Introduction | Contacts | Trust Tales | Past Winners |
Trans-Tasman Exchangee | Summitcrest Scholarship | Australian Exchangee
Summitcrest Update 2007 - Craig Davie-Martin
Craig Davie-Martin was chosen as the 2007 Summitcrest Scholar, Craig is from Tuakau and has his own fledgling Angus Stud. He sees the Scholarship as an excellent way of gaining knowledge about American genetics and using this knowledge on his return to New Zealand.
2nd October, 2007
Part of my American adventure, took the shape of a road trip to Montana to see some studs, visit two high profile semen collection centers, attend a central bull test facility where bulls are raised in a neutral environment and also to take in a few sights and sounds of America. In typical road trip fashion there were a few “detours” (I swear I knew where I was - honest), a fair few miles driven (3600 in 8 days) and some tremendous and interesting people met.
My trip started by heading to Montana about 10 hours driving away. The infrastructure of the states is very impressive. Driving on the “Interstate” makes these long trips very easy driving if a tad boring. The interstates are four lane highways that intersect every state in a north:south and an east:west direction. The brain child of Eisenhower after WWII, when the road toll was soaring, it saw road fatalities reduced on these long haul routes and allow the trucking culture to develop into the major transport industry of the states.
The first duty of the trip was to attend the Midland bull test sale. Midland is a multi-breed, multi vendor facility which develops bulls in a neutral environment, similar to the New Zealand Bull evaluation units. It seems from visiting that it does allow some smaller studs to promote their bulls on a larger scale (should they perform well) then they may perhaps have been able to do, using their own marketing budget. Like any bull station there was a very big variance in the bulls on offer, both a on a quality basis, and on a style and phenotype basis. A former graduate of this station is CA Future Direction who has been a very prominent Angus sire for Rib Eye and IMF values in the past few years. While there was not a stand out for price this year, I’m pretty sure that some bulls will be promoted from this class of bulls in the coming years.
The next day saw my most enjoyable non-cattle day of my trip so far. Visiting Yellowstone National Park was a breath taking day with amazing scenery, a wide range of wildlife and some interesting individuals met. People talk about New Zealand and how beautiful it is, but Western Montana which has the Continental Divide running through it gives anything we have a run for its money. Due to the time of the year, only the lower Northern part of the park was open, but it was still an amazing place to visit. Talking to one of the Rangers, he said the mild winter would have allowed more of the park to be open but, extra employees are only employed May through November, so for visitor safety the majority of the park is off limits during the winter months.
During my talk he did mention that the bear population was already awake from hibernating early and if I wanted to see one, I may have to take a walk down a couple of the walking trails where there were some animals which hadn’t survived the winter, which in turn provided meat for the omnivorous bears. When I got to the point, he said to leave the vehicle; there was a Michigan family with the same idea so I asked if I could tag along. The family came to Yellowstone each year and they said that where we were walking usually had to be traversed on cross country skis at that time of the year. Walking a couple of miles along the trail, we came across the fur of the kill but the carcass had been dragged off.
We continued a little further to one of the prominent lookouts dropping 3-400 yards straight down into the Yellowstone River. Richard (the father) proceeded to tell of one time he had skied to the same vantage point, took his skis off and spent some time at the look-out, returning only to find a 800 pound grizzly bear sitting on his skis. Needless to say he gave the bear a bit of time to amble off by himself. On our return walk, we did find some bear footprints near where the carcass had been. After seeing the footprints, I’m not so sure what I actually would have done had I come across the animal that made them. Richard proceeded to tell me that the record for a Grizzly climbing a tree to get a person is about 30 foot, so after that little speech I just kept an eye out for trees that would support my weight to a height of about 40 foot just in case a grumpy grizzly wanted to try and set a new world record, on a piece of Kiwi rump.
The quantity and variety of wild life in the park is a wonder all unto itself. Buffalo, Elk, Mule, Deer, Big Horn, Sheep, Coyotes, Bears and Wolves all make up part of a diverse ecosystem in an environment that spends up to six months of the year under snow or close to it. There are currently some concerns over the mix of animals in the park particularly the wolf population that was only introduced into the park relatively recently. These predators have found a food chain that did not have major predators for a hundred years or so and simply put, they are causing havoc. Not only that, they are extending their range outside the park limits and are affecting ranchers and home owners in the surrounding country side.
After a most enjoyable day around Yellowstone, I appraised my options for Sunday as I was due at a cattle stud on Monday. Looking at a map, I decided that a side trip into Idaho was called for, so off I went in my little green Ford Ranger. As I got into Idaho and looking at the map I noticed that it didn’t look all that far over to Washington and Oregon and decided to do a Craig version of a Sunday drive. What a boo boo!! I made the mistake of A) Not looking at the map scale and B) Not planning a route back. So when I got to the border of Washington and looked to turn around to head back, I found that the only other route back to where I needed to be was far south of where I was. Too proud to go back the same way, I ended up driving most of the night to be where I needed to be the next morning.
Moral of the Sunday drive – study the map harder so you don’t end up driving 750 miles in a giant circle.
18th July, 2007
People may assume that once a sale is over, you’ve reached the pinnacle of year and its all down hill from there: rest, relaxation and a well deserved break from the trials and tribulations of farm work – Wrong. The two Summitcrest sales turned out to be just the foot hills of the mountains. All the jobs that had got “put off” into a distant hazy future till “after the sale” are suddenly due to happen next week or on Wednesday.
One of the big jobs that had been booked in “after the sale” was to ultrasound all of the replacement and sale heifers. Along with the bulls who had been too young for consideration into the spring sale and consequently are the bulls which will be for sale in the Fall 20 month bull sale Summitcrest holds in December. The bulls have measurements taken on 7 different productive traits and the heifers 5. While in the chute/crush all of the animals are also appraised for visual appeal and structural soundness. This job saw almost 650 head run through the chute in a little under two days.
The following Monday saw all of the replacement heifers come back through the yards to receive Luetinising shots which promote them to come into heat a few days later for mass breeding. Three days later, voila, 200 heifers all ready for AI. Breeding on Summitcrest, and through out all of the different herds I’ve visited is one of the most challenging tasks under taken. Challenging not in a physical sense but rather on a mental level.
Decisions at this time, ultimately affects the stud business for many years to come. Firstly through direct progeny sales in 22 months time, secondly through the production in the future of the female progeny then thirdly through the reputation of the stud to breed and produce performance animals. It is then a very big deal to ensure the bulls selected for these matings match the breeding goals of the stud, are going to be able to perform and also meet the selection criteria of the stud and commercial clients who will ultimately buy the progeny of these matings.
Much of the year, in a sense is geared towards this time. Visiting other studs, attending sales, conversations with other breeders, AI rep recommendations, and self appraisal of your own herd forms the basis of which bulls are going to be used heavily, what bulls may be used lightly or experimentally, and also which bulls are going to left the heck alone. It will also determine whether or not you buy the next greatest herd sire or maybe pass by a future champion of the breed.
One thing for certain within the American Angus world there are a lot of cogs and wheels that keep the ship moving and sometimes it appears, good or bad, that the noisiest wheel sometimes gets the most grease. On a serious note, the Summitcrest Scholarship has allowed me to see a side of the American beef industry that is, in a sense, pure marketing, with all of the wiles, half-truths and creative photography that accompanies marketing. This example not being Summitcrest who seem pretty upfront and honest, rather some of the other herds leave a little to be desired when it comes to black, white and shades of grey. Seeing some of the cattle first hand has allowed me to form my own biased opinions and put my own unique slant on animals, which will affect my own breeding future once I return to New Zealand.
Part of this all seeing adventure, took the shape of a road trip to Montana to see some studs, visit two high profile semen collection centers, attend on sale day a central bull test facility where bulls are raised in a neutral environment and also to take in a few sights and sounds of America. In typical road trip fashion there were a few “detours” (I swear I knew where I was - honest), a fair few miles driven (3600 in 8 days) and some tremendous and interesting people met.
My trip started after helping breed some of the above mentioned heifers, and heading to Montana about 10 ½ hours driving away. The infrastructure of the states is very impressive. Driving on the “Interstate” makes these long trips very easy driving if a tad boring. The interstates are four lane highways that intersect every state in a north:south and an east:west direction. The brain child of Eisenhower after world war two, when the road toll was soaring saw road fatalities reduced on these long haul routes and allow the trucking culture to develop into the major transport industry of the states.
The first duty of the trip was to attend the Midland bull test sale. Midland is a multi-breed, multi vendor facility which develops bulls in a neutral environment, similar to the New Zealand Bull evaluation units. It seems from visiting that it does allow some smaller studs to promote their bulls on a larger scale (should they perform well) then they may perhaps have been able to do, using their own marketing budget. Like any bull station there was a very big variance in the bulls on offer, both a on a quality basis, and on a style and phenotype basis. A former graduate of this station is CA Future Direction who has been a very prominent Angus sire for Rib eye and IMF values in the past few years. While there was not a stand out for price this year, I’m pretty sure that some bulls will be promoted from this class of bulls in the coming years.
The next day saw my most enjoyable non-cattle day of my trip so far. Visiting Yellowstone National Park was a breath taking day with amazing scenery, a wide range of wild life and some interesting individuals met. People talk about New Zealand and how beautiful it is, but Western Montana which has the Continental divide running through it gives any thing we have a run for its money. Due to the time of the year, only the lower Northern part of the park was open, but it was still an amazing place to visit. Talking to one of the Rangers, he said the mild winter would have allowed more of the park to be open but, extra employees are only employed May through November, so for visitor safety the majority of the park is off limits during the winter months.
During my talk he did mention that the bear population was already awake from hibernating early and if I wanted to see one, I may have to take a walk down a couple of the walking trails where there were some animals which hadn’t survived the winter, which in turn provided meat for the omnivorous bears. When I got to the point he said to leave the vehicle, there was a Michigan family with the same idea so I asked if I could tag along. The family came to Yellow stone each year and they said that where we were walking usually had to be traversed on cross country skis at that time of the year. Walking a couple of miles along the trail, we came across the fur of the kill but the carcass had been dragged off.
We continued a little further to one of the prominent lookouts dropping 3-400 yards straight down into the Yellowstone river. Richard (the father) proceeded to tell of one time he had skied to the same vantage point, took his skis off and spent some time at the look out, returning only to find a 800 pound grizzly bear sitting on his skis. Needless to say he gave the bear a bit of time to amble off by himself. On our return walk, we did find some bear foot prints near where the carcass had been. After seeing the foot prints, I’m not so sure what I actually would have done had I come across the animal that made them. Richard proceeded to tell me that the record for a Grizzly climbing a tree to get a person is about 30 foot, so after that little speech I just kept an eye out for trees that would support my weight to a height of about 40 foot just in case a grumpy grizzly wanted to try and set a new world record, on a piece of Kiwi rump.
The quantity and variety of wild life in the park is a wonder all unto itself. Buffalo, Elk, mule deer, Big Horn Sheep Coyotes, bears and wolves all make up part of a diverse ecosystem in an environment that spends up to six months of the year under snow or close to it. There are currently some concerns over the mix of animals in the park particularly the wolf population that was only introduced into the park relatively recently. These predators have found a food chain that did not have major predators for a hundred years or so and simply put, they are causing havoc. Not only that, they are extending their range outside the park limits and are affecting ranchers and home owners in the surrounding country side.
After a most enjoyable day around Yellowstone, I appraised my options for Sunday as I was due at a cattle stud on Monday. Looking at a map, I decided that a side trip into Idaho was called for, so off I went in my little green Ford Ranger. As I got into Idaho and looking at the map I noticed that it didn’t look all that far over to Washington and Oregon and decided to do a Craig version of a Sunday drive. What a boo boo!! I made the mistake of A) Not looking at the map scale and B) Not planning a route back. So when I got to the border of Washington and looked to turn around to head back, I found that the only other route back to where I needed to be was far south of where I was. Too proud to go back the same way, I ended up driving most of the night to be where I needed to be the next morning. Moral of the Sunday drive – study the map harder so you don’t end up driving 750 miles in a giant circle.
The next morning saw me visit a family breeding operation which has a great reputation for breeding a very maternal type of Angus. It was interesting spending time with the breeder and learning a little of the operation. I also found it enlightening as to how they have managed over the years to establish this reputation both from a phenotype selection basis and on the use of certain bloodlines to achieve the studs’ goals.
The more time I spend over here (talking of all herds in this sense) the more I find that quite often, despite different goals and selection techniques is that most of the herds ultimately end up at a style of cow that are very similar. There may be slight differences in the cows but the basic structure and outlook to the top cows of each herd is almost identical. This ties in with one of my earlier statements where if you took the prefix away from many of the cows, almost everyone would be willing to own other peoples top cows.
After talking on a number of different subjects well into the night and staying the night, I left the next morning with an appreciation of some of the hardships involved in farming in the Montana Mountains. Auckland in New Zealand talks about having 4 seasons in one day. Well in the 24 hours I spent on farm, I am sure we also had all 4 seasons, from snow flurries to sun, to wind and a little spring rain to top it off.
My Tuesday saw me visit part of a commercial operation which has recently chosen Summitcrest as its major bull supplier. With 200,000 acres split between two farms, the owners have set some lofty targets, for the steers to meet with regard to CAB
(Angus Pure equivalent) and general meat quality. Due to their proven track record in this department, Summitcrest have been chosen as a seed stock producer who may be able to help them achieve these goals. Getting an over view of these targets and also of the overall herd operations, makes me appreciate even more the level of understanding that most commercial farmers here in the states have, when looking at the bigger industry picture and also from a pure business perspective.
The next day saw me visit with one of the three biggest registered Angus herds in the States. With almost 12,000 performance recorded females, the scope of the operation and the requirements to keep this machine moving let alone keeping at the head of the field is a little mind blowing. The stud had recently had its spring sale, selling 1800 bulls in less than two days. With an equivalent size bull sale and a 3500 head female sale in the fall, it was a very big operation to get my head around. I arrived just at the start of the breeding season where the owner explained to me, that the intention for the herd was to try and have every one of the 12,000 females have at least one chance to AI before getting turned out with the bull.
With numbers on such a scale it is possible to only know a portion of the top animals in the herd. The balances of females (again true in many of the studs I have visited) simply have to be bred on the performance of the individual with notice taken to the pedigree of the animal. Generally by selecting on performance within the contempory groups, each breeder is able to ensure that genetic progress is made within the herd.
The end result of all of this selection, are animals which are truly bred for performance. While there will always be some animals which slip through the cracks on a structural basis, for the American production systems which I have been exposed to, most of these animals can be managed to get the most performance and monetary gain out of. Not only from a stud point of view but also on a commercial basis.
On a lighter note, an amusing portion of my road trip was the creeks and their names. I have to note here that Americans tend to pronounce this word as “crick”. Accordingly it took me a while to appreciate that when they ask “how’s the crick” they are not asking about the pain in your neck, they are instead asking about the water level flowing down the gully (or “draw” as Americans know them). I digress though; the two or three Beaver Creek’s I came across are pretty self-explanatory. Likewise the “Dead Horse Creek” I crossed in Montana can have its own conclusions drawn. The creek I have the most issues getting my head around was one I crossed in Wyoming. The unfortunate name: “Crazy Woman Creek”, I don’t think it is even safe for me to put forward a hypothesis to that one.
Back to cattle though, the Thursday through Saturday saw me spend time at OriGen and Hawkeye West which are semen collection centers for the beef industry. The first day at OriGen saw me observe the collection and processing of semen and the steps taken to ensure a quality product is ultimately supplied to the industry. The Friday and Saturday saw me spend a lot of time in the bull lots appraising different sires, taking notes, photos and video and thinking of how different bulls may fit both into my small operation but also the wider NZ and American industries.
These were an interesting couple of days as I observed some very high quality bulls that will be able to increase the performance and phenotype of the beef herd in the future. I also saw some bulls that will maintain the status quo without really making major gains or reducing performance. I also saw a number of bulls who in my opinion may have been better off, not entering the gene pool as semen sires.
It was also an interesting exercise to see different bulls who have had major quantities of semen used within the industry in recent years, and whose progeny I have seen sold in NZ and here in the states. It was also enlightening to see some of the current high sellers who will impact on the industry in the immediate future. A third category of bulls I saw was a huge number of yearling bulls who are having semen taken off in the hope of becoming the “next big thing”. How many of these bulls make the grade in the coming couple of years will certainly be an interesting exercise. Some I will watch for with interest, while others despite pedigree and performance, I will not miss if they never have semen collected.
From a future point of view, these few days spent at these two collection centers will set me up for a tremendous future, with a good back ground as without a doubt some these sires will reach NZ and Australian shores in the coming months and years. Having these insights will advantage me when I am making my mating and semen purchases in the next few years.
After finishing looking at bulls on the Saturday, it was time for me to drive home to Nebraska. After a discussion with one of my hosts during my trip, I decided to drive part of the journey through one of the Indian reservations. During this portion of my journey I was disturbed to observe how some of these Native Americans have ended up. In a sense, there are many parts of the reservation that are similar to how portions of the Maori and Aboriginal peoples in NZ and Australia have ended up with not ever been fully integrated into European culture. There are portions of these reservations that essentially are on government welfare for the 3 and 4th generations. There are few easy solutions for these people and given the affluence of the general American, the gulf appears to be one that will be forever difficult to bridge. A sobering touch to the trip.
When in America, it is impossible not to do the American thing, and on my return trip I made the pilgrimage to see Mount Rushmore, which is the mountain carved with the faces of four prominent historical presidents. I have to admit that after the pristine (relatively) expanse of Yellowstone, Rushmore was as commercially exploited a fixture as I have seen here in the States. Yes you can appreciate the effort and the concept of the monument, but I can only say that I am glad I experienced the monument with 50 other people on a balmy spring night rather than with the 40-50,000 people who come each day in the peak of summer. And yes for those of you who have not seen Rushmore, there is no doubt that there are four giant faces carved in rock but whether for non-Americans, it needs to go on the “must see list” is open to debate.
Onwards and homewards after Rushmore, saw me return to the Nebraskan ranch about 2.30 in the morning. During my trip it was very nice to have my fashionable (and windproof) Swazi Assegai jacket, as much of my trip was conducted during a late season cold snap which saw temperatures only just above freezing and with a number of snow falls during the week.
The Sunday and Monday after my return, saw me doing some breeding and cattle work while at the same time packing my bags and saying good bye to people who in a few short months have become lifetime friends. The Tuesday of that week has seen me move to the Iowan operation run by Tom Judy and his family for the next stage in My Summitcrest Adventure. Should the balance of my trip continue with as much learning and good times as the first few months, then I will be extremely satisfied with my time spent here in the States.
Top
Summitcrest Stories - Posted 5th February, 2007
Hello to everyone in nice warm surrounds,
I write this after watching the Indianapolis Colts defeat the Chicago Bears in American foot balls Super Bowl XLI (41). After watching a game hyped up for two weeks, and which takes 4 hours to finish a 60 minute game, I have come to the personal conclusion that American football is one of the most over rated sports in the world. One of the commentators even raised my ire just a little by suggesting that the NFL was the biggest team prize in world sport. I may suggest that some in South America and Europe may have some problems with that statement when compared to the Soccer World cup.
In a consumer society, the Super Bowl appears to be simply the opportunity to sell fast food, beer and big screen TV’s. I heard on the radio last week that 40% of all big screen TV’s sold in the US for the year are sold in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. Supermarkets advertise that they have special tables or racks with all the Super Bowl essentials you will ever need namely chips, dips, pizzas and Doritos (corn chips). Maybe the best part of the Super Bowl experience are the ads’ where there are awards for the best ad’s premiered during the bowl. Some of these are just dirt funny with my personal favorite, two chimpanzees at the zoo planning how to rob the beer delivery guy during his weekly delivery, but ultimately getting distracted by an attractive zoo-goer with a camera.
From a weather point of view, the weather has stayed cold and has got a little colder since I have been here. We have had one day above freezing in the last 3 weeks with Friday night the coldest I have ever been. Imagine a temperature as cold as -20 degrees Celsius (I didn’t know gauges went that low) then add a 15 knot wind to give an effective air temperature of -35 degrees Celsius or -40 Fahrenheit. On a night like that, if calves do not have a protective hood over their head within 2 minutes or are in a barn out of the wind, their ears are frozen near solid with frost bite and may never come right. There is also a very real danger of having their feet frostbitten and maybe never walking properly. My Swazi Windriver jacket has been awesome in keeping the wind out and the warmth in.
Night checks with that sort of temperatures are essential, with hourly sweeps of the calving lots, with calves tagged at birth so that cows do not swap calves as there may be any thing up to 30 calves born in a day. All calves are weighed within 6 hours of birth and given vitamin shots at the same time. The next morning they are hauled via quad or trailer to their pasture groups. With nearly a foot of snow on the ground all groups have to be fed a hard ration consisting of hay, prairie silage and maize silage, with care having to be taken that calved groups do not get overfed as this can make cows produce milk too rich for the young calves to handle, with scours occurring as a result.
There are some cattlemen in NZ that see the US production systems as been too soft on cattle but after seeing first hand the conditions that the cows have to perform under, I have to say that on the whole the conditions are as difficult as NZ but with a different range of challenges and solutions that have to be provided. Yes, the cows are supplemented, but when you may not see grass for 3 months of the year as it is under snow or ice, there is no alternative.
One big plus with the Summitcrest operation in general but in particular the Nebraska ranch is the scale of the cow herd. With some bulls having over 150 progeny due in a calving season, you are really able to pick up common points within a calf crop. Freeze branding heifers in my first week saw us work almost 400 head of yearling females through the yards and allowed me to see lines of sires on a large scale nearly impossible within the NZ cattle system. Also hormone implanting 300 feedlot steers in the same first week, allowed me to gain an insight into Summitcrest's commitment to carcass testing and the work required to achieve meaningful results. The coming week will see us ultrasound nearly 250 bulls for fat, Rib eye size and IMF for the upcoming sale along with semen quality testing all of the bulls to ensure that all the boys are swimming in the right direction.
The bull sale season is just warming up here with “Spring” sales starting recently. Attending one studs sale about a week ago who has had some bulls on semen in the past few years allowed me to see the current crop of bulls and can give a good insight to what the stud is doing. With a couple of bulls sold to Semen companies, it is feasible that some of these bulls will reach NZ in the next 18 months or so. This coming Friday should see me driving about 11 hours north to North Dakota to see a stud that sells 600 bulls and 200 females and who is becoming quite a force in the US stud scene.
Some light comic relief today saw me attend the local shotgun club day to shoot clay targets. With seven stations mimicking hunting scenarios including running rabbits, quartering pheasants and high teal, my shot gun skills (or lack there of) were exposed to the cold light of a Nebraskan winter day. My successful shots were accompanied by “he’s getting the hang of this” while the slightly more plentiful misses had helpful advice such as “lead a bit more” or “bit high”, “bit low there” or the forever feel good slogan “you’ll get it next time”. All in all, I think that the local wildlife should be pretty safe.
Speaking of wildlife, after been reared on a cartoon diet of “Wylie E Coyote and the Road runner” while growing up, I have had the chance to see first hand some Coyotes. Unlike the cartoon though, they do not have revolving legs and luckily for us do not come equipped with dynamite or anvils. Over here they are seen as vermin in much the same way foxes are regarded in Australia or possums are in NZ. Hearing 10 or 20 howling at night is an interesting experience but they are usually not tolerated especially around the calving lots as there is some risk to young calves.
Also coming to do night checking can be slightly hazardous to the body work of the pick up as there are numerous mobs of Mule deer that can leap out of the side of the road in front of an unsuspecting Kiwi. Most so far have been does or young bucks, but there is one 10 pointer mule deer that is running around close to the calving barn, who may be on borrowed time come the spring.
Another big event that gets some media coverage this time of year is “Groundhog day” . Yes the movie is actually based on a real Groundhog named “Punksatony Phil” who lives in a specially constructed enclosure for the year and gets to come out once a year to predict the coming of spring. Apparently “Punksatony Phil the first” or PP-I as he’s also known could predict the coming of spring based on the cast of his shadow on the 2nd of February each year when the sun was in such a quarter of the sky. As one cynic put it though, whether this ability has been inherited by “Punksatony Phil the 11th” or PP-XI, when he is surrounded by four massive light towers beaming down a few million watts on him under the scrutiny of the worlds media, could test the old breeding program out just a little. Luckily for me, even with all of the celebrity pressures bearing down on little PP-XI, he has predicted an early spring this year. We’ll just have to wait and see if this high quality forecast bears out. (More about Ground Hog Day - Opens in new window)
Craig Davie-Martin 2007 Summitcrest Scholar
Top
Summitcrest Stories – 9th Jan, 2007
The first thing that strikes you as you enter the States for the first time is the size and scale of everything. From the Airport terminal where there is a mini-subway from one terminal to the next, to the massive Rockie mountains that you fly over to get to Denver, Colarado, and through to the “pick-ups” that are the ranchers transport, otherwise known as Utes in NZ. I asked in the first couple of days why the pick ups had to be so big, expecting an answer like “big distances - big trucks” or “big loads – big trucks”. Instead the response from a rather laid back individual was “So ya don’t have to take your hat off when you get in the sucker”.
The Western National Stock Show and Sale where I start my Summitcrest Experience is an event which has a 101 year history and a massive presence in the industry. With over 700 Angus entries and more than 2000 cattle entries the Denver stock show is simply massive. Divided into two sections, Hill and Yards, the Hill portion is showing as we know it in NZ with individual judging. In comparison the Yard section is the entry of carloads and pens (10 & 3 bulls respectively) submitted by breeders that are then judged as a group. Of the entries in this competition there were at least ten studs present that have contributed semen to the World Angus gene pool.
Although I had been warned, the weather has dealt me a huge curve ball. Weaning lambs in the high twenties the day I left home is a bit of a difference to the -17 degrees celcius days I have experienced over here in my first week. These temperatures mean that any liquid left exposed for more than 15 minutes freezes over, fizzy drink or “pop” cans included. It can also mean that the cattle, left outside during the night, might have up to half an inch of ice on them in the morning. It can also mean that a soft kiwi, can turn into a walking popsicle in a very short period of time. I owe a great deal to my Swazi Micro-Layer for keeping me, if not hot, at least comfortable in the conditions.
Following the show, driving to Nebraska to Summitcrest Angus for the first working leg of my Scholarship saw heavy snow, visibility down to 100 meters and icy roads. The arrival at Summitcrest’s Broken Bow operation has seen me wandering around in about a foot of snow and getting familiar with a basic run down of the farm. Also in my first day, I have received the use of a Ranger Pickup. My first question to Jeff (Summitcrest Host) when getting in, was “whats the secret to driving in snow”? His response was simply “Plan in advance and don’t drive into ditch’s”.
The first week of my experience has already seen me receive many insights into the American phyche of breeding animals, from the show arena to considering some of the issues surrounding the beef industry from the American perspective. It has also introduced me to a side of American culture rarely shown in Tv and movies, that of the caring, and very courteous side of the country people.
If the next 6 months continue as the first week has, then the experience I gain over here will be a tremendous base for my future farming career. I would like to take this opportunity to thank some of the parties involved in this Scholarship, Summitcrest Farms (USA), the NZ Angus Youth Charitable Trust and Merial NZ for the opportunity to travel to America. I would also like to thank my personal sponsor, Swazi for supplying me with clothing well equipped to handle the conditions here in an American winter.
Till next month,
Craig Davie-Martin 2007 Summitcrest Scholar. |
OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF THE NEW ZEALAND ANGUS ASSOCIATION 
