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
