22 | nzdairy Barry has no plans to stop just yet Kim Bowden DAIRY PEOPLE » Hillbrae Barry Gledhill is pushing 75 but you will still find him out on the farm working, and he has no plans to stop yet. He breeds Simmental cows and, based on the prices his animals fetch at the Fielding saleyards, he is still doing a darn good job of it. “We’ve been getting the top price at the weaner sales in Feilding every year”, he says. “I got $1,420 last year, and I’m expecting a bit more this year with what all the stock are doing, especially the bulls.” Barry’s 140-hectare stud farm is in Manawatu, south of Palmerston North. “We’re in between Tokomaru and Linton, just heading up towards the hills.” It was never anything but a life on the land for Barry, who left school at 15 to go farming. “I would have left school at 12 if I could have. I don’t know what it is, I’ve just always been on the farm and liked the country life. “I’m a sixth-generation farmer.” His interest in breeding was also piqued at an early age. He says he was “a young fella” working with his dad’s Jersey herd, when they introduced Friesian stock using artificial insemination. “That first cross was just so good, we just kept going with the Friesians.” In his late teens, Barry started as an artificial breeding technician with LIC, staying with the company for a decade – a job he then returned to later on in his career, receiving a gold watch for 25 years. By the early ‘70s, Simmentals had reached New Zealand, and they caught Barry’s eye. The breed is known for its muscular build, good weight gain, and docile nature. “We inseminated a few Friesian-Jersey cows with the Simmental semen, and we could see how good they were then,” he says. But it would be three decades before Barry would come back to the breed, distracted by dairy farming and producing award-winning Friesian cows instead. After his dairy herd passed to his son Merv – one of three following in their father’s farming footsteps and a top breeder of bulls himself - Barry moved onto a nearby dry stock block. “I could remember how good those Simmentals were way back, and I thought it would be a good interest for me to start a stud.” He says he doesn’t overload his farm and has no need to bring in food, making all his own hay and silage. “What you put into a cow is what you get out of it. If you feed them well, they’ll pay you back.” In the paddock, he is also always taking note of a cow’s personality. In his late teens, Barry started as an artificial breeding technician with LIC, staying with the company for a decade – a job he then returned to later on in his career. “I’ve always found that nice, friendly cows, with a good temperament, well, they’re meant to have the best, soft beef. They don’t get agitated when they go on a truck.” His breeding priorities target the dairy industry too. “I’m trying to breed easy calving bulls for dairy farmers,” he says. “They are a bit smaller in stature, and they have a slim shoulder and slim face.” Barry’s second son Dnaiel is breeding Simmental cattle too, a little further north, at Kimbolton. “We have a bit of competition – who’s got the best price or the biggest ones and that. “Last year, someone bought his heifers and they killed out on the hooks at 300 kilograms at 18 months.” Meanwhile, third son Leyton has shifted south, having bought a dairy farm near Oamaru. Grass, Wholecrop, Maize, Stacking, Bagging, Buying & Selling, Round Bales, Hay & Baleage, Conventional Bales & Ground Work For all your harvesting needs Proud to support Hillbrae Call Murray: 021 414 227 “I could remember how good those Simmentals were way back, and I thought it would be a good interest for me to start a stud.” HILLBRAE SIMMENTAL CATTLE Barry Gledhill barrygledhill@outlook.com 021 519 190
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