“I truly believe we have something for everyone’s breeding programme.”
The McKenzie family has been breeding and selling cattle in Wairarapa for the past 112 years and this year’s sale, their 74th, features 79 lots.
That’s made up of 32 polled Hereford bulls, seven Charolais bulls, 16 Speckle Park bulls, 10 R1 heifers (five elite Speckle Parks and five elite Herefords) and semen and embryo packages.
The sale features several standout Hereford bulls by new sires Storm, Nano and Kipling, all breeding true to type.
There is a good spread of data available for females by those bulls that are also in the sale.
It’s the first time in 12 years Maungahina is selling elite Hereford females, cattle Mark and Bruce say will dominate in any herd in New Zealand.
At Maungahina they always select for structure and type, with cattle having to perform in commercial conditions on hill country. They select the best genetics, striving to find the right sires to suit that goal.
These days too much emphasis is put on EBVs, Bruce said.
He and Mark prefer to breed to suit the country and conditions then look at the data.
“We want traits within breed averages,” he said. Chasing a single trait like IMF tends to lose muscle. “If you chase muscle you tend to lose milk and fertility. Moderation, we feel, is the key.”
The Speckle Park bulls, sired by Maungahina Kidmans Cove and Maungahina Legacy, are the best the stud has ever offered, Mark said.
Kidmans Cove is a high marbling IMF sire sought after by dairy and beef farmers. Five straws of his semen recently sold in Australia for A$575 a straw and there will be 10 straws for sale at this year’s sale.
Legacy is one of the better Speckle Park bulls bred at Maungahina, Mark said. He’s a high-yielding bull and his progeny are also showing signs of being near the top of the breed in terms of EMA and growth.
This year’s Charolais bulls also represent a consistent line-up of good commercial bulls. The seven bulls are all sired by Maungahina Lammas, a son of Silverstream Horton.
The Hereford heifers are a great chance for people to buy some Maungahina genetics while the Speckle Park heifers represent three different bloodlines, two of which, Line Drive and Ulysses, have never been sold in NZ.
Ulysses semen sold for more than $800 a straw last year.
The 21 embryo packages qualify for NZ only and represent the best of Maungahina’s top donor cows while the 10 semen packages qualify for NZ and Australia.
Photos of the cattle are on the Maungahina Stud website and its Facebook page, which also features a video.
The sale, at 45 Maungahina Road, off Castlepoint Road, begins at 1pm on June 6. It will be live-streamed via AuctionsPlus.
