44 | RURAL PEOPLE » MMM Cattle Spent years building the Charolais herd Karen Phelps During lockdown many people took to new hobbies like baking bread. For Brian McConnell it led to him starting a Charolais stud, MMM Charolais. “I came across the opportunity to buy some Charolais online,” he says. “So I cashed out money in the stock market that was all over the place at the time. I thought if all else fails at least we’ll be able to eat and I haven’t looked back.” Since then the stud has grown for an initial 13 cows from Colemans Farms stud in Northland along with additional Whananaki Coastal Charolais cows, both of which have long been breeding for beef farmers. Brian grew up on a family beef farm in Northland and has also farmed beef in northern Canada. He has spent years building the Charolais herd on leased Northland properties, retaining females and using stud bulls from around the country. He, wife Jessie and 17 year old daughter Isabella have been farming near Rangiora on the outskirts of Christchurch for just over a year, running sheep and beef across 100ha, with a further 50ha of cropping land where lambs are wintered after the spring barley comes off. Choosing Charolais was a no-brainer for Brian having particular experience with the breed after professionally rearing calves for 10 years and gaining first-hand knowledge of how Charolais bulls perform when crossed over different breeds and farming systems. “Charolais is widely used as a terminal sire in both the beef and dairy industries with growth, markings and overall performance among the traits that can make the breed sought after at sales,” he says. The stud has previously sold its bulls as yearlings into the dairy industry with every bull finding a buyer. The resulting Charolais-cross calves can attract a significant premium. Brian is excited to see his stud reach the point it can now offer bulls to the market with two year old bulls available by private treaty this spring. “It’s been a long time coming to get to this point and there have been nice bulls I’ve been sad to see go to the dairy industry up until now,” he says. The bulls available will include both polled and horned animals. “All of the mature cows are bred to produce quality bulls for beef farmers and to date all mature cows have calved un-assisted, even as heifers. My heifer breeding programme uses easy calving Charolais bulls calving two year old heifers, which produce excellent easy calving bulls for heifer or dairy mating. I have a distinct line of bulls for the beef market and a distinct line for the easy calving market,” he says. The Charolais females have adapted well to Canterbury conditions, despite the district experiencing an exceptionally dry season. Brian says Rangiora has been among the driest areas of New Zealand with only one significant rainfall since February. Sheep normally account for about 1000 finished lambs but the target has been reduced to around 500 this year because of the dry conditions. Brian says the long-term aim is to steadily increase the Charolais herd. “We want to naturally grow the herd and get it to a self-sustaining level to offer a reasonable number of bulls to meet our clients’ demands is the future.” Andrew Hide - 027 437 2006 | 03 313 5278 | hidespray@xtra.co.nz HIDE SPRAYING LIMITED REGISTERED CHEMICAL APPLICATOR Engineered to spread evenly and deliver cplimesolutions.net.nz Pelletised fertiliser for high-performance soil First calving heifers. ( Below ) the first bull calf born this spring.
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