142% lambing and try to finish most of the progeny. I winter about 1250 head of Angus cattle. Up until recently we were selling a lot of our weaners store, and buying in Friesian bulls. Now I finish all my own heifers and sell 80% of my steers as R2s. Off the back of the last couple of seasons, the cyclone and the difficulty of regularly getting stock in and out of the farm we have moved away from Friesian bulls.” While the majority of genetics come from KayJay Angus in Masterton, some come from Whangara Angus in Gisborne. Collectively Richard has bought in five bulls each year over the last two years. “Using two breeders spreads the genetics, and each breeder has their own strengths. I really look for an animal carrying a lot meat from ear to tail, and I’m not after big framed animals. I try to get a balanced spread on the data. I’m particular about the carcass being above average and I want the growth to be above average, and the mature cow weight to be reasonably low.” Helping Richard on-farm is a full time junior shepherd, with casual labour brought in as required. Richard is also part of Growing Future Farmers and has 1st and 2nd year cadets on the farm as well. “My junior shepherd was my second year graduate from last year. The intention is that next year he will move on to another farm, and this year’s senior cadet will become the junior shepherd. I get a new cadet every year, and they stay for two years, so I always have two cadets on farm at any one time. Three cadets have finished here now, and they are in full time work shepherding, which was the idea behind the scheme, so it’s working well.” Richard attributes the scheme for his own growth as an employer and says it has also been good for his full time staff who have had to give more thought as why and how things are done, rather than just doing. He hopes that the cadets have felt inspired to keep working in the industry through their experience at Ruakaka and says credit for that should go to the wider team and farm’s culture. “That culture is a result of the cadets themselves, my shepherd and myself, my wife and kids, and the casual staff that come on board. Where we are there are three farms within six kilometres of each other all about the same size and they all have two cadets each. So there are six cadets on the road and a couple of junior shepherds who get to create their own little social culture as well, which adds to their enjoyment of being here. So, they get one-on-one with me, but they have their hunting, and get into their dog training because they have all those peers around them. That’s the kind of thing you get on a big station with a whole lot of young fellas having a train-up, and that’s the culture we have at Ruakaka.” “My junior shepherd was my second year graduate from last year. The intention is that next year he will move on to another farm, and this year’s senior cadet will become the junior shepherd.” RICHARD WEBBY PROUD TO BE WORKING WITH TOUGH SHEEP THAT PERFORM Rams put under high parasite pressure Cull what doesn’t handle the burden Strong emphasis placed on structure Cull those that don’t meet our fit Indepth DNA sampling Quantify our strong genetic traits CALL BEN TO ORDER YOUR 2024 RAMS MOTU-NUI ROMNEY & FE ROMNEY MOTU-NUI CROSS-BRED & FE CROSS-BRED MOTU-NUI ROMTEX Motu-nui Rams, 9263 Route 53, Weber Call Ben on 06 374 3855 or 0273502424 admin@motu-nuirams.co.nz www.motu-nuirams.co.nz
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