Stuart Robbie told Stephen Bell how they manage to produce international award-winning beef cattle as well as exporting embryos and semen and providing bulls for Kiwi farms.
Anyone wanting to now how Otapawa Stud’s Hereford genetics perform just has to look over the fence.
The multi-faceted family farm at Otapawa Station in Wairarapa runs its stud cattle as part of its commerical operation with 17,000 ewes and 1200 cattle that also has Perendale and Poll Dorset studs in the set-up.
Stuart and Marie Robbie run the cattle stud started by his parents Donald and Marlene in 1969 while brother Doug and wife Dara take care of the sheep.
Marie and Stuart are preparing big export orders of their Hereford genetics backed by wins at two big international cattle shows but its dealing with Kiwi commercial farmers Stuart gets the biggest kick from.
As well as having their genetics on display in their working cattle on the medium to steep hill country in the Puketoi foothills Stuart also personally delivers all the bulls he sells so he can see where they are going and discuss their future with the buyers.
He is now doing his usual round of follow-up visits to check on the bulls and their new owners and to discuss their performance.
Stuart is uncompromising in his commitment to follow-up and support but it’s not all one-way. He also gets farmer feedback he can use in his breeding programme.
That breeding programme is the result of a lot of homework.
‘We put a lot of emphasis on a lot of predictable genetics behind any animal we are bringing in.”
They want to know which genetics are producing high performing cattle around the world.
The reesults speak for themselves. They sell bulls, embryos and semen around the world and now have six bulls or sons of bulls in Australia’s list of the top 10 most influential sires.
But that success hasn’t stopped Stuart keeping the needs of all farmers in mind. He even keeps a paddock of spare bulls for when he gets calls, often not from previous customers or even Hereford farmers, saying their sire arrangement has a problem. He’ll supply them with a bull or bulls to tide them over.
The international results do, though, show they are on the right track.
Otapawa ha just completed a shipment of 50 embryos to Britain and Europe and is now collecting embryos for Canada and negotiating Candian semen rdights for sire Otapawa Spark 3060.
“Spark has a remarkable set of performance data (EBVs), which include being a trait leader in six different traits. This is combined with the ability to breed physically superior offspring by artificial insemination in 78 herds throughout New Zealand and Australia with 1227 progeny being recorded.”
At the Sydney Royal Easter Show this year Spark’s genetics were showcased with several placegetters having him close in their pedigree.
The Grand Champion Bull, who went on to be sashed All Breeds Champion Bull, Warragundi Minnesota was sired by a son of Studbrook D’artagnion V086. D’artagnion was bought at the 2002 Dubbo National Sale for $47,500 by Otapawa and imported to NZ.
Minnesota’s dam was sired by Otapawa Spark 3060.
Judge PJ Budler from Texas described Minnesota as a phenomenal bull and the best and most complete Hereford bull he had seen in a long time.
“To have Minnesota loaded with Otapawa genetics from a programme that we believe in so much is really satisfying,” Stuart said.
“We were really buzzing to have bred the sire of the Canadian Agribition Champion but to follow up with the Sydney All Breeds Champion from our genetics as well is just fantastic.”
Otapawa Skymate 2046 was sold at the 2004 Beef Expo for the top price of $32,000 with the Robbie family retaining 50% of the international semen marketing rights.
After the Expo semen was collected from Skymate and sold to Canada, Britain, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Australia as well as to many herds in NZ because breeders were keen to capitalise on his genetics that had particularly strong carcase and maternal traits. Skymate’s progeny topped many sales in Europe, Canada, Australia and NZ.
In November at the Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, a son of Skymate – RSK E 2046 Digby ET 20C – was Grand Champion Hereford Bull.
“It’s a journey that’s continuing to provide us with an exciting outlook for our beef industry,” Robbie said.
“Recognition that our NZ bloodlines are competitive and leading on the world stage is a great milestone for the stud.”
Last year Stuart and Marie visited clients in Denmark and found animals with their kiwi genetics doing well on lower rations in wintering sheds then bolting away from the rest of the herd when put on pasture.
And while NZ had once been regarded as a destination for overseas genetics the breeding being done here is now sought internationally, which is good for the entire meat industry.
Two clients in Britain have shifted from cereal to pasture feed with Otapawa genetics and are using that as a selling point for the meat they supply direct to consumers.
And last year they found breeders in Australia talking about organising a trip to NZ to see what is available.
“There’s no better place than NZ for pasture-reared genetics,” Stuart said.
At its annual bull sale on June 5 the first progeny from Red Lord 3012 will be offered.
