Day 5

The McDonald’s welcomed us into their home with coffee, tea,
and New Zealand breakfast foods.

 

Day 5 Blog

We started the day off right with a stop at Kairuru Polled Herefords near Reporora New Zealand. The McDonald Family welcomed us with open arms and a warm kitchen full of sweets, drinks, and delicious sausage wrapped breakfast food. We eagerly listened to Kevin and his wife Jane, along with their son, Jeff, talk about the history of their operation while we sipped on ready pour coffee. Originally a farm comprised of sheep, beef and dairy, they transitioned into focusing mostly on their Polled Hereford Herd in 1979. Since then, they have grown to 110 purebred Hereford mother cows, with the main focus of producing bulls for producers here in New Zealand. They often referred to their herd as Polled Hereford “Stud”. They market approximately 26 “rising” 2-year-old bulls and 4 rising one year old Hereford bulls in their annual bull sale held in late May. Their terminology for much of their herd was intriguing, and we asked many questions to gain a firm grasp on how those terms would translate to what we understood in our industry. They put a big emphasis on bulls with good breed character, white markings in the right places and good goggle eyes. While many of their bulls would be sold to other beef producers in the area, much of their bulls would be semen collected and then sold to dairy producers to generate Hereford x Dairy cross calves. In addition to their Hereford herd, they also run a calf sale barn. Most calves in New Zealand are sold at 4 days of age to be raised on the bottle prior to running on pasture to graze. This barn sells approximately 10,000 calves to producers throughout the year. Not only does it serve as an excellent outlet for other producers, both dairy and beef, to sell their calves, but gives the buyers the chance to buy large groups of similarly sized calves at once. The McDonald family often buys calves from their bull customers and surrounding producers and run them on their pasture until harvest time, approximately 24 to 28 months of age. 

Trailer ride through paddocks to see the
bred Herefords.

We had the chance to see their cow herd, sale bulls, and some of the calves they had purchased and turned onto pasture. It was intriguing to learn all about the various grazing strategies they practiced with the different “mobs” or groups of livestock on the farm. Often, they would plant brassica varieties, primarily Kale, into paddocks and strip graze the feeder cattle on it during the winter months. Because grass was of lower quality in the winter, this alternate feed source was able to provide the cattle with sufficient nutrients that kept them grazing year-round. The final part of their operation that we were not able to see was their sheep grazing system. During the spring and early summer, they would purchase 400 feeder lambs to graze until slaughter and be harvested as “Hoggets”. These fat lambs allowed them the opportunity to graze pastures to a shorter height, resulting in a more dense tiller growth to benefit all of their grazing management systems. Rotationally grazing these paddocks often, with varying groups of livestock, kept their operation moving and quite beneficial all around.

2-year-old Hereford-Dairy cross steers.

 

 

Mitchell VanderWal in his element
with the bulls.

MOOOOO!!

After visiting the McDonald’s farm, we took a quick thirty-minute drive to the beautiful Huka Falls. We all headed to the bridge to overlook the shocking blue water. Due to the strength of the current and rapids the air bubbles cause a gorgeous blue color where the falls get their name, after the Mauri word for foam. About 200,000 liters of water plunge over the 9 meter falls every second. It ends up being enough to fill five Olympic swimming pools every minute. 

White River kayakers risking their life for our viewing pleasure.

Some of us headed down to the viewpoint of the actual fall where we saw kayakers take crazy jumps down the falls. We gave them a loud cheer and discussed what it would take for each of us to kayak a fall like that while walking back to the bus. We took another short drive down to where we would be having lunch right on lake Taupo. 

Loved the views, food, shops, and people of Taupō!

Everyone split up and got their lunch before heading to the hunting and fishing store. There, we got to see some mounts of Asian deer species commonly found here in New Zealand along with their guns and knives with different brands than in America. Most of us then strutted our way over to the Merino Wool store where many people bought goodies unique to New Zealand. Many Merino brands mix their wool with possum fiber to make it softer. Possums here are a pest and a large risk to their native and rare Kiwi bird. You don’t need a hunting license to kill possums and other pests like the red stag due to over population and them not being a native species. We made our way to the bus where we relaxed for about two hours before checking into our hotel at the beach town of Napier. We were able to have some free time where we all explored the scenery of the beach. There was black sand made of big and small stones. Many were willing to dip their feet into the cold Pacific Ocean.

Written by Casey, Emily, and Mitchell

Mitchell and Hayden frolicking in the Pacific Ocean.