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Angus NZ Ward Tour 2009 Report

It may be a long way south to the Southern Ward, away down on the far end of the South Island but it was well worth every mile of the journey to take part in their 10 year opportunity to host their fellow breeders. And to see this expansive, beautiful and obviously productive part of New Zealand in it’s prime with quality grass and crops everywhere.

This is a very large ward geographically stretching from Oamaru in the north to Riverton in the South and everywhere in between so the tour started for participants in Dunedin on Sunday the 29th March with registration and the opening dinner at the Southern Cross Hotel.

Chairman John Cochrane welcomed everybody present to the 2009 Southern Ward Tour and promised a fun time together under their tour guide Tony Laker’s stewardship and they weren’t wrong. Thanks Tony for your considerable and innovative contribution to this tour, it was substantial but delivered in a very friendly and un-obtrusive way – a true Southern Man!!

Monday started with a visit to Invermay for the conference section with addresses on DNA by Paul Fisher, high marbling by Jason Archer, Injury Prevention by Stephan Milosavljevic and Animal Reproduction from our tour guest from the USA Gearld Fry and finally a tour of the DNA lab.

This session was both informative and interesting and was the beginning of Gearld’s growing professional association with everybody on this tour.

Stephan also made light of a pretty serious subject when talking 4X4 motorbikes and I thought his message amongst the humour was very well received.

From here we set off into the interior of Otago travelling through some awesome country that must get very cold in the winter!! Huge rock outcrops for miles that gave way to the small country town of Middlemarch where we visited our first Angus breeder in Lindsay Carruthers at his Nethertown stud.

Lindsay had all his cows and calves in along with the in-calf heifers and R2 bulls and they were looking very well after a typical Otago summer.

From here we went over the range east of Middlemarch to drop in and see the McRae goldmining venture on our way to Neil and Rose Sanderson at Ngapara, south of Oamaru.

This rolling country that is so typical of this part of the country seems to go on for ever and although capable of drying out badly, when we visited rain had given them a great base of grass to show us their cattle on and they didn’t disappoint. Neil had his sale bulls in for members to inspect and very good groups of cows, i/c heifers and younger age groups. They farm 200 stud Angus cows here and Neil is well known for the ET work he does for both export and domestic use.

Following afternoon tea we set off for our overnighter in Oamaru where we were to have our AGM and dinner in the Opera House, hosted by the Mayor of Oamaru and his wife Alex and Heather Familton, breeding members of the NZ Angus Association.

We experienced Tony Laker’s MC skills for the first real time and along with his friend Dave Kennedy a hugely talented singer and guitarist and Jim Hopkins noted speaker and hilaritant we had a fantastic night.

Tuesday saw us up early for breakfast before we headed for Central Otago and Alexandra and the Campbells at Earncleugh Station. A warm welcome from Alistair and wife Margaret and son Duncan gave way to morning tea and an opportunity to look at the cattle and marvel at how they manage to achieve what they do with their stud cattle and stud sheep in this barren inhospitable country side, grazing amongst the huge rock outcrops, briar and Matagouri to deliver the quality of stock that they use genetics extensively for to produce high performing stock.

Back down the Clutha River next to Roxburgh to Peters Angus and Wairere South Romney to visit the Peters family enterprise and to see how they had quickly established their Angus stud in this region. Enthusiastically welcomed by Trevor the first priority was to view the line up of all ages of Angus cattle before adjourning to the woolshed for a country type lunch served for everybody by Trevor, Karen, their family and friends.

As so often happens after enjoying a bountiful lunch, once everybody boards the buses and the wheels start turning the greater majority of the passengers fall asleep!! Today was no exception and I must say I felt very sorry for the driver as he had nobody to talk to, to keep him awake. Through West Otago and into Southland we went through miles of magnificent countryside with all types of stock from breeding ewes to prime lambs, dairy cows on newly converted properties, beef cattle for breeding and finishing and summer and winter crops for stock feed or cash crops highlighted what a great region this was and how productive it was too

On our way through we visited the Delmont R2 bulls which are brought up on another piece of land closer into town and then travelled out to John Cochrane and wife Tracey’s property, east of Clinton and on the edge of the hills and tussock country that seem to suit the Angus cows so well here. John had the rest of the classes of stock in for members to view and the cows with calves at foot were an impressive sight. They were complimented by the in calf heifers and the sires from the 2009 mating. All the stock looked so well!

Another cuppa and food for us via the generosity of CRT before heading away to Gore for a 2 night stopover at the Croyden Hotel with entertainment, fine food and wine making it a very pleasant stop over for everybody.
Wednesday 1st April saw no “April Fool’ pranks pulled so we spent another fine, sunny day visiting those 5 members in reasonably close range of Gore.

First up was Blue Mountain Angus, a relatively new stud started by Robert and Mary-Anne Kane to compliment their Hereford herd – Westholm. 50 in number now the Angus stud is growing steadily and will in no time, no doubt be a strong challenger to the larger Hereford herd for bragging rights. Standing proudly greeting everybody and watching over the assembled Angus cattle was Waiterenui Xpo 747 an impressive sire recently acquired by the Kanes.

From Westholm we travelled a short distance by bus to Waikaka and the Lilliesleaf Stud of Rob and Lyn Hall. Rob and Lyn run a variety of stud animals on their farm alongside the Angus Stud with both the Belted Galloway and the Southdowns adding to their marketing options. In this country it is evident to all on tour that Southland grows strong productive animals and we saw many of them here at Lilliesleaf.

Again another beautiful morning tea for the under nourished amongst us and then on up the road on the other side of Waikaka to Dougal, Gay and Joe Stringer’s Kowai Angus Stud in the Wendon Valley.

This was a major stopover for us all as not only did we have the cattle to inspect but prime beef on the B-B-Q was served for lunch and then we had a really informative session with Gearld Fry on aspects relating to reproduction and structure of naturally grass fed Angus cattle. Gerald was a very popular companion for all on tour and throughout its entirety Gearld had groups of breeders around him keen to listen and learn  and absorb his words of experience and knowledge and to understand the means by which he and older cattlemen identified good and bad faults in their cattle using only their eye and indicators found  on the cattle. The invitation to invite him to our Ward Tour was certainly a successful one and of benefit to many members.
Away from the Stringers we went after this and through the hills to Waikaia to visit Jeremy Gunton at Argyle Station, the home of the Umbrella Range Angus Stud. Argyle is a 36000 acre property with a 1500 breeding cow herd on it so it was a strategic move to buy an Angus stud to breed their own bulls.

Next we visited Hamish Grimm and his family at their Helmsdale Stud at Otama, their herd  made up of their original Burnside animals and since the 1992 purchase, includes Albert Johnston’s Helmsdale Stud.
Another opportunity to take in afternoon tea and then off to Gore and, as tomorrow was officially the final day, to the farewell dinner at Croyden Lodge.

Thursday dawned frosty, clear and cold but with breakfast under the belt to warm the soul we bade farewell to Gore at 7.45am and departed heading for the Braxton Stud at Mossburn in Northern Southland. Dave and Erin and the team welcomed us after a very diverse and interesting drive across the centre of Southland, to the Solobio property where the Braxton Angus and Hereford Studs are run. Aiming to breed functional, easy doing cattle that finish inside the second winter they had a very good display of these types of cows, 2yr bulls and age replacements for members to inspect and look at in a very picturesque setting.

Then we headed further South-West heading to visit the Devery family at Tuatapere at the Pikoburn Angus Stud that are based on Te Mania and Oakfield bloodlines. By now things had warmed up somewhat and everybody enjoyed getting about looking at their very impressive line  up of 2 yr old bulls, their mothers and the R2 heifers in pristine weather conditions.

For most of us now we are a long way from home – the Fiordland National Park being their neighbours here at Tuatapere – but what a beautiful peaceful part of our country it is and can it grow grass, the stock look fantastic.

From Pikoburn we were taken to the local sports ground pavilion to have lunch and re-visit the rugby ground that I personally played on back in 1968 – I think we won!!

A great lunch too!

On the way to our final stud visit we popped into the Flax Mill at Riverton, an Historical site where we were given a demo of the very physically demanding nature of producing ropes etc from flax through a fully operational flax plant which in its day required a good number of people to run it and a lot of strength and tenacity. 

Now to the final stud of Benatrade and our hosts on this occasion Dave and Julie Marshall at Taramoa on the southern coast of the South Island with the South Pole their nearest neighbours. Again functional cattle with longevity and strength are the hallmarks of this stud and they were on hand for people to look over. No doubt the weather has quite a bearing on the success of these goals being achieved but the animals were showing no ill effects of their surroundings.

The final farewells were made here at Benatrade and as some were going straight to the airport to depart home and others were heading North via the highway it was a somewhat hasty departure. Others were staying overnight though to visit Stewart Island or travel inland through Central, so were able to enjoy a relaxed evening discussing another very successful tour.

To report on these tours is difficult because the pattern for each day is somewhat similar with visits to participating studs being the main purpose of the Ward Tours – giving members the chance to visit the hosting Ward members on their own turf.

Be assured though that they are exactly the opposite and not in any way tedious,  they are in fact tremendously successful and a heap of fun to participate in with countless opportunities to get around and meet everybody and spend genuine time with so many members discussing, learning and enjoying this chance to be together as Angus breeders.

The work put in by the hosting committee to make a ward tour flow is enormous, so our thanks go to the Southern Ward Committee and the hosting studs for their hospitality and kindness for a memorable tour of their ward, it is an incredibility interesting part of New Zealand and a region that contributes enormously to the New Zealand economy.

The tour was strongly supported by a very large group of sponsors from throughout Southland and Otago and we all at Angus wish to show our appreciation to those people and businesses who gave so generously. Without them tours like this would simply not be able to be run.

Next year it is Northland turn to host the Ward Tour so until then keep safe and see you in Whangarei in 2010.

Photos from the 2010 Ward Tour

 

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