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News
01 Oct 2004
Director Peter Gatley says “the objective of our genetic improvement programme is venison production. This means we’ll be buying, breeding, and selecting for early calving, weight gain, and of course temperament. The new stags will not be used in our progeny test programme, we simply recognise that it’s useful to have some exciting antler traits available for artificial insemination”.
The new stags are both mature animals with impressive credentials in velvet production. Ivanhoe, from the Doncaster stud in Southland, is a pure Warnham brought to New Zealand as an embryo. A previous winner of the National Velvet Competition as a two year old, he also has trophy potential.
Crusher is a Warnham/Furzeland stag originally bred by the Rockvale Stud in Taranaki. He was purchased by well known Waikato breeder Bob Atkinson who has enjoyed considerable success with him in both North Island and National velvet competitions. Last year he produced 7.98kg of SA2 velvet as a six year old.
Vanessa Crowley of Deer Improvement said she was particularly impressed by Crusher’s velvet style which she described as “very correct, and I particularly liked his length of beam, colour, tyne placement and orthodox style, all attributes that generate premium prices”.
“These are stags most farmers could never afford to take home. Now commercial farmers can use them to sire their next generation of velvetors as well as injecting some real quality into their female line”.
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