Tucked away in the back roads behind Cave is the third generation Merrylea hereford stud of the McKerchar family. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Merrylea, a source of pride for a family which has sustainably bred «good, solid meaty cattle » for five decades.
Since 2009, the stud has been run by James McKerchar, with a helping hand from his father Eoin. Eoin’s parents, Alister and Ella established the herd in 1966 under the Heatherleigh moniker. Eoin was immersed in the industry for decades, not only managing Merrylea but sitting on the New Zealand Hereford Council where he saw in the ideologies of «Breedplan» and «Hereford Prime.»
Eoin owned his first piece of land when he was 19 and this is now the main 500 hectare block of the farm. The Merrylea stud was started with Heatherleigh and Maungahina females. Eoin bought his first polled bull, Kirkstyle Tarzan, in 1980 and over the years he bought polled cows from Braxton, Highland, Freelance, Blairich, and Vementry studs. His bull, Merrylea Diplomat was champion at the national hereford sale in 1984.
When James moved home to work with Eoin he took charge of the sheep, while his father stuck with the cattle.
«Coming home from uni I wanted to have 2000 ewes. Then as we increased cattle numbers, ewe numbers were cut back to 1800, then 1200. With the drought last year we only lambed 1000, and now its down to 500.»
Merrylea’s success as a hereford stud is largely due to a rigorous selection process.
«It doesn’t matter what a cow’s estimated breeding values (EBVs) are or what they look like, we cull them if they don’t produce a good calf,» James says.
However, Merrylea has used EBVs since the inception and is aiming for breed average EBVs and just above, except for birth weight, where it targets moderate or just under the average.
«We feel an animal with balanced figures will handle all environments ahead of an animal that has a high growth EBV that will take a lot to feed,» James says. «Or for instance, a cow that milks well one year and produces an exceptional calf, but then doesn’t get in calf the following year. Overall, we are trying to select bulls with EBVs that are well balanced.»
When selecting replacements James considers the animals conformation by eye and its EBVs equally, as an animal’s phenotype and genotype are both important for making genetic gains.
«We use EBVs as a guide, but don’t rely on them. Some are better to use than others. Birth weight is a very strong EBV but muscle is harder to gauge. It moves around more than birth weight when the next generation comes through. After all, EBVs are only an estimate and have their limitations. You don’t want to walk around looking at the catalogue at a sale and not looking at the bulls.»
In the mid-1980s Eoin almost ran two herds; a polled and a horned. In 2001, he made the decision to stop buying horned bulls and put only polled bulls across the cows. James wasn’t keen on cutting off horns. A lot of farmers his age don’t want to know about it because it’s an extra job, he says.
«Older guys like my dad’s generations like the horned genetics in cattle because they think they have more thickness, more bone. They might have started off like that but these days a lot of people have gone for polled; the polled genes have improved so much. I personally don’t see the difference. We’ve gone polled, but still have horned genetics.»
It doesn’t take long to breed horns out of a herd because the polled gene is dominant, James says. If you put a pure polled bull to a horned cow, you will get polled offspring.
Merrylea produces 90-100 bull calves a year. The best 30 are kept as beef bulls, and the rest are leased out as yearlings to dairy farmers. These will be sold on as two-year-olds. This year 22 bulls will be presented at the on-farm sale on May 27 and 60 will be sold as dairy bulls.
«There is more demand in the dairy industry for our two-year-olds but then it doesn’t cost as much to lease a yearling. A few hereford studs are doing this now. Hopefully, this year the leasing might become more of an option for dairy farmers. Its a cheaper outlay than buying a bull.»
«We’ve been reasonably conservative with our birth weights and never used a high birth weight bull,» James says. «Our herd average birth weight is lower than the breed average. They are meaty bulls but still safe for dairy cows and farmers who turn their cows out on the hill in the winter and don’t see them calve.»
The herd of 200 cows includes heifers calving as two-year-olds. After the replacement heifers are selected, the next 20 in-calf are sold on. James aims to finish all the cattle and the remainder is fattened.
Merrylea has made some notable sales with bulls winning the reserve champion South Island super sire title in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The 2011 entry, Merrylea 1467, sold for $10,000. Merrylea Chief sold for $10,500. Merrylea Entrepreneur is the bull they have entered as a super sire for this year.
Sire bulls of note include Monymusk Absolute bought for $13,000, Te Puna Lenny purchased at the beef expo for $12,500, and 2010 South Island super sire champion Capethorne 0815. The stud has also used yearling home-bred sires over its heifers, including Merrylea Chief.
Capethorne 1034 was the first bull bought by James for $16,000 in 2012 and its sons are in this year’s Merrylea sale. Also in the sale are the first crop of sons from Okawa Marshall, bought for $23,000 in 2013. The sons of Keeryn Ferrari, bought at the Beef Expo last year for $1200, will be for sale in 2018.
James feels it is important to produce an even line of bulls; this is more important than trying to breed a one-off star, he says.
«Although it would be good to have a few ‘stars’ along the way. How do you know you have a standout? The public decides.»
«We are probably concentrating a bit more on EBVs with our herd sires. If you produce a standout bull other breeders aren’t going to be interested in him if his EBVs don’t back him.»
James says he likes the quiet temperament of herefords and that they’re a good maternal breed.
«They are a good animal to look at in the paddock, they are quick to finish and turn dry matter into dollars. We do buy some crossbred steers with hybrid vigour from angus cows that have had our hereford bulls across them, but we wouldn’t change from herefords, especially not with the 50 years of work that has gone into them. We have got the kind of cattle we want.»
The Merrylea bull sale is on May 27.
Sourcee: Stuff