South Taranaki jersey breeders Chris and Rachel Wilson are starting to see some good results from their focus on production, and has this year placed in five out of six age groups at the Taranaki Purebred Jersey Breed Society production awards.
Chris and Rachel are running the Camaro Jersey stud established by Chris’ parents Pat and May many years ago.
The couple bought the herd and the farm in 1995 after Chris had lower order sharemilked on the property for six years. Pat and May have stayed on the farm and at 73 years old, Chris says Pat just about works as hard as he does.
Chris and Rachel have built the herd to 255 cows, half of them pedigree jersey cows. “It takes many generations to build up a full pedigree herd, and this is still in progress for us but we are well on the way,” Chris says.
“For us it’s not all just about the pedigree cow – the biggest thing is production so we can pay our bills.
“That’s what we really focus on, the pedigree side of it is just an interest. It’s something we enjoy doing, it’s a challenge, and we’re getting good results from it.” Chris and Rachel have chosen to breed their own bulls.
“We select the semen which is suitable to put over our herd to offer good quality pedigree bloodlines. We select on size and stature, and production is the most important because we’ve got a mortgage and we’ve got bills to pay.”
Chris has been brought up with jerseys and says they are suitable for his land and fit into his life.
Camaro stud is situated at Manaia, in a coastal environment four kilometres from the sea. In spring salt spray comes in off the sea with the south westerly wind and burns the grass. And summers can be harsh as well.
“In dry summers, we have to feed quite a lot of supplement,” Chris says. “In the summer when it’s dry, we can feed over half the cows’ diet in supplement. A lot of that is maize which is grown on farm.”
The in-shed feeding system is used pretty much all of calving to the end of mating, then after mating cows go on to a lower spec feed.
“It all depends on the season and the pay out.” The farm is 85ha effective and the cows are averaging 450kgs milksolids per cow.
At the Taranaki Purebred Jersey Breed Society production awards, Camaro Jerseys highest result was from eight-year-old Camaro Belles Maddie who produced 589kgs milksolids.
She and five other Camaro winners went up for the New Zealand Purebred Jersey Society production awards and got good results there as well.
Chris and Rachel are now continuing to breed the sought after Beledene bloodlines into their herd, having recently purchased some cows from a dispersal sale at Beledene stud.
The sale saw Beledene attract the highest price ever paid for a jersey in New Zealand, at $38,000. “Beledene have had a great herd, we will try to follow along the lines they started and try to keep the pedigree jersey breed alive.”
This article was brought to you in association with the following businesses…
- Goodin Ag
- Chris Perrett Electrical Solutions LTD
- Campbell & Green Contracting
- Payne Electrical
- Hughson & Associates
