CONSTITUTION: 

•   Weaknesses in constitution and soundness show up easily on these hills.  Our heifers are run in a mob of up to 170 through the winter.  This tests constitution right from the start.  
• We keep only those that are thriving under pressure. The same applies to the cows.

FERTILITY: 

•  Our cows must produce a calf every year from 2 years of age to remain in the stud – no easy task on these hills but our cows consistently scan in-calf at above 95%.

CALVING EASE:

•   Calving ease is paramount – 97% of our cows calve unseen and unassisted.  Seldom is birth weight a contributing factor to an assisted birth (never in MA cows) - most likely unfavourable presentation

TEMPERAMENT: 

•  A good temperament is essential.  Springtime sees us out every morning with the kids weighing and tagging calves.  Our cows allow us alongside, with their newborns – anything that won’t doesn’t stay! 

A STRONG HEAD AND JAW: 

• These are necessary for foraging the hills, and four sound feet are needed to get them round those hills. 

CARCASE: 

•  We like deep, meaty types.  Scanning of our heifers shows ample IMF and fat cover.  Fat cover is important for do-ability on the hills. We are always looking to lift our EBV’s, but animals MUST be good doers.   We have found some of the higher IMF types to be poor doers, subsequently scanning poorly, making their higher IMF EBV misleading... high maintenance animals are culled!

We will continue to use NZ bred sires and while we are always looking to improve our EBVs, we will never sacrifice the constitution of our herd to obtain an EBV! (a number that is an ESTIMATED value)

We believe that - 

• Animals MUST THRIVE on the hills, maturing and finishing to good weights early.
• It’s a waste of time and profit chasing specific EBV’s if you lose these important traits.  
• If you are farming hill country, you need a bull that has been born and raised on the hills.