Magnificent simmentals producing top results
The next best thing to selling a bull for $160,000 is owning its sire. Kate Taylor visited a Central Hawke’s Bay stud breeder who loves to show off his cattle.
That one’s just a pussy cat, says Waipukurau simmental breeder Glennis Thompson, pointing to a 1100 kilogram bull sitting peacefully in the shade.
A few minutes later it doesn’t sound like one as another 1100kg bull is walked past the fence on its way to another paddock.
The pussy cat is 13-year-old Monreid Yardstick, imported from Australia as a 20-month-old in 2005. The passerby is seven-yearold GlenAnthony Y-arta, the sire of a bull that sold for $160,000 in Australia last week.
Tony is quick to point out the bull has the GlenAnthony prefix because he was born on the stud, but is not from his breeding programme.
He acknowledges Kerry and Linda Nankervis, originally of the Lynmar Simmental Stud at Sherenden, as the actual breeders of Y-arta after the Thompsons bought him as an embryo – by Waiiti High Riser from Willowbrook Ursulina – in a pregnant surrogate mother at the Lynmar closing down sale in 2009.
‘‘Y-arta was an autumn calf born in February 2010. He was weaned prior to Christmas and was so quiet he was halter-trained in one day.’’
He joined the GlenAnthony show team in 2011.
‘‘Our daughter Kimberley led him out in to the ring and he won the Meat and Wool Cup at Feilding in his first outing. From an early age he showed softness and excellent muscling especially in the hind quarters and along the back. The judges said he was only 13 months old but exhibited a great presence that attracted them from the start.
‘‘He’s Kimberley’s bull really. She’s a lot shorter than I am and so she shows him in the show ring and he goes along beautifully.
‘‘With me being a bit tall it makes him look a little bit short,’’ he says, laughing.
Y-arta went on to win more Meat and Wool Cups and Tony says his Breedplan performance figures show he’s a trait leader in Australia and New Zealand for calving ease.
The first group of his sons sold in the 2014 GlenAnthony on-farm annual bull sale with a top price of $10,500, with all seven bulls by Y-arta sold during or soon after the sale for an average price of $4180.
After winning the first of his Meat and Wool Cups at the Auckland Easter Show in 2014, Y-arta was sent to the Tararua Breeding Centre at Woodville to go into quarantine to collect semen for sale in New Zealand and for export as frozen semen.
‘‘Tom and Lizzy Baker of Woonallee Simmentals at Furner in South Australia were one of the first studs in Australia to buy Y-arta semen.’’
One of Y-arta’s progeny, 18-month-old bull Woonallee Los Angeles, was sold by the Bakers earlier this month for a record $160,000. Los Angeles had above breed average estimate breeding values for all growth traits and was described in the catalogue as ‘‘one of the most exciting sires ever raised at Woonallee’’.
Tony praised the astuteness and skill of the Baker family for the result.
‘‘They used my bull in an embryo transplant programme. They were looking for a beautiful, soft, well-muscled bull to go across this exceptional cow called Woonallee Kathie and settled on semen from Y-arta ... look at the results.
‘‘Los Angeles is an amazing bull, 1000kg at 18 months old. He has a fantastic growth rate and fantastic conformation ... you can’t fault him. It was great to see two Queensland simmental breeders fighting over him and the Nunn family got him in the end ... it’s great that he’s gone to a good home.’’
The first flush with Y-arta’s semen yielded two bulls and two heifers. The second bull, named Las Vegas, will be retained at Woonallee. They sold one of the heifers to the Nunn family for $17,000 the week before the bull sale.
GlenAnthony has profited indirectly from these two exceptional sales. Up until June last year, 400 straws of Y-arta frozen semen had been sold in Australia.
As a result of the publicity in the build up to the Woonallee sales, another 240 straws of his semen were sold. Since the sale, a further 600 straws have been ordered for sale in Australia.
‘‘We’re already seeing tangible results from the sale. We’re delighted.’’
After travelling to Germany in 2012, Tony and Glennis said they were impressed by the way the whole simmental herd had been converted from horned to polled.
‘‘On our return we decided to do the same at GlenAnthony and Y-arta was the first polled sire to be used for that purpose.
‘‘The next challenge is to continue our conversion. To this end, two bulls have been bought within New Zealand and we’ve also introduced polled semen from Canada,’’ Tony says.
‘‘I’m particularly excited with two yearling bulls in the herd produced from an embryo transplant between Champs Bravo and our very good polled cow AP104.
‘‘Her quality was proven as the mother of GlenAnthony Warwick, who has performed so well for the Timperley family who purchased him at Beef Expo in 2010.’’
Now a retired vet, Tony and his wife Glennis have been showing cattle for the past 40 years. With recent trends for beef cattle studs to stop showing, the GlenAnthony show team of up to 20 cattle has single-handedly kept the beef cattle section of many A&P Shows from disbanding.
This support was recognised with a life membership of the Auckland A&P Association in 2012 and a coveted Royal Agricultural Society gold medal last year.
Tony and Glennis moved from Waikato to Hawke’s Bay in 1974, selling a small simmental-cross herd in favour of purebred.
They started with 96 hectares on Farm Rd near Waipukurau, where they still live, and also had a block of river flats at Onga Onga for 20 years (sold 2008). While cow numbers have dropped from 150 down to 55, the pair’s enthusiasm for simmental cattle and the show circuit never wanes.
Neither does Tony’s ear-to-ear grin when his cattle are flavour of the day with the judges.
GlenAnthony has won so many Meat and Wool Cups and breed champion ribbons in the past 20 years Tony has to dive for his sale catalogues to check up on successes from year to year.
Yardstick, Y-arta and Yale have all been there and done that.
Names like Excel, Lillie, Prestige, Cascade, Zelda, Jupiter, Newry, Aristocrat, Kauri and Utah all roll off Tony’s tongue like they were members of the family – cows and bulls that have formed special parts of the Thompsons’ simmental story, not to mention bought-in bulls such as Haylands Rupert, Ruaview Scotch Tape and Monreid Yardstick.
One of the pinnacles of Tony’s showing career was GlenAnthony Zodiac winning the Champion of Champions title at the 2013 Beef Expo in Feilding.
He’s not scared to admit the showing is a hobby – one that he thoroughly enjoys.
‘‘We don’t have a yacht or a house in Taupo. We enjoy the showing and it’s a great way of talking to other farmers and other breeders, as well as simply getting out and about.’’
Y-arta is led back to his paddock after performing for the camera.
On the way, there’s a bit of ‘‘discussion’’ between Y-arta and the bulls in the neighbouring paddocks including GlenAnthony Yale, who’s affectionately known as Yogi Bear when not in the show ring.
‘‘Yes it’s a hobby, but they’re great aren’t they? They’re magnificent animals. Important point though, they’re also proving themselves on the production or performance front and that’s more satisfying than any ribbon.’’