END OF AN ERA
When the hammer falls for the final time at Beledene Stud on April 20, the sound will signal the end of an era.
The Revell family, of Kaponga, have bred jersey cattle on the property since Arthur and Margaret Revell established the stud in 1949.
For the past 46 years, surplus in-calf heifers and bulls have been auctioned at Beledene’s annual sale.
But Friday’s event will be the last as Donald, Malcolm and Margaret Revell follow through on their difficult decision to sell the herd their parents began building 69 years ago.
‘‘The years are against us, health-wise,’’ Malcolm says, speaking for the siblings who went into partnership with their parents and took over the running of the farm about 1960.
Now aged in their seventies and eighties, the trio have dedicated their lives to their animals and selling up will be difficult, Malcolm says.
‘‘We’ve reared them, nursed them when they were sick and taken them to shows,’’ he says.
‘‘It’s going to be hard to let go. We’re hoping they get good homes, that’s paramount.’’
The Revells grew up going to shows and had their first success in 1965 when their cow, Pines Merry Peggy, picked up a ribbon.
In the years since, cows from the high-producing Beledene herd have won numerous titles.
Made up fo eight families, the herd traces back to a cow named Jenny, who was the first jersey to arrive in Taranaki in the 1860s.
‘‘The background of the cows is important to us. We know every cow by name and we know their history a long way back,’’ Malcolm says.
‘‘It will be quite a hard day on Friday. You get very attached to them, they’re more than just cows to us.’’
That attachment is evident in the retirement paddock near the entrance to the stud, where Malcolm says a large number of special cows and some bulls have been buried.
The plaque on a memorial stone in the paddock reads: ‘‘In memory of all the great Jerseys we have had the pleasure to work with over our lifetime. Their memories will remain in our hearts forever. By their deeds, they are proven’’.
The inscription ends ‘‘God’s greatest gift is the jersey cow’’.
Close to 300 animals will be auctioned this week, with only a few older cows remaining with the Revells.
Those animals are likely to see out their days in the retirement paddock where 17-year-old Grant’s Sunlight grazes as Malcolm and Donald talk.
‘‘She’s the grand-dam of Sam’s Starlee, one of our top cows at the moment,’’ Malcolm says.
Starlee is not only one of the Revell’s best cows, but one of New Zealand’s, having been crowned NZ Premier Pedigree Dairy Cow two years running in 2015 and
2016. But Malcolm and Donald are modest about their achievements.
‘‘We’d like to think we’ve improved the herd every time we’ve bred them but there is always room to improve,’’ Malcolm says.
Per cow production always tops
450 kilograms of milksolids and often approaches 450kg, with the top cows hitting 600kg.
‘‘They’re the most efficient breed,’’ Donald says.
‘‘Every breed has its good points but the jerseys have been good to us. Mum and Dad started the herd and only had jerseys so they’re what we grew up with and we wouldn’t have wanted any other breed.’’
And they are true to their word. Although the Beledene herd is leaving, the property is not being sold. Come June 1, 50:50 sharemilkers will take over the running of the farm, bringing with them their own herd of jerseys.
The Revells say they wouldn’t have it any other way.