| 9 RURAL PEOPLE » James Donaldson Not having the ability to achieve genetic gain means growing a lot of quality grass is a big part of James and Katie Donaldson’s Whangarei bull rearing business. “We also focus heavily on trading margins; we are true traders so if we can see an opportunity to by cheap cattle or sell expensive cattle we take that opportunity,” James says. Their business winters 2800 Friesian bulls on three properties which total 1050 hectares about 10 kilometres south of Whangarei. The blocks are a mix of freehold, either owned directly by James and Katie and/or their wider family, plus leasehold properties, swith the home farm being 700 hectares. “We started the farm business in 2008, we leased one one property and basically we’ve kept building the business from that point on. We added quite significant land holdings 7 years ago and last year we added another farm so it’s gradually built over the years.” James and Katie started by farming and finishing bulls and after taking over the home farm also started breeding cows and had a small ewe flock. However this model was not proving economically viable against their debt loading so they switched the whole business to bull finishing and have never looked back. “It has allowed further development and better farm business expansion.” A key to the success of the bull rearing operation has been using a cell grazing system which was instituted on the first farm over three years. “It’s kind of like having lots of mini dairy farms. Bulls don’t like other bulls so we have to run them in small mobs. The farm has 140 mobs on it and each mob has 17 cells and rotates around them at different speeds throughout the year.” 2800 Friesian bulls on three properties The blocks are a mix of freehold, either owned directly by James and Katie and/or their wider family. Russell Fredric Ben McLennan 021762727 | admin@mclennanagri.co.nz LIVESTOCK CARRIERS WI: 027 202 7884 FREE PHONE: 0800 4 A DEAL. 38 Rewa Rewa Rd, Whangarei / Ph: 09 438 1319 adminn@piakogroup.co.nz / piako.co.nz / bryanttractors.co.nz PIAKO TRACTORS NORTHLAND LTD PROUD TO SUPPORT JAMES DONALDSON (Formerly Bryant Tractors) Sales / Service / Spares Tractors, Machinery & Spray Equipment Because each cell only covers about about .45 of a hectare, James and his four full-time equivalent staff spend about 70% of their time shifting, sorting, drenching or drafting the bulls. “There’s a huge stock work component.” “We feed them really well and there’s a big focus on pasture management so it’s about having the right pasture covers at the right time of the year, having the right rotation speed. We use two dressings of nitrogen and 30 units per dressing over the winter.” In addition, a lot of analysis, expense and thought goes into the soil fertility using wellproven science. “The goal is to grow more grass and harvest more pasture so our soil fertility is incredibly important.” Half of the 2800 bulls wintered are yearlings and the other half two year old’s. The bulls are bought in two tranches; one mob as spring R2’s and the other as R1’s and are killed as rising three year-old’s with 98% of replacement livestock being sourced by Kaitaia company Sloane Livestock. “I kind of live and breathe the bull market, I follow it very closely, I keep looking at what’s happening overseas and the potential impact here. I spend a lot of time looking at markets.” Proudly supporting James & Katie Donaldson’s bull farming business CONTACT Leo Sloane 021 992 982 or Bruce Mudgway 021 241 4907 Greenlea Premier Meats & Rahui Sharefarming Systems
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