Words by Rebecca Greaves & Images by Annie Studholme – AngusPRO Magazine 2026
In search of a profitable yet enjoyable balance between farming and family life, Rob and Jane McClure have flipped farming on its head at their Five Forks farm, Mole Hill Downs, moving from sheep to a 100% Angus cattle system.
It all starts with the foundation for Rob McClure, the cow herd, and there’s nothing he enjoys seeing more than a nice, even line of black cattle in the paddock.
Rob and wife Jane farm Mole Hill Downs at Five Forks, half an hour inland from Oamaru in the South Island. Both originally from a mixed cropping background in Canterbury, the couple purchased their hill country property in 2008.
“We were keen on stock and hill country, so with minimal savings and a bank that would kindly back us, we stumbled our way down here,” Rob explains.
It is fairly extensive farming on the 826-hectare property; there is about 200ha of workable country, which has 19 paddocks, most including a gully, and the rest is in 12 blocks, averaging 40ha. The blocks tend to be steep around the river faces, with native bush at the edges.
“It’s quite a steep place and truck-only access, which is a bit of a feature of the property. Our agents are really good around truck only access and only when it is dry, so we all have to negotiate around that.”
Rainfall varies, but is about 550ml annually. They usually get rain in December, but being on the East Coast, Rob says the weather pattern can be changeable.
When they initially arrived in North Otago 18 years ago, they ran only sheep, no cattle. Since moving to Mole Hill in 2008, they had been slowly increasing their Angus cattle numbers, and it was when their children went off to boarding school about eight years ago that they decided to change things up.
“We found that school holidays, around Christmas, were always so busy with sheep. We asked ourselves, how can we turn things on their head to make it more enjoyable, have more family time off the farm and be more profitable?”
In a complete reversal, sheep were out, and cattle were in.
“Because I’m half Irish, half Scottish, my goal was to sell a cattle beast a day within a low-cost system, and because of the nature of the country with the gullies, cows and calves in the gullies and fattening animals on the workable country was a good fit.”
The McClures put 400 breeding females to the bull, including 85 yearlings. They have 10 bulls and they keep their own replacement females. The bull goes out to the heifers on December 10 and to the mixed age cows about a week later.
verything calves in the gullies, but Rob does keep a close eye on the heifers, opting to run them on the easier blocks. “We try to calve where calves won’t slide into gullies.”
They single-sire mate where possible, loading up the better bulls, and rotating the bulls after the first cycle.
“Our fertility has increased. The heifers are down to 38 days with the bulls. For the mixed age cows, we give them two cycles, plus up to a week extra to cover the change over.”
Rob says they are hovering at around 3-4% dry at scanning, losing about 3% more at calving.
“It’s pretty good, it’s been increasing over the last three years, and the mixed age cows are calving at about 94%, we’re happy with that.”
Weaning typically happens in March to coincide with early scanning and selling the culls, if it’s a dry season.
They usually put in 10ha of swedes for the steer calves. That paddock will then have two crops – rape and grass – after the swedes, before being sown back down. They have changed their grass to a tetraploid ryegrass, which gives them a four-year grass, with red and white clover.
Heifer calves are rotated around the better country on pasture, as one mob of about 170. They also buy in about 200 bales of baleage to supplement the heifers and steers.
The McClures have been supplying all their steers to Five Star Beef, the ANZCO Foods feedlot, for about four years. Most animals are committed under a minimum price contract. The feedlot at Wakanui, Ashburton, has an annual capacity of 40,000 head of grain-finished beef.
“Grant Robertson, our agent, understands our farm and the access issues. They go to Five Star mainly to be finished for the Japanese market.
“With our genetics we are now getting rid of them earlier, the first lot were sold pre-Christmas. For the next three to four months, we will be continuously selling as they come ready.”
The aim is to sell the steers at 500kg liveweight at 15-months-old.
Cull heifers are a little more flexible, depending on the season and market, but the goal is to sell them in early winter. Some heifers go to Silver Fern Farms and/or Hazlett or Rural Livestock and about 85 are kept as replacements, which Rob feels is high enough.
Finding a balance
Moving to cattle has cut down significantly on labour. Rob is mostly a one-man band, with Jane working three days a week at a medical centre in Oamaru as a nurse.
“Other days she helps out with any jobs that need doing, takes care of the farm bookwork and is pretty handy with a knapsack.”
Calf marking and weaning are the big jobs, and their children are often home to lend a hand, too. Daughter Molly has just started her second year of primary teacher training at university, while son Stan is in his second year of an engineering apprenticeship, as well as being fortunate enough to have an academy opportunity playing rugby.
“Our children are keen on farming, but we have encouraged them to experience opportunities and get other qualifications behind them as a backstop.”
Rob purchased a drone several years ago and says it has been a game changer. “It is phenomenal out here in the gullies. I use it for shifting the cattle. You can make sure there are no cows left behind in the scrub; it’s magic.”
The drone is simple to operate and saves on gear, time, and fuel, not to mention dogs.
“I’m not very computer savvy, but it has been a game changer for me. It is so simple to round them up, and the cattle respond well to the drone.”
Development-wise, Rob would like to do a bit more fencing and install some laneways to improve access and subdivision. “It would be good to pay down a bit of debt, but mostly, to just enjoy it [the farm].”
Black cattle preferred
Rob has always liked Angus cattle and says you can’t beat a nice, uniform mob of one colour.
“I’m a bit fussy. They always look good as a mob, and they command a premium, whatever the market, whether it is store or prime.”
Over the years, they have tried bulls from different studs, finding the bulls off irrigated flat land didn’t suit their property. They settled on Te Akau based Twin Oaks Angus Stud in 2011, establishing a long-standing relationship that they value with stud owners Roger and Susan Hayward.
Rob says they are quite fussy about what they like. They’ve been focusing on the Estimated Breeding Values [EBVs], while keeping a lid on mature cow weight, to build a herd that suits their country.
“Our bull team is sitting at the Australasian average for EBVs, and we feel the AngusPRO goalposts are quite a bit higher, which appeals very much.”
Now the cow herd is where they want it, the McClures are adding a bit more 400-day weight into their system, as well as Intramuscular fat (IMF), with their average currently at over 2.5.
“We are fussy with the catalogue and will check parent EBVs as well. I like to eyeball them to make sure they are good, solid bulls with excellent temperament, plenty of width and depth of carcase.”
Rob feels they get a good selection that meets their criteria at Twin Oaks, and he says they are excited about the new EBVs for mature cow body condition and mature cow height.
“We feel we can now add a bit more carcase data without affecting mature cow weight, as long as they have good cow EBVs. We want to retain thickness and condition in the cow herd.”
Rob and Jane have built a friendship with the Haywards over the 15 years they have been purchasing bulls from Twin Oaks, and this is something they attach great importance to.
“Roger and Susan are genuine, humble people. They attempt to come down to Mole Hill annually to have a look around, see our cattle, and both of them know and understand our programme and breeding objectives.
Rob emphasises the great relationship they have with Roger and Susan.
“We enjoy discussing black cattle with them, and it is very exciting with the new stud sires that they are using.”
He goes on to say that he believes Twin Oaks is heading in a similar direction to where he wants to go with production, while still breeding the type of cattle in the Twin Oaks programme that everyone can be proud of.
From both a personal and financial point of view, Rob and Jane are quietly pleased with where they are at. They are excited to see improvements year on year with growth rates, and take pride in their docile herd of Angus cattle. It’s no accident; they have been bred with care and attention to detail, and the genetics selected to match their breeding objectives.