Pandemic’s progeny at Mt Mable Angus

Megan and Kevin Friel stand by the pedigree of all their Mt Mable Stud bulls, with well over fifty years of records to prove their worth.

Having said that, they were lucky at the Gisborne sales in 2020 to add one of their current herd sires Cricklwood Pandemic P056 to their stud, thanks to a last-minute meeting between two keen buyers who often found themselves battling it out to buy the same bull.

“A lot of other breeders were interested so Kevin and I thought we might not be able to afford him,” explains Megan. “Then literally five minutes before the sale I said gidday to Grant Crawshaw from Kenhardt Angus and asked ‘are you shopping’.

He said ‘yes probably the same bull as you’, so I suggested we both have a go and we each named a figure we were prepared to go to.

Literally the auctioneer was standing in the box when we came to this arrangement, so we beat off some pretty serious competition and managed to get him for $92,000. He’s bred really well for us and we’ve got several really nice bulls for sale by him this year.”

The grandson of one of their own bulls, Mt Mable Thor 660, which they had sold to Rangatira Stud in 2012, the Friels knew Pandemic’s genetics well.

They also knew that one of 660’s sons, Rangatira 13-38, the older brother of Pandemic’s sire, had sold for $100,000 in 2015 which was an onfarm sale record price at the time.

“Thor 660 has had an impact on the New Zealand herd, with plenty of bulls related to him in many catalogues around the country,” says Megan.

The Cricklewood Pandemic bull is a bigger bull than his grandsire Thor which is reflected in his EBV’s. Having sold some of his semen to Australia soon after purchasing him, Pandemic’s progeny have already been measured there.

“Once cattle start getting measured in Australia it seems to have a much greater impact on their EBV’s than if they’re only measured in New Zealand,” Megan explains. “Those cattle have already led to an increased demand for his semen over there.”

He may be a sizeable bull but that doesn’t change his easy calving rating. The calves are still moderate but are distinguished by their rapid growth rate; both traits thanks to the years of careful attention paid to the Mt. Mable cow herd and the culling that goes with it.

The Mt. Mable Angus Stud on-farm sale on June 12th has six catalogued bulls by Pandemic as well as 7 bulls by Mt. Mable Intrigue 1790, a homebred bull whose progeny brought in their three top prices at last year’s sale.

Another 2 of the 33 bulls catalogued for sale are by another homegrown bull, Mt. Mable Dazzling 1705, son of Matauri Reality 839. “He’s a trait leader for calving ease and he’s also got really good fats. We used him as a yearling heifer mating bull and now he’s been promoted as a mixed age herd sire. These two bulls are all out of first calving heifers which is always impressive,” says Megan.

Mt Mable bulls tend to be early maturing, meaning they’re sexually active, but which can also have a downside. “Bulls are very simple animals” says Megan. “All they want to do is eat and mate and fight, so you have to manage them. You can imagine two 700kg – 800kg animals in a mob of two-year olds determined to establish their pecking order and the damage they can cause each other. We just try and keep them fat and happy and thinking about eating and not anything else, but our catalogue has been reduced due to an outbreak of fighting this year.” Megan is quick to reassure that regardless of how they might feel about each other the bulls are relaxed around people. “Because we don’t tolerate any aggression or nervousness in our cows.

Every calf is picked up weighed, DNA sampled and tagged as a newborn and if there’s any hint from the cow of them not accepting that they’re down the road, and even a newborn if they’re flighty and stupid and hard to manage they’re not

tolerated. “

Their 33 catalogued bulls for sale have all been genomically tested and Mt. Mable Stud have been a 5 Star recorder with breed plan since the rankings for recording began.