| 35 Taking a punt on Speckle Park cross Rob Woodhouse, Oscar Renner (front), Lynne Woodhouse, Katie and Alex with daughter Nyla Renner. Photo Debbie Hunt Photography. Angus and Speckle Park weaners being brought in to drench and weigh. Kelly Deeks RURAL PEOPLE » Rakaunui Farm: Alex & Katie Renner A handful of ‘good front-paddock cattle’ on the Woodhouse family’s Pongaroa sheep and beef station could mean more than just something nice to look at for farm managers Alex and Katie Renner – with high carcass weights and high marbling, they could be the answer to sustainable beef farming. “I think everyone has to go towards the higher carcass composition, higher marbling and higher yielding, because we are going to have to reduce our stock numbers,” Katie says. “If you’ve got a higher value carcass, you can have less stock.” Alex and Katie purchased 22 in-calf Speckle Park heifers at the Te Kuiti sale yards last April. The Speckle Park breed originated from British White Park crossed with a Shorthorn/Angus, and has more than 60 years of breeding. They are polled, medium frame, early maturing, and incredible yielding with impressive weight gains targeting 18 month markets. Alex and Katie have been managing Katie’s parents’ Rakaunui Farm since 2017, having come home to get married in 2016. As a wedding present from Alex’s parents, Paul and Jenny Renner, the couple were gifted 25 Angus heifers and a few South Devon cross heifers, and one of the farm workers leased an Angus bull for them for their wedding present as well. Now they own all the cattle on the property while Rob and Lynne Woodhouse retain their interests in the farm and its 4800 Romtex ewes. Alex and Katie have already made their higher value mark on the sheep side of the business, introducing Texel to what was a straight Romney flock when they came home. Now they are aiming for the same with their cattle, which is where their passions lie. While Katie loved the look of the Speckles with their black ears and noses, it was their carcass composition that got them over the line for Alex. “We are trying to maximise the value in the calves we have,” he says. “We’ll kill our steers in May next year, and that will be the telling point.” First calving didn’t go so well with Alex saying too big a bull was probably used over these yearlings, so for their second mating, Alex and Katie chose the lowest birth weight bull in the catalogue and they calved easily this year. Alex and Katie have put a Speckle bull across their R2 Angus heifers this year, and aim to keep a component of Angus for the option of selling them as weaners. “We sell our weaner steers but we’re still getting the marbling in them. All the bulls we buy for our Angus are high IMF.” Speckle Park has already achieved recognition as a beef bull over dairy cows, but are still a bit unknown and therefore risky for Alex and Katie. “We hear great marbling and high yielding, but until we kill them, we won’t know,” Katie says. “We hope it’s going to go well and if it doesn’t, they could be tasty!” Katie is the fifth generation of her family and the first female in her line to take over the running of the farm. She and her family are five years into their succession plan, with the main goal of keeping the farm in the family, where it has been since 1896. “If you’ve got a higher value carcass, you can have less stock.” SPRAYING, LIFTING, FERTILISER, FROST CONTROL, HUNTING & FISHING, FIRE LIGHTING/FIGHTING, TRANSPORT, SCENIC FLIGHTS, WEDDINGS, AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY, POWER LINES P 06 376 8000 E W tararuaheliwork.co.nz Motu-nui Rams Phone Jason: 027 326 7734 Email: jason@motu-nuirams.co.nz Phone Ben Morrison: 06 374 3855 | 027 350 2424 Quality Rams for New Zealand Hill Country Motu-nui Rams are breeders of high performance Romney, Crossbred and Terminal stud rams. We are specialists in hardy, resilient sires bred specifically for the tough conditions of New Zealand hill country.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=