Business Rural North Winter 2021

| 27 Sale bulls ‘most forward ever’ from stud Karen Phelps RURAL PEOPLE » Glen Anthony Simmental Stud T he bulls that Glen Anthony Simmental Stud will offer to the market this year are the “most forward bulls” it has ever produced, says stud owner Tony Thompson. The summer/autumn drought of 2020 had a sil- ver lining. Glen Anthony was forced to put the cow herd on to baleage feeding and the calves were weaned two months later than usual capitalising on the renowned ability of Simmental cows to milk well through an extended lactation. The resulting improved weaning weights were further enhanced by a mild winter and excel- lent spring and early summer grass growth. The led to outstanding growth in the sale bulls with some reaching 800kg live weight by March and all but two young bulls having eye muscle areas of over 100sqcm at scanning in April. With the Glen Anthony bull sale being put back until Friday 25 June Tony is looking forward to presenting an excellent line of 20 rising two-year-old Simmental bulls. Most of the young bulls in this year’s sale are the progeny of the stud’s homebred sires Glen Anthony Dakota and Glen Anthony Democrat. The bulls are full brothers from an embryo transplant programme, something Tony, an ex veterinarian, has excelled at. It has enabled the stud to promote the genetics of extremely good females. AP104, the mother of these two sires was probably the best polled female in the stud. Born in 2004 she was 11 years old when Dakota and Democrat were born, both being sired by Canadian bull Champs Bravo and yet both being completely different phenotypes. Democrat is soft, muscly and scurred. Dakota is powerful, strong and clean polled. The maternal grand sire of many of the bulls in the upcoming sale is Glen Anthony Y-arta AY02, Supreme Champion Simmental and Meat and Wool Cup winner at the Royal Easter Show in 2014 and 2015. Y-Arta is also notable for having sold over $40,000 worth of semen over the past few years in Australia. This year’s bull sale is also notable as having for the first time young bulls sired by Glen Anthony Executive AE11. Tony says Glen Anthony Execu- tive AE11 did extremely well at the A&P shows winning the meat & wool cup at Dannevirke as a yearling. He showed exceptional growth between 15 and 20 months of age and has the growth EBVs to prove it. 19-48 is the leading growth rate bull in this years’ catalogue with the exceptional EMA of 123sq.cm. “We had a visit from the Simmental tour recent- ly and the stud breeders on tour were extremely impressed with the quality of Executive’s calves.” Glen Anthony stud started breeding in 1976 and is based on purebred Simmentals. It is the third oldest herd still breeding Simmentals in New Zealand. Glen Anthony is now situated on 96ha of rolling country eight kilometres east of Waipukurau. The stud has built up a reputation for breeding good-framed cattle with plenty of flesh- ing. Low birth weights are not selected for. Calving ease is the main selection criteria. A trip to the International Simmental Congress in Germany in 2012 led to a new direction.On tour Tony and Glennissoon learned that the all Simmental cattle in Germany were polled, after only 15 years of selection for the polled gene. On returning home to New Zealand they decided to do something daring in the latter years of their stud career using only polled herd sires from that point on. Glen Anthony clients have built an enviable record in the commercial scene and crossbred cattle from Glen Anthony bulls regularly top the weaner and yearling sales throughout New Zealand. “We had a visit from the Simmental tour recently and the stud breeders on tour were extremely impressed with the quality of Executive’s calves.” BEEF FARMERS: Join the rush, buy a GLENANTHONY SIMMENTAL BULL this year for: • Extra live weight at weaning • Extra live weight at finishing • Less feed, less cost, less fuss! Glenanthony Democrat 33rd Bull Sale on Farm 825 Farm Road Waipukurau 12.30pm Friday, 25th June , see you there. Enquiries to Tony Thompson 027 280 6148 Glen Anthony Simmental Stud owner Tony Thompson is excited about his lineup of sale bulls. K & J Isaacson Transport For all your Cartage requirements Stock and Metal Kevin Isaacson Home 068 578 661 Fax 068 578 601 Mobile 027 442 3336