About Our Breeding Programme and Philosophy
Putting the Farmer's Needs First
The Taimate Angus Breeding Philosophy is based around the needs and wants of the commercial farmer. That is producing a bull who arrives at his new home, looking the same as he did in the sale, who then does his job over all of the females he is put with. He regains condition quickly, his off spring are born easily and survive with good growth rates through to weaning and beyond, and he is a bull the farmer can depend on for several years.
By having this clear, yet simple philosophy, we never forget our clients and doing right by them, is the most important part of our Angus Stud.
Keeping Things Simple
At Taimate we keep things simple. Almost all breeding is done naturally, with very limited use of Artificial Insemination (AI). When using AI generally only one sire is used per year. We firmly believe that this policy produces consistency and gives us our very good lines of cattle.
We often hear commercial and stud farmers saying they are sick of going to bull sales and never seeing two bulls the same. If there is one compliment we never get tired of hearing is that year after year the Taimate bulls look like “peas in a pod”.
Taimate Angus Cattle Are Traditional Cattle
We place a very strong emphasis on using mostly New Zealand bloodlines.
It is this emphasis that produces our deep, thickset, well muscled bulls that don’t break down. All of the attributes of the original Aberdeen Angus that came to New Zealand.
The Taimate cattle are often referred to as “Very traditional type cattle”. We take this as a huge compliment, as it has only been in modern times that the Angus has been letting itself down. Most particularly in bull reliability.
Bull Reliability
All Taimate cows MUST calve every year! No commercial operation can afford to run dry cows, so why do studs do it? A wet/dry cow is given one chance in her life time. We believe there is no reason why a cow should not be producing a minimum of ten calves in her lifetime.
Cow longevity is directly linked to bull reliability, which is sadly been lacking in Angus Bulls in recent times in New Zealand. There is no such trouble with Taimate bulls.
Our policy of feeding the animals what the season gives, with no irrigation or hard feeding allows the stock to grow out naturally. This combined with traditional type animals, genetics and good stockmanship leaves the bulls with the constitution to adjust to just about any farm environment.
