36 | Annual bull sale highlights Jersey excellence Last year’s sale averaged $2,400 a head. Karen Phelps The second Monday of September marks one of coastal Taranaki’s most anticipated dairy farming events, the Lockhart Jersey Stud yearling bull sale. This year around 83 bulls will go under the hammer on the support block on Julian Road on 13 September. The annual sale is run by Ben Burmeister, fourthgeneration caretaker of the Lockhart Jersey Stud, which his great-grandfather Albert founded in the 1930s or 1940s on a small farm in Taikorea Manawatu. Last year’s sale averaged $2,400 a head, and Ben is confident the 2026 offering will reflect the quality the stud has become known for across the region. RURAL PEOPLE » Ben Burmeister - Lockhart “They are the best Jersey bulls in Taranaki now,” says Ben. “And at the sale I offer the best bulls we’ve got out of my best cows and there is something for everyone - A2 bulls, a few polled high BW bulls and overseas genetics.” The farming operation centres on two properties. Ben owns the 106-hectare milking platform, running a predominantly Jersey and crossbred herd of around 290 cows, the Jerseys being under the Lockhart Jerseys name. The Jersey yearling bulls are grown out on the 67ha support block on Julian Road, which he owns in partnership with his parents, Murray and Joy. “Production and fertility are the focuses along with higher liveweight Jerseys. I don’t think little Jerseys compete in the herds that well. By using higher liveweight bulls that have bigger calves it also helps Agricultural Contractor Contracting Ltd JFM Specialising in Cultivation Work & Hedge Trimming Jared McBride Ph: 06 752 4558 | Mob: 027 477 5701 jared@jfmcontracting.co.nz us get the bulls up to sale weight.” The aim is to have bulls reaching 300kg by 20 August as yearlings. Getting there, says Ben, is partly a matter of timing. “We go for early bulls as an extra month of growing is quite a bit, it can be 30-plus kilos.” That focus on size has practical consequences further down the supply chain. “A lot of dairy farmers are using high BW yearling bulls over their heifers so that the progeny can be reared as replacement heifers and avoid the bobby truck,” says Ben. For genetics, the stud draws on LIC, CRV and Danish genetics via LIC for diversity. Being a System 2 operation, Ben says New Zealand genetics tend to suit the grass-based system well. He has also explored polled genetics with considerable success as the stud produced the top BW crossbred polled cow in New Zealand a few years ago and recently sold a polled Jersey bull named Ferdie to CRV. “Their BW is a bit better than overseas bulls and I’ve bred some quite good cows by them,” he says. “Polled bulls are growing in popularity from an animal welfare perspective and offer useful genetic diversity.” His three children - Ryan, 16, Josh, 13, and Charlie, 7 - are already active participants in the farm. “They will all be good farmers,” says Ben, “but I don’t want to push it on them. It has to be their choice. It was that way for me too. My goal is to keep it going and breed good cows for the next generation, if they want to take over.” The sale itself is a genuine family occasion. Joy handles the catering, Murray manages the bulls in their mobs and lets them out of the ring alongside Josh and Ryan and Charlie man the barbeque. Ben himself works behind the scenes sorting the bulls into lots. Thirty to forty people typically attend, with agents accounting for a good portion of sales. “It’s a good time for the community as in September calving is starting to slow down so it’s a good chance for people to catch up.”
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