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Christmas Greetings 2024

Merry Christmas 2024 and Happy New Year 2025 Mahuta Hereford Stud

Hello everyone. The end of the year is rolling around again. Here’s hoping that you have had a good year.

The team at Mahuta would like to wish all our clients the very best for the Festive Season. We hope that you can get a break from the farm and are able to enjoy the company of friends and family. Farming is a very constant and draining job and it is important to get time away to maintain mental wellness. So, here’s to a good holiday with family.

Hopefully all the bulls have done their job by now. I am keen to hear if there have been any problems.

We wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and all the best for 2025.

John and Mary Allen
Mahuta Herefords

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Mahuta Sale Report 2024

Mahuta Hereford 2024

It was a good day to see everyone who came to our annual yearling bull sale on 13th September 2024. There were 64 bulls offered and all sold with an average price of $3,803.

Transfers included Otopawa Hereford Stud lot 8 for $11,000 and lot 3 for $7,500; Lot 10 to Shadow  Downs Herefords for $7,200; Lot 6 to Tawanui Herefords $2,500; Lot 1 to Muzzal Herefords $4,000 and lot 18 for $3,000; Lot 44 to Hoobees Herefords for $4,200; Lot 50 to Maui Herefords for $3,900. 

Other prices over $5,000 included Onereri Station lot 41 for $6,200; P.J. Ward Family Trust lot 15 for $6,000; Harena Farms lot 9 for $5,000 and lot 39 for $5,200; Waytemore Farms lot 26 for $5,500 and lot 45 for $5,700.

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Mahuta 42nd Annual Yearling Bull Sale

Our 42nd annual yearling bull sale will be held on Friday 13th September 2024 at our farm. In this sale, we are offering 1 to 2 year-old Hereford bulls and 63 yearling Hereford bulls.

Inspection will start at 10.30 am, then followed by light lunch at 12.00 pm and the sale at 1.00 pm. Sale will be done on site and also through online auction bidr.co.nz with the sale catalogue from pivotdesign.co.nz.

Please contact us for any inquiry.

Mahuta Polled Hereford Stud 42nd Annual Yearling Bull Sale Catalogue - Friday 13th September at 1.00pm

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Fresh Bulls in 2024

Limehills Throne 220672

This year, we have bought 2 herd sires and a package of semen. They have all been purchased with the aim of furthering our breeding aims. These are to breed cattle which will maximise profit for our clients.

The first is Limehills Throne 220672. He is a very attractive bull, as can be seen from the photo, with great rein of neck and presence and mobility. In addition, his figures are outstanding which are an indication of productive potential and therefore profit. He has top calving ease [top 5%], above average growth, superior scrotal circumference [top 5%]. This is an indication of fertility. On top of that, he has above average EMA [meat], top 1% fats and top 1% imf [indicative of carcass quality]. Unsurprisingly, his indexes for prime beef and for beef-heifer mating are in the top 1% for Australasia.

The second bull is Matariki Performer P24. He is a very upstanding bull with great head carriage and rein of neck accompanied by high calving ease for the heifer’s calf, high scrotal circumference ebv and high meat, fats and imf.

The third is semen from Koanui Lips T147. He is rated by Chris Chesterman as one of the best bulls they have bred and he has data to match. We are looking forward to using him in our programme.   

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Mahuta Sale Report 2023

Matariki Night Rider

Mahuta Herefords held the annual yearling bull sale 2 months ago, on 15th September 2023. The sale was well attended with buyers and agents commented on the consistency of the offering.

There were 69 bulls offered and 66 of these were sold to average NZ$3,720.  The top price was lot 4 for Mahuta Skywalker 2034 who sold for NZ$23,500 to Koanui Herefords. He was a good bull with very good figures out of a first calving heifer by Mahuta Qualifier 0034.

Mahuta Skywalker 2034
Mahuta Skywalker 2034

Other bulls sold for transfer were lot 3 to Glenbrae Stud for NZ$10,000; lot 8 to Maranui Herefords for NZ$6,200; lot 16 to Circle D Ranch for NZ$6,300; lot 18 to Lowfield Herefords for NZ$5,000; lot 19 to Sarona Herefords for NZ$5,000; lot 50 to Otamatea Herefords for NZ$4,000; and lot 60 to Rosegowan Herefords for NZ$4,000.

The vendors were very happy with the result and a special thanks to the Chesterman family for purchasing lot 4. We also thank the determined underbidder – Grassmere Herefords.

Mahuta Naughty 7064
Mahuta Naughty 7064

Limehills Belter 210483
Limehills Belter 210483
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Upcoming Bull Sale

Mahuta Sniper 220014
Mahuta Sniper 220014

Happy Easter time to all our clients and friends. Hopefully you will have been able to take a break from farm work. We are aware that many of you have been badly affected by the weather and hope that you are managing okay.

Limehills Stardom 190158
Limehills Stardom 190158

We have had a some damage including a wrecked hay shed but in the scheme of things nothing to bad. We have had an excellent year for grass growth and all the stock are looking well. We have a lot of good bull calves coming up for sale in September with a variety of sires represented including Limehills Stardom 190158, Beechwood In Tome 7, and Yavenvale Knockout.

We look forward to meeting you in the spring.

Mahuta Heifer calf
Mahuta Heifer calf
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Christmas Newsletter 2022

Christmas Greetings and Newsletter 2022

Thank you to all who supported our 2022 sale. We had a great sale with a record high average price for NZ Hereford yearlings and a record top price for us selling lot 5 to the Craigmore Stud for $14,000. Thank you too to our loyal clients have bought in the past. We are aware that high prices can put people off and we aim to have bulls for everyone’s budget. We will offer more bulls in the sale to try and achieve this.

Mahuta Ocean 8073 continues to do well at the BLG/LIC progeny test. This is a multi-breed comparison with Hereford, Angus, and Simmental being involved.

Ocean was below average for birth weight [37.5kg over cows], 2nd shortest for gestation, shortest time for calves days-to-weaning, first for 200-day weight and 3rd for 400-day weight. Given the advantages of the Hereford Breed over other breeds, this makes him very valuable. Progeny will be offered at next-year’s sale. 

This year we have bought Matariki Night Rider. He is a low-birth weight bull [bw ebv 2.2] with growth top 15% and high ema and imf. He is very correctly structured and has a very dark colour. We look forward to his seeing his progeny.

I recently attended a dairy-beef open day focussing on Herefords. I was concerned that some of the dairy farmers did not really understand ebvs. This is important because it indicates how potentially profitable a bull is given the requirements of a farm operation and therefore how much you can afford to pay for him. NZ Herefords may have another field day next year but if not I am thinking of hosting one here. I would be interested in comments from anyone who might be interested.

Wishing you all the best for the Festive Season and next year,

John and Mary Allen

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Mahuta Ocean 8073

Mahuta Ocean 8073

Mahuta Ocean 8073 is doing extremely well in the dairy-beef progeny trial.

BLG and Lic are running a multi-breed progeny trial to attempt to identify the best bulls for dairy beef production. The first crop of calves have had data analyzed and Mahuta Ocean has come out as a leader for short gestation and early growth.

Of all the breeds [including Angus} there is only one bull with a shorter gestation and his progeny had the highest 200-day weight of any bull. These results are very important for dairy beef as short gestation means more days for cows in milk and early growth means earlier weaning which reduces costs.

More news will follow as data becomes available.