Mt Mable Angus are pleased to offer their entire 2023 PTIC heifer crop for sale with the first 44 going through the ring on a pick for pick basis ie pairs  of heifers will be presented and the winning bidder gets to choose which heifer they take home and which heifer stays here.  Another 16 heifers will be offered on the open market.

 

Watch out for further details and a catalogue, but here is a video to tempt discerning buyers.

Our sale on the 10th June 2024 was very pleasing in what had been a very  uncertain and difficult farming year.

27 of our bulls made it to the sale day  after a wholesale outbreak of fighting.  All 27 bulls were sold with an average  price of $8,500.

We look forward to welcoming all our buyers and any new faces  to our 40th Annual two year old bull sale on the 9th of June 2025.

The bulls  are very pleasing again this year with the Mt Mable type fully cemented in our  herd.”

   

 

38th Mt Mable Two year old bull sale done and dusted.  Very spirited  bidding saw 27 of the 30 bulls offered on the 12th of June sold under the hammer  at Kumeroa.  

Top price of $21,000 was paid commercially for an exceptionally  good son of the $92,000 Cricklewood Pandemic P056 son.  Several bulls changed  hands for around $16 to $17,000, with another Lot 11 Mt Mable 2159 being sold to  Kincardine Stud of Queenstown for $14,500.  A suitable moniker will be decided  on with his new owner.  He too is a son of Pandemic P056.  In all the sale  averaged $10,203 and we are very happy with the result.  

As always we take this  opportunity to thank all buyers, underbidders, agents, our auctioneer and our  wonderful support crew – both in the yards and in the kitchen – we couldn’t do  it without you.  

The 2022 born bulls are a cracking line and we look forward to  offering them in June 2024.

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.

A Gisborne bull has entered the six figure mark for the first time at a New Zealand farm sale after making $100,000.

History was made at Charlie and Susie Dowding's, Rangatira Angus Stud bull sale in Muriwai, Gisborne, when Rangatira 13-38 generated feverish bidding and was eventually sold to the Bayly family of Cricklewood Angus, Wairoa.

The previous high price this season was $35,000 for a Te Mania Angus bull at the Beef Expo in May.

Angus New Zealand confirmed the final bid was the highest price paid for a New Zealand bull at an on-farm sale. The sale auctioneer was PGG Wrighston genetics manager Bruce Orr.

Five bulls at the auction made more than $37,000 and all 63 of the bulls offered were sold, reaching an average price of $10,755.

The Rangatira stud was founded by John and Shirley Dowding at Rangatira, Te Karaka in 1960 and Charlie and Susie Dowding have been breeding angus stud cattle for many years, initially as Rangatira Angus.

In 1999, Susie's parents, Colin and Jackie Williams, gave her and her husband the opportunity to farm and breed Kaharau Stud cattle at Coventry Station with the support of Alistair MacPherson and Dollar Maxwell.

This year saw the return of the original stud prefix, Rangatira Angus.

A passion for bloodlines and pedigrees is evident when talking with Norsewood angus breeders Kevin and Megan Friel.

Mt Mable Angus Stud was established at Ohura, west of Taumarunui, almost 50 years ago by Kevin's parents Allen and Maisie Friel, with the majority of foundation stock acquired from the Puketutu Stud.

On-farm sales started in 1986. Kevin and Megan took over in 1997 and moved the stud to the 880ha Pukerimu Station at Norsewood, north of Dannevirke, in 2008.

As well as longevity in both their cow herd and their bulls, the Friels like to see their breeding decisions result in good news on the hook. They had eight steers killed at Silver Fern Farms recently with seven of them making the Master Grade, which takes into account weight, meat colour, fat colour, rib fat, pH, marbling and ossification.

"One was penalised for high pH otherwise all eight would have made the Master Grade," Megan says.

"Although the cattle were below average according to the Angus Pure index, in reality they were almost perfect for the market or for eating quality, which confirms what we have always believed … the actual performance of our cattle is better than that predicted by EBVs.

"Mt Mable Angus cattle have had nearly 50 years of consistently being selected on type and function, so we're confident what you see is what you get."

Fifty-odd bulls will be offered for sale at the stud's annual on-farm auction on June 8.

Eighteen of the 55 bulls catalogued were sired by rising-nine-year-old bull Mt Mable Fat Boy 373.

One of his sons was sold to the Rangatira Angus Stud in Gisborne in 2012.

"We breed the cows that breed the bulls that breed the cows that allow people to do whatever they want with the progeny – breed them to finish or sell them as weaners – and be happy doing it with as least hassle as possible. We want it easy for ourselves so why wouldn't we want it easier for other people."

The Friels' first sale at Norsewood in 2009 saw 39 bulls sold for an average $4938. Last year they sold 47 bulls for an average $7100, with the top price of $15,000 paid by long-standing buyers Timahanga Station.

Megan says locality has been an important factor in that rise.

"We retained most of our core clients from the King Country and added ones from Gisborne and the wider Hawke's Bay areas, as well as locally around Dannevirke.

"We used to get two sets of common feedback. One was 'We've never heard of you, where have you been?' And the other is commercial farmers saying they're buying our weaners because they are so quiet."

"Even some of the bigger stations appreciate being able to handle them much easier," adds Kevin.

"We're fortunate to have regular buyers who have large cow herds, including one who has been buying from us for 12 years."

One of the selling features of Mt Mable Angus is the larger mob size, says Kevin.

"We now have one mob of 30 and another of 23, although they were all are run together as one mob over winter through to about October. This allows a process of natural selection."

The Friels brought 150 cows with them from the King Country. The herd has slowly been increasing with more than 200 calves expected on the ground this year.

They don't have a commercial cattle herd but the stud cattle are run on a commercial basis, says Kevin, in conjunction with 2800 romdale ewes and 700 hoggets.

"Their job is to clean up the rank, rough grass on the hills in the winter, just as a commercial herd would do."

Kevin says the only animals that don't have to traipse around the hills after the sheep are the older cows (over 10 years).

"They've earned their keep and we like to extend their productive life, as the hills are quite hard on their hips and joints. If you've got to that age, you deserve it. Longevity is an important trait for us," he says.

"An under-recognised trait," adds Megan.

"Because our cows run in a commercial setting, it's easy to identify the cows that can hack it and the cows that can't. We end up with the cows that handle it and they breed daughters who can and so on."

She says only heifers that have proven themselves and have the attributes they are looking for are introduced into the herd.

"The cow herd is rigorously culled on performance and conformation. All cows are expected to rear an exceptional calf, get back in calf and return to good condition every year – no exceptions.

"Because Kevin and I farm here ourselves, if there is a more efficient way of doing something, we've found it. We don't have the time to be intensively farming our cows – they either do it by themselves or they are gone – end of story."

Since buying the Norsewood property, the Friels have invested in pasture improvement and fertiliser on the flat land. They have planted 8-10ha of kale a year for the past five years for the heifers and bulls to winter on, as well as some summer brassica (mainly hunter) for lambs, which are killed or sold store depending on both feed and price drivers.

Two weeks before calving, the cows come down off the hills and are fed 500+ round bales of home-grown balage until the spring grass comes, which can be as late as November.

The farm is tough both geographically and climatically.

Several gorges are fenced off with the Manga-ti-waiti Stream on the southern boundary and the Mangatewanui Stream running through the farm. The farm rises from 400 metres above sea level at the house to 800m on the highest hill. Known as Big Hill, those highest paddocks have low carrying capacity, particularly in winter, and that part of the farm is exposed to westerly winds and rain through a low point in the Ruahine Range known as the Norsewood Gap.

"But that also means we're virtually unaffected by summer dry spells. On a beautiful summer's day you can't beat it."