24 | Stud owners gearing up for bull sale Glengyle Angus cow and calf. Karen Phelps Sam and Emma Mann are gearing up for the sale of their first crop of yearling bulls this spring from their stud Glengyle Angus. “In the past we farmed a unit at over 800m in altitude and we tried a number of breeds but Angus proved themselves the best in harsh conditions. It grew our passion for the breed and wanting to breed hill country cattle for other farmers,” says Sam. Glengyle Angus comprises 80 stud cows, the majority purchased from other studs via dispersal sales and auction. Getting their first calves on the ground this year from their own breeding programme marks a significant milestone. “We are aiming to produce a maternally driven cow, structurally sound, with good temperament and that gets back in calf every year while being run in commercial conditions. We want an early maturing, fast growing bull. The key focus is the phenotype of the animal and ability to perform in commercial hill country conditions,” says Sam. The couple run an AI programme then follows up with two year old and yearling bulls. “We try to tailor the breeding programme to each individual animal, complementing the data set and phenotype of each one. It’s a bit of work trying to blend the best out of other programmes and mould it to what we are tying to achieve ourselves: a moderate, deep, thick type cattle beef animals.” Sam says starting a stud has been exciting” “Every breeder has their own taste and ideas RURAL PEOPLE » Glengyle Angus: Sam and Emma Mann and it’s how you go about achieving that. It’s been cool starting from scratch and building it up to where it is now. We will breed our first heifers this year that are the result of our own breeding and next year the majority of bulls will be our own breeding. We are targeting 2025 for our first auction.” It was in 2022 that the Manns started operating the Dannivirke farms they are leasing totalling 390ha. Overall stock is around 4000 units comprising the stud cows, breeding ewes, sheep and cattle trading. The challenge is balancing everything as Sam also works full time off farm for ADB Williams Trust as operations manager of Pukemiro Station 1000ha, which the couple live on, and Otawa Station, 700ha. Emma balances farm work with being a full time mum of the couple’s three boys: George, 7, Archie, 5 and Charlie, 2. They employ one part time employee that runs the lease farms during the weekdays. “Off farm income makes the business stronger and allows us to do the things like the stud. It makes our business more commercially viable. I’m also passionate about my off farm job. Pukemiro Station has a farm cadetship where we are training young people to be the future farmers of the industry. That’s a bit driver for me as I grew up in town and there are limited opportunities for people like me to get into farming. It’s good to give people a start and a good grounding so they are ready to enter the industry and hit the ground running.” Sam Mann with boys George, 7, Charlie 2, and Archie, 5.
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