BREEDING PHILOSOPHIES
Our aim at Te Mooi Speckle Park is to add to our clients’ bottom line. We believe to do this we need to provide fertility, calving ease, structural soundness, performance, good temperament and great carcase.
To this end our breeding program is based on quality females, exceptional sires and carefully planned matings.
A COMMERCIALLY MINDED OPERATION
FEMALES
Heifers must calve at two and then get back in calf quickly and all females must wean a quality calf each year. Cows must calve unassisted and have an easy to deal with temperament. Poor fertility and poor temperament are not tolerated.
OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENTS
All animals undergo independent physical assessments. Nothing improves the quality of an animal like ownership, and we believe that it is important to remain objective when assessing your own stock. Jim Green of Greens Livestock Services has been engaged to this end. He grades our structural traits, temperament as well as scanning for EMA, IMF %, rib and rump fat etc. Regular weights are recorded from birth to mature cow weight, and all the above is contributed to Breedplan.
COMMERCIAL PERFORMANCE
Our animals are run in contemporary groups and all animals are treated consistently. (The only exception is when females are selected out to enter the donor herd.) This enables better accuracy of performance recording. Nothing has been fed differently and all animals are run under the same commercial conditions. That is what they will experience in our clients’ herds and we are passionate about identifying the best performing animals.
MATINGS
Sourcing the best genetics, high selection pressure and carefully planned matings are the cornerstones of our programme.
Our matings are planned individually. With our strong Thoroughbred breeding background, where a single cover can be a six figure transaction, we are accustomed to carefully planning matings. We bring this strategy with us.
Matings are based on physical compatibility where we aim to consolidate the soundness and structure we select for. We don't just breed the best with the best, and hope for the best - we carefully plan each mating and utilise the finest genetics available.
There are some extraordinarily well researched works on Thoroughbred breeding and many an analysis of the techniques of successful breeders, like Federico Tesio and the Aga Khan. They are a wealth of information and contribute to our success breeding horses, and we feel sure they will prove beneficial in the bovine world.
"If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up somewhere else."
- Yogi Berra
