56 | Tough territory perfect for Angus stud Angus yearling heifers. Inset: Jeanette and Clayton Peters Richard Loader Clutha Downs is the home of the well-respected Peters Angus Stud, and part of the legacy left behind by Trevor Peters, who passed away eighteen months ago. Trevor had a love for the big black cattle that formed part of Peters Genetics and which took pride of place on the collection of farms built up over a life time’s farming journey in Southland and Otago. That love is shared by his family, who continue the Peters’ legacy. “Dad built the farming business from nothing, and I’m doing my best to keep it going,” says Clayton Peters. “But it’s a hard world to do anything at the moment with what’s going on in the environmental side and the Government.” While Clayton owns and operates ‘Spylaw’, an 1100-hectare sheep and beef property in West Otago with wife Jeannette and kids Josh and Annabel, they lease Clutha Downs from the family, and have responsibility for the Angus stud, with studmaster Justin Wallis in day-to-day charge. Just south of Beaumont, on the Lawrence side of the Clutha River, Clutha Downs encompasses 1600 hectares, of which 500 hectares is in paddocks and the balance steep country made more challenging with tussock and scrub. Clayton says Clutha Downs’ tough conditions makes it absolutely perfect for the Angus cattle. “All our Angus cattle are born at Clutha Downs. The breed is a good hill cattle, they fossick around the gullies, they work hard and still grow out good progeny. They’re just good hardy animals, bred in Southland/Otago conditions and not pampered. “It’s a great feeling when you produce good quality cattle. With three other farms within our family operation, we’ve proven the progeny can shift and fatten and do well on other people’s farms. We sell a lot of calves and the feedback from people who buy them is outstanding.” A mob of 200 stud cows, all fully recorded and DNA tested are run at Clutha Downs, down from 300 in previous years, a response to fine-tuning the breeding programme. A mix of New Zealand, Australian and American Bulls delivers proven performance in structural soundness, carcass quality and fertility and the ability to handle tough times. “Clutha Downs is a pretty hard block because of its steep terrain and there’s a lot of scrub on it. We breed cattle for their ability to fossick for feed and handle the job of grooming the pastures for sheep MEAT & WOOL » Jeanette & Clayton Peters as well as providing a calf that our clients and we can fatten and get premiums, with the right carcass attributes, marbling meat colour and yield.” While calving dependent, the team at Clutha Downs hope to have 100 bull calves weaned and narrowed to the top 25 – 35 that will be selected for the annual on-farm bull sale in May. We’re selecting for structure,” says Clayton. “Many new generation farmers are looking at birth weights and breeding values, but it depends on who is buying the bull as to what figures they’re looking at. They all want something different but at the end of the day you always want good structured bulls. They will go through as 18 month olds and weigh in between 750 – 800 kilos. We would like to put more into the sale, but it’s just demand driven at the moment. There’s still a lot of studs out there and a lot of cows are disappearing, which is not good for us stud breeders.” Last May’s bull sale averaged $8200, with the top bull achieving $14,000. Of the bulls not selected to make an appearance at the sale, some are sold to farmers looking for lower birth weights for heifer calving, others are used internally on other farms, and the tail end are either fattened or sold to dairy farmers looking for two-year-olds. Clutha Downs is also home to 100 commercial breeding cows from which Clayton will take all steer and heifer calves back to Spylaw to fatten, capitalising on the good returns with the carcass premiums. “It’s a great feeling when you produce good quality cattle. With three other farms within our family operation, we’ve proven the progeny can shift and fatten and do well on other people’s farms. We sell a lot of calves and the feedback from people who buy them is outstanding.” 0800 224 661 | enquiries@roadtrans.co.nz Taking care of all your rural transport needs, where ever you are. VETSOUTH ARE PROUD TOWORK ALONGSIDE JEANETTE & CLAYTON PETERS BALCLUTHA | GORE | WINTON | INVERCARGILL | LUMSDEN | OTAUTAU | CLYDEVALE | TAPANUI 0800 VETSOUTH | vetsouth.co.nz
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