Stud start-up to hand

01-06-2010 | Rebecca Harper

Andy Short was spending a fair bit of money buying Simmental bulls to put over his cows, so he decided to breed his own.

The 29-year-old from Mt Stewart, near Palmerston North, was one of two winners of a premium heifer from Simmental NZ (SNZ). The other was Marcel van Reenen, 24, who is based in Christchurch training to be a rural banker with BNZ.

SNZ came up with the novel idea, Stud Starta, to attract young people to the industry and give them a taste of what it takes to run a stud. The two winners were announced by SNZ during Beef Expo in Feilding.

The heifers were donated by Garry and Julene McCorkindale from Glenside Simmentals in Lawrence and Jon Knauf from Kerrah Simmentals, north of Wairoa.

Short milks 280 cows for Fonterra and a further 140 once a day for calf rearing on another farm.

"The number of cows I've got requires about eight bulls a year. I bought Simmentals last year and they cost a bit of money.

"I thought if I need eight a year, I might as well breed them myself, what I want to put over my herd."

If he breeds the right characteristics he plans to expand and sell them on. "I'm lucky enough to be able to trial on my own herd and systems."

Short said he had always liked the traits and characteristics of the breed. "Excellent growth and muscle characteristics. I like the colour, just like the animal.

"It was a good experience and I was lucky enough to get one. I was going that way anyway, but it makes me hurry up and do it. It's a good start, a good group of guys and a top organisation."

Although van Reenen is based in Christchurch, the family farm is at Cheviot.

He is now relieving over in Grey­mouth, so the trek up to Feilding for the Stud Starta interview paid off.

"I'm stoked; it took a bit of effort to get up there away from work."

He saw the initiative as a good way to get involved in the stud stock industry and a foot in the door.

"It's not just the heifer, but also the knowledge from the stud members."

Van Reenen got his first taste of running a breeding programme by starting a wild Merino flock when he was still at high school and his family lived on a high-country property. "I built some traps and caught them, selling them to trophy parks."

He recently began a job as a BNZ agribusiness graduate and in his application said getting involved with stud stock would allow him to have an active involvement with livestock.

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