| 3 RURAL PEOPLE » Dirk Sieling Rare Red Devons prove their worth Russell Fredric Red Devon, one of New Zealand’s rarest breeds of cattle, have well and truly proven their value to Whitianga farmers Dirk and Kathy Sieling. The couple have a diverse 710 hectare property bordering Whitianga which milks 450 crossbred dairy cows as well as running Ohuka Polled Devon Stud. Dirk says about 10 years ago he and Kathy were wanting a better solution than having to kill dairy beef ‘bobby’ calves, a practice he felt was not socially acceptable or sustainable in the long term. “I was never very happy to get to get all these bobbly calves slaughtered at three or four days of age and I thought there really needs to be a dairy beef industry. “There was in some ways, there always has been, but more and more we need to focus on dairy beef and away from traditional beef, and in order to do that we need quality dairy beef and easy calving.” This led Dirk to buying a few polled Red Devon bulls to put over his dairy stock. He was particularly attracted to their docility, as well as being a medium framed early maturing breed which eliminated the need to carry them over a second winter. “That went really well.” “Once we started running and breeding them, we found them so easy to manage; they were so quiet and amenable cattle, and they didn’t give us any calving problems so we expanded the herd and started supplying other farmers with bulls.” The stud’s mature Red Devon bulls typically weigh 900kg to 1000kg and the cows around 650kg to 710kg. Dirk is vice president of the New Zealand Red Devon Cattle Breeders Association which has 37 members who farm a total of just over 900 registered animals. Ohuka Red Devons carries 26 breeding cows, 10 heifers, 14 young stock, and four stud bulls which is a high ratio to ensure genetic diversity in the herd. The stud only breeds from cows whose calves can be safely picked up in the paddock to weigh and tag because “my legs aren’t as fast as they once were, and I have no need for broken ribs” Dirk says. “For the heifers that we don’t keep ourselves, we always have demand from other breeders and we keep all the bulls entire and retain the best one or two for our heifer mating and other top bulls are sold to other breeders.” The balance, which is the majority of the bulls, are sold for mating in dairy herds, mostly to the South Island. The Red Devon herd was previously double its current size but keeping it at this level allows Dirk and Kathy to pursue their other passion, deep sea fishing. The Sieling’s farm totals 710 hectares which comprises 380ha effective, of which 350ha is the dedicated to dairy stock. Most of the balance is hill country with about a third covered in plantation forestry, and native bush which is under a QEII National Trust covenant. “We have two QEII covenants on the block and a further three applied for.” The dairy platform has a 44 a-side herringbone shed and a 50/50 sharemilker, with Dirk and Kathy plus casual staff providing the balance of the labour. Cyclone Gabrielle impacted some of the land as well as hundreds of harvest-ready pine trees which were blown over. “We also had a massive land slump where thousands of tonnes of soil slipped out of a gully; it was a deep subsidence and we’re still dealing with the aftermath of that. Unfortunately, the material that slumped is red volcanic ash that’s been colouring Mercury Bay a little bit red and even now after rain it still turns red.” “Once we started running and breeding them, we found them so easy to manage; they were so quiet and amenable cattle, and they didn’t give us any calving problems so we expanded the herd and started supplying other farmers with bulls.” Red Devon cow with new born calf. Dirk (below) with one of the stud bulls, BA Ryda. Upton Lands Contracting Ltd Covering all Ag Contracting work in Whitianga and surrounding areas. Proud to be associated with Dirk Sieling Contact: Ross 027 443 0272 | ulcontracting@xtra.co.nz PROUDLY SUPPORTING DIRK SIELING
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