MONEY FOR MARBLING

Words and images by Sarah Horrocks

Te Pa Station represents a single cog in a wheel that is one of Aotearoa’s largest farming operations, the Maori-owned Atihau Whanganui Corporation. That wheel is responsible for about 70,000 sheep, 4000 beef cows, 700 dairy cows, 3000 beehives and 728 hectares of woodlots on an area totalling 44,000 hectares.

Jimmy Doolan is manager at Te Pa, which is 4200ha of effective sheep and cattle country. Big enough to give him some power of persuasion in the processing marketplace and big enough to keep him “bloody busy”.

There are three stations within Te Pa — Pah Hill, Omerei and Ngapuke.

“They’re all complementary and we’re a closed unit,” Jimmy says.

The elevation of the three stations varies from 700m above sea level at Pah Hill down to 400m on the kinder country at Ngapuke, allowing Te Pa to finish all its own progeny and reap the benefits of the genetics being utilised at the head of the sheep and cattle programmes.

The straight Angus herd of 1200 females is run at a ratio of 35:65 with the 17,000 Romney ewes (wintering 42,000 SU), and top genetics are sourced both for the sheep and cattle.

When Jimmy came on as manager in 2019 the cow herd was old and low performing, so he knew he had to make drastic changes and rebuild the herd with fresh, high-performance genetics.

“I’m keeping all my heifers during the rebuild phase,” he says.

The bulls used in the main herd are sourced from Ranui Angus in Kai Iwi, Totaranui in Pahiatua and Whangara in Gisborne. The first item in selection criteria is that they must be high in IMF.

“We won’t buy a bull under +2 for IMF.”

Also in the mix during the bull selection process are eye muscle area and birthweight, as well as ensuring the 600-day weight is above breed average and yet still below the mature cow weight.

“We run a moderate sized cow herd, for efficiency.”

Yearling bulls are purchased to put over the yearling heifers and these also come from Ranui, where Jimmy looks for a smooth shoulder and good growth rates.

He says the need for low birthweight EBV bulls is essential in their heifer programme and 250 heifers are retained every year as replacements. Of these, Jimmy usually gets 200 in calf. Their calves are identified by their 001‒-200 tag numbers and these are then easily identified as being sired by low birthweight bulls as they’re spread out across the farm.

“Throughout the year you can’t pick them out from the other calves. They catch up and grow out just like the rest of them.”

The top 40 heifers that are not in calf are retained and given a second chance as two year olds, with the remainder sold in local trade. After that there are no second chances for not getting in calf and raising that calf.

The mixed-age herd of 950 cows goes to the bull in midDecember, with the bull out for two cycles.

The bull selection process is all part of the bigger picture for Jimmy, since he’s growing out and finishing all his own progeny.

Cattle are primarily processed through the AngusPure Special Reserve export programme at Wilson Hellaby in Auckland. Atihau as a whole supplies 85% of all cattle processed through the programme and Te Pa’s cattle hit the grading specifications 100% of the time.

Marbling and docility are the two main factors that Jimmy keeps close watch on, and with minimum marbling targets of +2 within a strictly grass-fed programme, genetics must come into play.

“Our bull selection is improving our meat quality all the time.”

Jimmy says that docility in his cattle is a big part of farming and while this obviously means the cattle remain calm and quiet in nature, more importantly, it keeps the pH of the meat down.

“Most of the cattle run to us rather than away from us when we go into a paddock.”

By selling to Wilson Hellaby in a year-round supply agreement, Jimmy has guaranteed space which provides the security of knowing he can always get his cattle away.

At Te Pa they’re killing from 20 months of age and, in the lead up to this, everything is weighed into groups, with the heavier mobs being weighed every 10 days until they hit 620kg liveweight.

However, weights are not the final ticket, as Jimmy is fanatical about ensuring every animal that goes on the truck is properly finished.

“I won’t let a beast go if it’s not full in the brisket.”

The processing carcase weight average is 330kg and while it’s a straight grass farming system, the marble scores are consistently delivering what the consumer in America demands.

“Predominantly the cattle are scoring +3 for marbling, with the odd +2 thrown in.”

Grass quality and feed management are crucial, so Jimmy ensures it’s predominantly a clover base to maximise feed within a five-year re-grassing policy.

“We put in about 90 hectares every year.”

Wilson Hellaby sets a monthly schedule price for the AngusPure Special Reserve programme, which gives Atihau some certainty with price. Over January and February the schedule was $6.25/ kg and though this may be slightly back on the premiums offered by the top tier of Alliance’s Handpicked programme, the price is there for all animals achieving +2 for marbling, rather than +4 at Alliance.

“We have a really good relationship and strong loyalty to Hellaby,” Jimmy says.

Lamb for dinner

The sheep programme is finely tuned too, of course, with Hildreth Romney rams put over the main flock of 12,000 ewes on April 1. The 5000 one-year ewes are put to a terminal Suftex X Southdown ram on February 1, enabling Jimmy to get about 3000 lambs away before Christmas.

The total number of lambs killed sits at about 20,000, while another 5000 are kept as replacements, and matching the policy he adopts with the young heifers, Jimmy also puts 85% of the hoggets to the ram.

All lambs are processed at Ovation, averaging 18kg carcase weight, and while Jimmy drafts by eye in the first instance, he does run everything that’s going on the truck over the scales first.

“I don’t like any surprises.”

As manager, Jimmy oversees the entire farming operation himself, but he’s not Superman and therefore relies heavily on his staff. Second in charge is Wesley Johnstone, who keeps close watch over the genetics side of things, including sire choices within the sheep and cattle breeding programmes.

All three blocks house a shepherd general and they work alongside three cadets, who are enrolled in a Primary ITO course, undertaking three years of education and skills development while living on site at Pah Hill.

Generations of Māori wisdom and tradition encompass daily life at Te Pa, with technology and science weaving their way in to ensure the longevity and profitability of the farming business.

Jimmy Doolan takes each day as it comes — that’s just in his nature — but those days are just getting better and better.