Both coming from farming backgrounds and with a love of the Angus breed, Central Hawke’s Bay farming couple Jeremy and Kate Cullwick are excited to be starting their own Angus stud. Tapahia Angus has a base herd of 70 cows from Kate’s parents Pat and Evelyn Watson’s Waimata Stud.
“Kate had grown up with an Angus stud and had always enjoyed it,” says Jeremy. “I enjoy the breeding side of our cattle on the farm, and I really love Angus as well. It was a great opportunity to purchase some very good cattle when Kate’s parents decided to retire, and we were really keen to give it a go.”
Both Kate and Jeremy are trained veterinarians and worked for Jeremy’s parents on his family farm before taking over the unit around four years ago. The 740 hectares total/700 hectares effective farm is in three blocks, all within a few kilometres of each other, and run as one unit. The cow herd complements the flock of 3,000 Romney ewes run on Tapahia.
They will calve down 130 cows this year including the stud. Over time, they plan to increase the number of registered cows to around 130 by phasing their commercial cows as they breed replacements each year. In 2023, they have done some embryo transfer work to expand the herd faster.
The stud has allowed them to phase out finishing bulls and transition to a more traditional beef cow model. Reducing finishing cattle numbers makes sense for the couple, as more stringent winter cropping environmental regulations will be difficult to meet on areas of the farm that are mainly rolling with a few flats and steeper hill country.
“We’ll be able to spread the cows out on the hills more during winter and have fewer younger or finishing stock to get through on crops,” says Jeremy. They are in the process of DNA and genomic testing as well as recording the EBVs of the stud cows to give a good basis on which to develop Tapahia Angus.
Jeremy says Pat has been a great source of information, and they have joined Angus NZ as breeding members. “They have been a great resource. We went on the national ward tour in the Wairarapa earlier this year and met a lot of other Angus breeders and got the chance to pick their brains,” says Jeremy.
“Our aim is to have a sale every year and to sell good quality hill country bulls to commercial farmers.”
Waimata Stud was started in the early 70s, and Jeremy says the cattle are hardy and capable of dealing with feed shortages in a tough season. “Pat put the heifers under pressure through their first winter and would only select the females who came through in good order. They also have great phenotype, structure and longevity.”
Jeremy says because Pat never introduced any American genetics into the herd until the last few years, a lot of the stud cows in Tapahia Angus are pure New Zealand Angus. Jeremy and Kate plan to continue with this and only use some American genetics in part of the herd.
The eventual aim is to sell Tapahia Angus bulls, and although it will be three years before they will have a good number of registered bulls for sale, they plan to sell the odd bull in the meantime. “Our aim is to have a sale every year and to sell good quality hill country bulls to commercial farmers.”
© Waterford Press Ltd 2024 – Independent Print Media New Zealand
