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

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.   

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

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

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

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.

Sale Report

Thank you to all who have come to our Annual Yearling Bull Sale on 17th September. It was a good turn-out on the day.

We have sold one 2 year-old bull for $3,500.00 and 45 yearlings with an average price of $3,484.00. The top price was reached for two of the bulls with the amount of $5,600.00 each.

We still have a few bulls not sold yet. Any inquiry is welcome.

Mahuta Annual Yearling Bull Sale 2021

On September 17th, we will hold our 37th annual bull sale. We have 57 Hereford bulls for sale with some very low-birthweight bulls for dairy-heifer mating and some high growth bulls suitable for beef or dairy cows. The bulls come from a highly fertile herd with emphasis on soundness and performance. They are well-grown, semen-tested, tested negative and vaccinated for BVD. Updated  EBVs will be available on sale day.

Holding the sale during Covid lockdown will be a challenge but we have the advice that it can continue, provided that we all wear masks and observe social distancing. With this in mind, we will plan to hold the sale outside where more people can observe the bulls and maintain distance. Of course, if we are in level 2 (as we were last year), we can hold the sale as usual, under cover, signing in with the QR code or on paper.

There may be an issue for those wishing to cross regional boundaries if Auckland remains in level 4 lockdown. Possible options include requesting a permit from MBIE (I have an application form provided by Federated Farmers) or attending the sale online using BIDR. Stock agents will help to facilitate the sale. The steps to log on to BIDR can be found in the catalogue but if anyone needs help, they are welcome to contact us.

If you would like an advice about the bulls which are likely to be suitable for your requirements, please feel welcome to contact us.

There are likely to be constraints, if in level 3, on the food which we can provide but the advice is that food is all right so long as it comes pre-wrapped.

We appreciate your patience during these trying times and again wish you a successful season.