| 29 RURAL PEOPLE » Millstone Red Devons ‘It’s dif cult to keep up with demand’ Red Devon cows and calves at Te Wai Station near Waipukurau. Karen Phelps Demand for dairy bull Red Devons exceeds supply due to the good temperament, solid colour progeny and great meat the breed offers, says Heughan Gordon, owner of Millstone Red Devons and president of Red Devon Cattle Breeders Association. “With only 40 registered Red Devon breeders in New Zealand, and a number of small lifestyle breeders, it’s dif cult to keep up with the demand,” he says. “But recently we’ve had a couple of potentially larger Red Devon herds established in New Zealand – one breeder has bought up three dispersal herds and another is a large commercial operation transitioning his herd to Red Devon – so this is promising for the future.” Heughan and wife Carol farm Te Wai Station at Waipukerau, a 480ha property they bought in 2020. The move was prompted by the need for more land so their son Ben, who is the farm’s stock manager, could come into the family farming business. Ben completed studies at Taratahi then worked on various stations before starting to work on Te Wai Station in 2020. Ben, partner Amanda and daughter Stella live on the farm while Heughan and Carol live on a lifestyle block nearby. Heughan works full time on the farm and Ben also works three days a week doing stockwork for neighbours – the combination providing enough work and income to support them all. The studs are still rmly Heughan’s domain though. He formed Millstone Red Devon stud in 2009 with the registration of approximately 30 heifers. Today the stud comprises over 100 cows and winters 100 yearlings (50 bulls and 50 heifers). Each spring approximately 20 low birth weight bulls are sold as yearlings for dairy service bulls with the balance as rising two year for beef herd sires in May or processed for meat. Heughan says that Millstone puts emphasis on growth rate and structural soundness. All cattle are recorded on breed plan for birth weight, 200, 400 and 600-day weights. All females are spring calved and calve at two years of age and males are left entire. Cattle have to compete with 2000 sheep and all are run under commercial conditions. The sheep side of the operation includes two studs - poll dorset and south suffolk studs, which sell around 60 rams a year. There are 200 stud ewes (made up of half of each breed) that are farmed alongside a commercial ock of around 1500 ewes and 400 – Decisions on what to grow crucial • from page 28 500 hoggets. The breeding policy is changing from ve-year-old ewes to a mixed age ock as hoggets are retained and mated. Ewes are mated to Wairere Tufguy sires to lamb in September with hoggets to a Southdown ram to lamb October. The rst draft is in January target weight is 17kg plus. The Gordons are part of the Tukipo subcatchment, one of 17 in the Tukituki area, covering 22,000 hectares. There are 114 properties over four hectares in size in the sub-catchment, mainly in sheep and beef, dairy, cropping and deer operations. Heughan says that the sub-catchment has a number of projects underway including, at Te Wai Station, 3-4ha of wetlands and riparian fencing. While he recognises the need for farmers to up their game in terms of environmental stewardship he does question why, if the government is moving towards charging farmers for their methane and nitrous emissions, are they not allowing farmers to gain offsets for tracts of native bush and their grassland pastures. “These are currently treated no differently than tarseal, despite their photosynthetic bene ts to the environment. We have 120ha of manuka and regenerating native on Te Wai Station. It seems unfair that while a post 1990 pine plantation can be registered to generate carbon credits under the Emissions Trading Scheme, this native bush regenerating for 100 years can’t. “If government is compelling all farmers to have updated environment plans and know their numbers for methane and nitrous emissions then all sources of vegetation, bush, pasture, space planted poplars and shelter belts should be available to offset those with carbon credits.” Millstone Red Devons Are proud to support [a] 49-51 Takapau Road, Waipukurau [w] www.millshonda.co.nz [p] 06 858 9109 k f Ma ing li e on the farm easier www.altitudeonline.co.nz | Taihape 06 388 0860 | Taupo 07 378 7150 Business Accounting • Estates & Trusts • Taxation For easy handling and less stress (just like the Devons) .... CHOTE BROS Ltd Bulk and General Transport Fertiliser - Airstrip Delivery Hay and Baleage Grain and Seed Metal Supply and Cartage Wool General Farm Cartage - Machinery Timber etc For a complete bulk and general transport service with great pricing and service. Contact William Chote 027 448 2014 chotebros@yahoo.com Not all their attempts with different cultivars are successful but Hugh knows it’s research that has to be done. While irrigation remains the fundamental enabler, decisions around what it’s helping to grow are also crucial. It’s a work in progress on Drumpeel Farm, working with the ve year rotation which has been part of their farming system since David’s day, aware that diversity is a key part of their risk management, and still aiming to respond to market forces. So far growing processed vegetables, such as carrots and peas for McCains, is proving its worth for the Ritchies, along with those cereal cultivars that handle the heat and some smaller, higher value seed crops. They maximise the winter growth period to nish lambs at Otane, and run a rising two bull programme on the steeper slopes at Horonui. And while not everything is a success the Ritchies will continue to experiment with what to grow to make their farming system worthwhile.
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