On Farm Story
28 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – April 26, 2021
TEAMWORK: Bridgette Karetai and Jeff Niblett rear ring neck pheasants on their Hawke’s Bay property.
Game bird venture’s a hit Starting a business that’s a bit outside what might be viewed as conventional is always going to have its challenges, but New Zealand Game Birds owners Jeff Niblett and Bridgette Karetai have made it work for them. Colin Williscroft reports.
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AME bird rearing might be a niche industry in NZ, but it’s a sizable undertaking for Jeff Niblett and Bridgette Karetai, who rear between 70-75,000 ring neck pheasants annually for hunting preserves around the country. Although in the past the couple spent plenty of time during winter organising shooting days not far from their Hawke’s Bay property, today their business is largely based on breeding birds. It’s a seasonal operation that starts in September, when their hens are put into laying pens. By the end of the month the hens have started laying and eggs
are collected daily until early January. “We collect and wash/sterilise them every day, store them for up to a week and then set them in the incubators,” Jeff says. “From then, we’ll hatch once a week.” Once hatched, the chicks are put into small plywood huts, which are equipped with gas heaters and nipple drinkers and feeding trays. They’re in there for a week and then they get access to a covered shelter with grass for another week before going into outside runs which are netted. The birds still need to be “mustered” away every night until
they’re about four weeks old and can cope with most overnight outdoor temperatures. They are reared until they’re about six or seven weeks old,
There’s no pens or anything else to keep them on those properties. They’re basically wild once they’re released. Jeff Niblett Game bird breeder
INQUISITIVE: Although mainly supplied for hunting, the pheasants are also sought after for the colour and diversity they bring
when they are supplied to people who mainly want them on their properties for shooting, although Jeff says others like to have them around to provide a bit of diversity and colour. The couple also rear Mallard ducks, although that’s a much smaller part of the business. Jeff says it’s a sideline they got into because duck numbers seem to be declining in the North Island, especially in drier areas like Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, East Coast and Hawke’s Bay. “People have become interested in trying to re-establish their wetland areas and restock those areas,” he says.
BUSINESS: NZ Game Birds rears up to 75,000 pheasants a year.
It’s a pretty smooth operation but there have been a few challenges to overcome along the way. Jeff has always been interested in shooting. Growing up, his father was a member of the Acclimatisation Society in Marlborough, which at the time was trying to rear pheasants to try and establish a local population. He and Bridgette are both veterinarians, and Jeff spent four of the six years they worked in the UK as a game bird vet. Hunting and shooting is a big business over there, with more than 30 million pheasants reared annually, along with partridge,
