Words and Images by Victoria Rutherford — AngusPRO Magazine 2024.
It’s been a bumper season at Shenley Station, a sheep and beef hill country property near Albury in South Canterbury. So good in fact that Kate and John Hughes have just finished making and carting hay — the first time it’s been done on the farm in 20 years.
“The season has been amazing here, we’ve had so much rain,” says Kate. “We have three or four hot days, then we get the easterly winds which bring drizzle.”
Prior to haymaking, the couple had been out calf marking with their 19-month-old son Toby, living in and out of a horse trailer. Luckily, they had a team of rodeo friends to help during their break on the summer circuit; something they are grateful for.
“It’s just us, so it’s amazing to have friends that come in and help when we need, and also having Mum and Dad too.”
Kate is a fourth generation Fisher to farm Shenley. She and John have progressively taken over from Kate’s parents, Rit and Sara Fisher, working their way to ownership of the stock and plant. They lease the 4000ha property, and Rit and Sara, who still reside on the station, are realising their dream of building a new house on the site of the old Shenley homestead. Kate’s brother Nick and family also live at Shenley.
“Succession remains ongoing really,” Kate says. “Dad is now a councillor for Mackenzie District Council and Mum is very much the amazing grandmother ‒ she is still busy helping out and looks after Toby on the days we can’t take him with us.”
Kate and John’s management ethos is simple — a low cost, low input, holistic grazing system, adapted by Rit and Sara following the devastating snow in 1992, which Kate says “nearly broke them”.
While Shenley is traditionally considered snow-prone, the seasons have been kind over the past seven years. They work on 120-day winters but have been experiencing close to 90 days.
“We have been so lucky to have very wet winters, but without the cold. However, we don’t know how long this weather is going to last, and you have to protect yourself a bit. Since we have been back on farm, we haven’t had a snow, and in seven years there’s only been one that’s stuck around longer than a week but… it can’t last forever!”
The property rises to 1370m and stretches back towards the Hakataramea Valley. Much of the action goes on deeper into the property, with cattle yards and a woolshed almost 20km over a hill range. They run about 900 head of Angus breeding cattle and 120–150 top line replacements, along with 2200 merino sheep. The good seasons have meant they’ve been able to increase sheep numbers, and they’re excited to be moving to supply their wool to Devold this year.
“They were offering contracts, and being new, we needed a bit of continuity and a four-year contract gives the bank a bit of surety as well,” Kate says.
During the summer, the ewes graze the high parts of the property, while the cattle are rotated on the mid-to-low hills. Two mobs of 350–370 mixed-age cows are run on a 48-hour rotation, while all the first calvers and replacement heifers are run on the station’s front country, the 472ha Golden Hill, where they are shifted every 12 to 24 hours. At least 40% of the trampled pasture is left behind to aid pasture regeneration and reseeding, with excrement providing the fertiliser needs.
Stock classes are swapped post-weaning, with a single cattle mob moving out the back, eventually wintering over 750m, while the sheep move to the lower country.
“In the summer it works to have the sheep up high with their lambs where they are healthy – in the wind with no fly and where they grow out well. Then it’s a complete swap, because it’s much easier to get that mob of 800 cows moved than sheep with the way they spread out. The cattle will look after themselves in a big mob like that, they are amazing, while the sheep… you really have to go cuddle them!”
Heifers and replacements winter on the lower hills and are supplementary fed. The couple make baleage for youngstock, and have traditionally bought in hay, straw and lucerne for the cattle, as well as sheep nuts. “Over a seven-year period it’s normally cheaper to buy in hay, and then you are bringing in fertility as well. Making baleage also helps with pasture renewal.”
Regenerative pasture management has been part of the Shenley system for years, adapted when times were tough. “We had to find a cheap, simple way to run a system that was more natural for the animals,” says Kate.
John says a wide mix of species ensure choice is plentiful, and the strength lies in the adaptability to the seasons. Some of the pastures are 25 years old and “full of clover and other goodies”.
“Different things grow depending on the timing and seasons – if we have a dry year, then something will pop its head up; in a wet year, it’ll be something else.”
The secret sauce at Shenley is the mineral cart, which the cattle have become very fond of. It allows for easy shifting and the constant interaction means the calves and cows are very quiet, something their buyers appreciate. In the past it had just been used with the heifers, but Kate says they’ve adapted it further.
“The heifers [on Golden Hill] are shifted with the mineral cart, and we thought, well, bugger it, we might as well use the mineral cart with the cows too. The cows pick up their calves, feed them and then follow the mineral cart, and while it’s not fast, it’s a lot easier. When you come back 12 hours later, you’ll only be tidying up 30 cows through the gate.”
Herbage, soil and blood tests are taken to ensure the mineral mix is correlated with the herd’s needs. The family has been doing this for almost 20 years now, and Kate says she and John are lucky to be reaping the benefits of time when it comes to the overall condition and fertility of the animals.
Bending the curve
Angus cattle were brought to Shenley by Kate’s grandfather in the 1950s, and the herd was based on Te Mania and Stern genetics. They are dedicated to producing efficient and hardy animals with good temperaments. Cows are expected to raise calves that wean close to half their bodyweight, and with the management system designed for ‘survival of the fittest’: if they don’t perform in the environment, they are out the door.
Kate is carrying on the family’s passion for genetics with a goal to reach estimated breeding values (EBVs) in the top 10% of the Australasian Stud Index.
She references the ‘curve bender’ moment when everything changed for Shenley – the introduction of Paramount lines into the herd through an embryo transfer programme with Five Star Beef in 2001. Embryos were sourced from Lawsons Angus, Australia, which had a connection to Gardiner Ranch in Kansas. With Shenley cows as recipients, the Fishers bought back the bull calves, mostly flush brothers, to use over their own herd.
“I was looking back at the IMF [intramuscular fats] of the Paramount brothers and holy smokes they really were curve benders!” Kate says.
Bulls are sourced from the Hargreaves family at Kakahu Angus and Roger and Susan Hayward at nearby Twin Oaks Angus, with an emphasis on IMF and carcass weight. Bulls above 180 AngusPRO Index, the top 20% for the breed, keep the genetic program moving forward. Kate remarks on how good it’s been to have access to wider data when comparing estimated breeding value (EBV) performance.
“EBVs have gotten easier because bulls are getting better and we have a lot to choose from at Kakahu and Twin Oaks. And with them going to Australia with AngusPRO, you can really see what’s happening – there are so many more animals to compare against, and it’s real data. We don’t so much go for family lines any more like we used to – we did that for many years because they were the choices we had.”
The couple do a raw scan for IMF and EMA production traits on the heifers every year, and while HD50K genome testing is high on the wish list, it will have to wait until the interest rate pressure is off.
“I think this would take us to the next level, it would be bloody great,” John says.
Heifers are picked on phenotype and size, and they are looking for an even line. With good seasons for the last couple of years, they’ve been spoilt for choice.
Golden Hill is split between the replacement heifers and the first calvers. Heifers begin on 12-hour rotations, and once the grass kicks off in spring, they move to 24 hours. “They’re so quiet because we handle them so often,” says Kate.
First calvers are moved out the back for weaning, where they join with the mixed-age cow herd for winter. Mean calving is in November with all AngusPure progeny sold at the Temuka Saleyards in April. This year will be the fifth sale for Shenley, and timing means they will combine with the regional ‘western section’ calf sale rather than having their own as in past years.
In 2018 the decision was made to test the open market rather than continue supplying Five Star Beef, as the family felt the Shenley herd was reaching the upper end of its genetic threshold. Going to the market allowed them to explore the breed’s potential and find an appreciation for the herd’s EBVs.
John says their focus is building a reputation for the depth and breadth of the Shenley progeny available and the sale remains a good way to get their name out there and build the Shenley brand.
They also remain committed to hitting the premium grades with their calves. Last year was the first year they went over the scale at Temuka with 230kg steers. They averaged 210kg (range 134kg–259kg), while the heifers averaged 185kg (132kg–221kg) not including the top 140 heifers retained as replacements. The top steers made $920–$1000 and most of the balance $715–$890. The heifers sold over a tighter range of $500–$750.
One of the biggest challenges for Kate and John has been dropping a labour unit and juggling the management between them. Traditionally, a lot of the cattle work has been done on foot, horseback and by ute. The addition of a side-by-side has helped with speed and access, though John was skeptical at first.
“We got it to make things easier when Kate was pregnant,” he says. “For the first month I was trying to work out how to get rid of the bloody thing, but then I worked out how I could use it and what it could do… and now I wonder how we did without it, especially with the two wet years we had – we wouldn’t have been able to get a truck through a lot of the county.
As for the future, Kate and John are working hard to set themselves up. “We wanted to save money and pay off as much debt as we can and get ahead as quick as we can,” John says. “We are always looking for ways to move forward… we want to be in the position to expand the operation if the opportunity comes up.”
He says they are open to all options, but they would both love to be able to experience the fruits of the family’s labour – finishing their own genetics.
They are both still active in the rodeo scene, and Kate is busy bringing on young horses. She’s had a good run this season in the barrel racing. John is calf roping and team roping and has added back bareback riding after giving it up for a season. “It makes the days quite busy,” Kate says.
Something tells me this hard-working couple wouldn’t have it any other way.