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Angus NZ Ward Tour 2010 Report

2010 Ward Tour Photo Gallery viewable here

Northland is in the grips of a very severe dry spell so we all congratulate these breeders we visited for the way they brought their cattle out - it has been dry since October so the true attribution of the breed certainly shone through on every property.

Amongst the cattle visits a great mix of other activities were sprinkled through the three days - a wonderful and happy tour!!

Day One:

With two buses loaded with keen and expectant breeders we headed off to the Puketi Stud of Craig Davie-Martin at Waiotira. Craig recently went to America as a Summit Crest Scholar so it was great to visit him so soon after returning and see how he was going with his recently established stud.

Arriving at the Puketi Stud of Craig Davie-Martin at Waiotira

The Waiotira area was extremely dry with no feed at all so he had to be commended on the condition and performance of his cows evidenced through their calves. For all in the district, many of them dairy farmers who calve down in the autumn, it is hoped rain is not far away.

On from here to visit the Matakohe Museum. We had an hour here - we could have had a day, especially for the men in the group!! I was one of those. Fascinating, intriguing. Amazing - what those people put up with compared to today!! I will be going back to do it again, I was enthralled!

From here we headed to Dargaville past acres and acres of kumara and dairy cows. This is the kumara capital of New Zealand and evidenced by the beautiful soil it is no wonder. South down the Peninsula to Te Kopuru and Te Atarangi to Chris and Karen Biddles home and stud. It was lunch time when we arrived and no holds had been barred in supplying a beautiful feast. Seafood of all sorts (thanks Daphne), beef and all manner of other morsels - we were very well looked after. It was delightful!! At Te Atarangi there were both the Te Atarangi herd and the Stillwater herd of John Turner’s.

Chris and Karen had recently taken over the Stillwater herd so this was the transition and sensible to have them together in this way. Again very dry but the cattle had come through very well, producing some outstanding progeny under very harsh conditions - Angus again!!

There were a great number of cattle on show as well as people enjoying getting about the different groups and seeing for themselves the cattle that John and Te Atarangi breed for their clients in the North. From here we travelled back to Dargaville (as there is no other way in or out) and headed North to Paddyvale and the Morresey family. The tour went to view their line up of Angus cattle.

A feature of both the Te Atarangi herd and the Paddyvale herd is that they both sell all their bulls as yearlings into the market. At Morresey’s we raised our drinks and celebrated with the family (with the cutting of a centenary cake) the 100 year celebration of their very good friends the Pharazyns, Motere Stud’s 100 years of existence as an Angus stud. Congratulations to them(below)

We had visited the Matakohe Museum earlier in the day and had seen the part that the kauri tree in the clearing of the land played in the lives of the early settlers in this region so it was good to have the chance to visit the famous Kaipoua Kauri Forest and Tane Mahuta, one of the remaining giant Kauri trees that still stands today - what a glorious sight!

From Mahuta we then travelled to our resting place for the night - Omapere, right on the shores of the Hokianga Harbour and one of Northlands least knows treasures!! A truly beautiful spot right on the waters edge and with the sun shining and the water warm some of our group went for a plunge.

Hokianga Harbour is also etched in our history as one of the early landing spots of the first Maori people to reach New Zealand from Rarotonga and the Harbour where the ships called to load Kauri for export and the early missionaries stepped ashore in those early days.

One of the local senior members of the Maori tribe and Angus breeder John Klaracich and his wife Lila were guests for our dinner where John performed a Pouwhiri, which was a well received welcome before we enjoyed a beautiful AngusPure meal. Following dinner the annual youth auction was held, raising $9,400 in under half an hour - a great effort and a generous contribution to their funding - thank you all. Tuesday dawned a beautiful sunny day on a flat sea.

While at Omapere the AGM was held and following this, guest speaker Brian Richards, a “Brand Strategist’ spoke. This was a very well timed and well received address on the strengths and advantages of strategic branding and with the numerous programmes (Angus Pure, MacAngus, Angus Pure Source & Trace (APST), Agonline etc) that Angus New Zealand is involved in developing at the present time, it found favour with our members.

Then it was time to get back on the bus and head inland to the Argyle Stud of Murray and Suzanne Quinn. A sheep and cattle property run mainly on hill country Argyle supply a number of bulls to the Northland beef industry but their main market is the dairy industry in the late spring.

The 2010 Ward Tour Party, click for large version

Like most of Northland they were very dry but similarly to other visits so far the cattle looked well considering. While at Argyle we were treated to (I understand a meal prepared by Suzanne herself) a beautiful lunch with desert and slices added as well.

Our thanks for your Northland hospitality from us all, it was delicious. Onward from Argyle we went heading North now to the property of Doug and Daphne Graham’s Lomond Angus Stud. Running both an Angus Stud and Commercial cows, they have 460 cows in total with all the progeny finished to supply the Angus Pure programmes.

Like so many of the properties we visited on tour these are large holdings that run their stud cattle commercially, and once again considering the variety of cattle on display (cows and calves, 2 yr heifers and 2 yr bulls) they looked well with the calves on all cattle looking to have been very well looked after by their dams in a difficult season.

From Lomond we headed East to the Bay of Islands and our digs for the night at the Copthorne Hotel. Once everybody had found their rooms we met on the wharf for an evening cruise on the harbour and dinner on one of the beautiful islands out in the larger harbour.

It was time at this memorable location to catch up on legal matters, so a court session was held in front of Judge Gordy McMaster - needless to say the coffers of the Youth Trust were further boosted by the fines dealt out!! Following the induction of the two new board members it was dinner time and we were very well looked after again.

On board and back after sunset to our hotel and a few before a good nights sleep before arising in the never ending sunlight and fine days to prepare for the third and last day of this tour.

Firstly to Waitangi and John and Jos Bayly’s property right on the sea’s edge - what an environment to spend every hour of your working day in!! Plenty of animals to inspect here so breeders eagerly disembarked to get around and look at a herd that is made up now of two well known herds, Rarewa and Waitangi (Kai Iwi).

They weren’t denied as the female 2 yr olds and 2 yr bulls looked well and the calves very good. The 2 yr olds were to be offered in an Elite Heifer Sale later in the day after the tour had been completed. From Waitangi we travelled North up the Coast to visit one of the Landcorp PRAC herd, Kapiro, that are recorded on the Angus NZ database.

This is a diverse property running sheep and cattle with an area of it given over to a very well performing dairy unit. Unfortunately it started raining while we were here so the opportunity to get out amongst the cattle was somewhat limited but fice to say the cattle measured up well to anything we had seen on tour and illustrated the solid progress that can be made when large numbers are involved.

They had on show a 2 yr old bull selection, 2 yr old heifers and a selection of cows and calves. Once again the females had done a great job on their progeny in a difficult year, reinforcing everybody’s belief that the Angus breed is difficult to supplant. Leaving Kapiro, we travelled further North through Kaeo and Keri Keri onto the picturesque Matauri Bay area to visit Colin Maxwell at his Matauri Angus Stud. Colin is the third generation to run Angus Cattle on Matauri and like most of the herds we have visited on this tour has seen his cattle stand the test of time in their choice of breed.

Once again Colin also farms a large block with a very commercial component of cows and finishing stock. On show for our travellers was an excellent selection of age groups and gender that gave a great illustration of the breeding objectives of this stud. It was also the end of the Northland tour at this function - once again a very pleasant lunch was served before the Chairman of this tour, Chris Biddles wound the tour up with thanks to all his helpers and organisers and sponsors who were responsible for the lunches and smokos on Tour.

It was only left for Chris to hand over the batten to Alastair Sharpe and Roger Matthews of Ward 2 – Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Waikato for preparations for the 20th Ward Tour.

Tour Sponsors were:

• Merial/Ancare
• Allflex NZ Ltd
• Makgill Freeze Branding
• National Bank
• Mark Higgins Freeze Branding
• Zeetags
• PGG Wrightson
• Avoca
• Landcorp
• Elders
• Matauri

Sincere thanks to Chris and his Northland breeders for a wonderful Tour full of fun and laughter.

It has been difficult for them with the very dry spell they are all farming through at present, but all felt the cattle looked very good in the circumstances, evidenced through their off-spring.

WELL DONE!! - Rob Wylie

2011 WARD TOUR DATES Sunday 27th - Wednesday 30th March 2011 !

2010 Ward Tour Photo Gallery viewable here

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