Te Akau Friday Update

David writes:

After spending all week in Auckland at the Ready to Run Sale, it was great to get back to the farm and drive around to see how well everything had been done while we were in Auckland.

This week was pretty special for me as we not only bought five stunning horses from the Ready to Run Sale, we also broke our all time record for selling cattle.

Yes for the first time ever, we sold a unit (35 steers) that weighed over 400 kgs - this unit of steers which was photographed and featured on the front page of the NZ Farmer newspaper killed out at 401.5 kgs, making them worth about $2450 each.

What a thrill and an unbelievable achievement from all the team that works here at the farm - at this time of the year the team looking after the sheep and cattle work really long hours. They start early each morning and last night we were still weighing cattle at 7pm.  I feel that the high cattle prices might have peaked and we want to sell as many as possible at the great prices we currently have.

This week we have killed two units of ox and four units of bulls with the bulls averaging 350kgs.  The interesting thing with the beef price is that bull beef, which goes in the main to America for hamburger beef for chains like McDonalds, is worth over 40 cents a kilo more than prime beef.  I can never remember this happening before.

There is a lot on at the farm at the moment - we have painters working, we have one of the houses getting its roof re-done, as is the wool shed.  Our general maintenance is carried out by George Brown who has done all my building work since 1981.

On Monday, weather permitting we are cutting the haylage - we have 115 acres that have been shut up and this year the quality will be sensational.

Right now I am watching the horses training at the farm - this is something that I really enjoy each morning.  We have a Per Incanto out of Trove called Niamh Elizabeth who is a half sister to a very good mare that we trained last season called Thrive.  This filly was bred by Ken Browne, a stock agent from Hawkes Bay.  Ken has bought a lot of cattle for me over the years and is one of the best judges you will ever meet.

The other filly is one that I bred by Saperavi out of La Conga who I race with three long standing clients.  You wouldn't see two nicer fillies working and I think you can mark them down as being stable stars of the future.

Back to the Ready to Run sale for a moment though - overall it was a big success.  It was very noticeable that all the good types sold particularly well and there were horses that we went to buy that we missed out on but the two colts and the filly that we really wanted, are now home at Te Akau.  The colts have gone to the stable and the filly to the farm.

I have a lot of time for a Savabeel colt out of Royal Show that we broke in at Te Akau Stud for an Asian client.  I bought this colt for $250,000 and there is now a waiting list for shares in him - he sold in 20 minutes.  We also bought a striking Fastnet Rock colt out of a stakes' winning mare (main picture) from Coolmore Stud and already 55% in him has gone.  I love buying yearlings from Coolmore - the European blood that they have crossed with great stallions like Fastnet Rock is exciting for us to train.  In fact this colt's first and second dam are both stakes' winners!

There is no doubt about it that Fastnet Rock has been the leading sire in the Southern Hemisphere over the last five years and to buy such a lovely colt with a super action who is literally ready to race for $200,000 is a terrific achievement.  Remember too Fastnet Rock's service fee is $200,000.

I also bought a lovely Shamoline Warrior filly for $125,000 for one of our owners who is an international airline pilot with Cathay Pacific.  I valued this filly at $80,000 but after looking at her numerous times I just knew I was going to buy her.  There is something about this filly that I just love and I am really looking forward to putting her into work and finding out if my judgment is right.

The other two horses I purchased were for Fortuna Syndicators - two colts - one by Stratum and the other by Postponed.  The sale broke all records so New Zealand Bloodstock can be very happy and we are happy with our five young horses too, very happy.

This weekend Karyn and I have a lot happening - Karyn has TV in the morning ... and is on the road and gone by 6am.   I am travelling up to meet her later in the day as we are guests at the Rolling Stones concert tomorrow night so that should be an incredible experience.  Back on Sunday as we have a house full of visitors to stay and then Monday is our North Island Owners' Cocktail Party which will be great fun.  On Tuesday Karyn heads to London for a brief visit with our daughter Lydia who lives there - so it's all go, go go!