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The Active Stud
- The stud has been performance recorded
for the last 35 years. This has allowed us to concentrate
our selection on production traits for both males and females.
Our accuracies are very high by comparison with others in
the Angus breed. We are one of very few of Angus studs in
New Zealand which weigh calves at birth. Very few studs
have done this for as long as we have.
- We breed well fleshed, medium sized bulls
from easy calving cows which are above average for growth
in the breed. Our aim is to meet the demands of the modern
market - that is, to reach between 270 and 374kgs by the
second winter.
- The number of bulls offered at our Annual Sale has doubled in the last five years. This gives the buyer more opportunity to buy the bull they want at the price they want. Visit the annual sale page...
The excellent record from our buyers can be measured by the success of breeders' calves at the Temuka and Cromwell annual calf sales. We aim to breed Angus cattle that will handle what Angus Cattle are good at doing - living in harder country. A recent survey, which we conducted, showed that over 80% of Kakahu bulls sold are culled for age. Breeding philosophy...
FERTILITY is a major part of breeding success.
- Cows must be easy to get into calf, even after a hard winter. Dry cows are culled what ever the reason. Many breeders changing to Kakahu bloodlines report an improvement in calving percentage, some getting up to 98-100% in calf rate. In the last two years we have achieved a dry rate of 3% in our cows and 8% in our yearling heifers.
- We have been inoculating for BVD for the past 11 years
- We mate our yearling heifers -by doing this we believe we are selecting earlier maturing cattle with excellent mothering ability.
- We weigh our calves at birth.
A
very small fraction of Angus breeders have been doing
this. Our weights are around the National Average, but
we like medium weights, which will survive a storm. In
combination with moderate birth weights we select for
low Gestation Length in our dams.
- Bulls are service capacity and semen tested With these aids we can minimise infertility in bulls. Capacity testing can assist clients to use correct bull ratios too. That is, a high testing bull should go out with say 60 cows, whereas a low bull is best with 30 cows. Lower bulls can be multiple mated. High bulls are best singly mated.
OBJECTIVES
We
aim to meet our client’s objectives. The bulls we
use need to be high in accuracies, and to have a little
more in growth for instance than the clients themselves
want. This is because only 50% of such a trait is passed
on through the dams. This is reduced further in the steers.
For our bull buyers to hold the good traits that they want,
we must concentrate on breeding from the most reliable sources.
- We
aim to have balanced Breedplan figures. This will help the
buyer see inside the animals. Being one of the longest recorded
studs in the South Island the accuracy of our figures is
high. This is very important. A bull with +86 for 600 day
wt and an accuracy of 53% is a much riskier buy than a bull
with + 86 and an accuracy of 75%. The accuracy predicts
consistent breeding.
- We
aim to keep abreast with modern breeding practises such
as eye muscle and fat depth scanning. Now marbling is an
important factor. What we really want is a whole herd of
cows breeding a bit of fat to keep out the cold, a good
eye muscle to please the butcher, and a nice bit of marbling
to please the palate!
- We
aim to always be available to our clients. In helping clients
to meet their objectives Gerald is happy to visit and offer
advise on their breeding programme.
- We
aim to produce sires that keep on and on! More
about our full backup service to clients...
