BULLETINPRE SALE 2013
SILVERSTREAM CHAROLAIS
the
Fisher Family2105 Chch Akaroa RdRD2, Christchurch 7672
Ph: 03 329 0994Mob: 027 251 4791
Welcome to our pre-sale edition of the Bulletin. This year we
celebrate 25 year
s of selling bulls at auction. Anna
has put together a brief history of those sales in this edition
which covers the
highs and lows we have experienced.
Funnily enough it is the lows you remember most and this acts as
motivation to
continually try and improve what
you do.Since our last edition we have been to t
he Canterbury A & P Show which celebrated its 150th
anniversary. We were
fortunate to be awarded the ‘Meat and Wool Cup’ for the champion
all breeds
beef animal of the show with our 3
year old sire ‘Evolution’. We also managed to get the junior
version of this awa
rd with one of Evolutions stunning
daughters. We are extremely excited by what Evolution is
breeding for us. While
he looks the part himself, it’s the
progeny that count and at this stage we believe he is
potentially the best sire
we have used. As he was a later born
calf as a yearling he was only given a handful of cows so we
have one son for sa
le this year. There is a truck load of
his sons lined up for next year’s sale though.
On the Hereford front they have risen in numbers rather quickly.
Anna and I w
ent up to Mahia Beach for New Year
and while we were there we selected a further 25 cows and their
calves to com
e down from her parents place. This
year her parents’ Pete and Jill Smyth will have their last bull
Sale for the Na P
uteputi Stud in Wairoa. Next year
in addition to the Charolais we will be offering around a dozen
Hereford bulls at
our sale which will require another
pen added to our sale complex. We have around 50 stud Hereford
cows calving
this year.
It has definitely been a trying season climatically. We had a
cold late spring follo
wed by an extremely hot dry
summer. When you see what other parts of the country have been
dealt we ca
nnot complain too much though. We
did wean the majority of our calves in late January. Because we
don’t calve un
til September it meant that some of
the calves were less than 4 months old. However, the calves are
now as good, i
f not better then what they would
normally be at this time of the year and we have been able to
really work the
cows cleaning up rough pastures on
our hill block. The cows have been doing a terrific job and they
are in such grea
t order. Our 2 year old heifers are
also looking better than usual without having a calf still on
them to drag them
down.
March was an extremely busy month as we took cattle along and
supported a co
uple of country shows and in between
that we had the Hereford Herd Tour pass through home. We have
again hosted
the South Island Hereford bulls that
are going to the ‘Beef Expo’ in May. These bulls were the main
attraction but
we also displayed a few of our own
Hereford cows and calves and snuck a few Charolais into the
viewing pens as we
ll. That same week we were involved
with the South Island Field Days at Lincoln. Our long suffering
bankers ASB inv
ited us to join their site. Fortunately
through this busy time we had a number of good Lincoln students
to help us ou
t. We are encouraged by the calibre
of the young people coming through the industry.
At Easter Anna and I had a wedding to go to in Mosgiel. We
combined this with
a short visit to Robyn and Jim
Stevenson of Strathview Station and we also went to the Hore’s
Stonehenge pr
operty in Patearoa. We had met
Jim and Charlie Hore last year at the Locharburn Hereford Bull
Sale. Jim had k
indly offered us to come and view
some of his older Hereford sires. We also took along good
friends Grant and Ch
arlotte McNaughton to look at Jim’s
Angus/Hereford heifers. Grant and Charlotte purchased ‘The
Dasher Station’ in
North Otago back in the spring and
are looking to run a simple cow system buying in all
Angus/Hereford females and
mating them to a Charolais. ‘The
Dasher’ is a large property with a lot of scope and potential to
run a lot of co
ws. We wish them all the best in
their new venture.This edition of the bulletin features a p
rofile on Andrew and Naomi Humm who manage ‘Annandale’ on the
Banks
Peninsula. Andrew got me to help him separate his herd into an
‘A’ and a ‘B’ m
ob. This concept has worked really
well with sheep and he could see great benefits in mating just
his best cows to
an Angus to get his replacements and
putting the rest to a Charolais. He worked back from the number
of replaceme
nt females he required and identified
the cows best suited for this job. It was great to see two mobs
of cows with t
he ‘A’ mob being superior cows that
were of a good type. Cows often get criticised for not returning
enough; howev
er, with a little planning they can be
a lot more than pasture management tools.
We have lined up 60 bulls for this year’s sale. There is a good
selection of polle
d bulls and bulls by new sires. The
bulls are doing well and as usual we believe them to be of a
consistent high qual
ity throughout the catalogue.
We look forward to catch up at bull sale time and we are only a
phone call awa
y if there are any queries.
Kind Regards,
Brent, Bruce, Maureen & Anna Fisher.
SILVERSTREAM SILVER SALECELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF BULL SALES
This year we are celebrating our 25th Annual Bull Sale. There
have been plenty of highs and lows through the years but the one
consistent thing has been the loyal support from our clients around
the country. The 1st sale on the 28th of April 1989 was held at
Addington show grounds and was opened by Ruth Richardson, M.P. for
Selwyn. The sale consisted of 26 lots including bulls sired by
Silverstream Ulverstone and Silverstream Bonecrusher. This sale
averaged around $3,000 and the top priced bull was sold to ‘Falls
View Charolais’ in Australia. The 2nd Annual Sale comprised of 10
lots and saw the top price bull, Silverstream Executive sell for
$36,000. The 2nd sale and 3rd Annual sales included other invited
studs to sell their bulls alongside Silverstream and also in-cluded
the sale of females. The 4th Annual Sale was high-lighted by a
heifer Silverstream Gemma who sold for $20,000 to Paul Steele. She
was a heifer sired by Bonecrusher and out of the infamous
Brookfield Ocelot. The sale also saw Mitchell Allan buy the top
price bull for $9,000. The 5th Annual sale was the first be held on
property at the ‘old Silverstream’ at Greenpark. All the cattle
were displayed in a disused loaf-ing barn. This made the viewing of
the cattle difficult but you could have come to the sale in your
slippers. In fact one year we were fortunate to have this barn as
there was a bad snow storm which cancelled many sales around the
area. The sale was held in this venue for 15 years. This sale Paul
Steele again paid top money of $14,000 for another daughter of
Brookfield Ocelot and Minzion Station purchased the top priced bull
for $6,500. The next 2 sales saw the numbers increase up to 30
lots. The 6th sale was a boomer with Silverstream Hitchcock
purchased by the Motu Stud for $21,500. The sale averaged over
$7,000 and saw the cheap-est bull sell for $5,000. This sale had a
detrimental effect on the stud as buyers were put off the following
year. The 7th Sale saw the average drop to $4,000 and then even
further to $2,400 by the 8th Sale. There was a lot of soul
searching after this sale and we wondered whether to pull the pin.
It was encouragement from a lot of buyers who still purchase bulls
from us today that kept us going. That and a young bull by the name
of Silverstream Jonah who from day one looked pretty special. The
9th Sale was quite unique by the con-sistent prices fetched and a
full clearance of the catalogue. The top price was $5,500, the
bottom price $3,000 and the sale averaged $3,500. By the 10th
Annual sale in 1998 the sale had increased to 38 bulls. The top
price bull was Silver-stream Nobilo, a Jonah son who sold to the
Drayton Stud for $15,500. In the 11th Sale two Jonah sons featured
again with Silverstream Niagra making $12,000 and Silverstream
Narra-tor being sold to Mitchell Allan for $14,000. The 12th Annual
sale saw a lift in the average price to over $5,500 with the top
price bull being bought by The Whananaki Coastal Cha-rolais stud
who purchased Silverstream Orion (another Jonah son) for $16,000.
The 13th Annual Sale was an exciting one with the sale of
‘Silverstream Phoenix’ for $43,500. Phoe-nix was purchased by
Forest View and Whananaki Coastal Charolais Studs. This was the
record price for a Charolais bull in N.Z until it was exceeding by
the sale of Greenwood
Park Rangi the following year. We still retain Phoenix’s full
sister in our herd and she is in fact the dam of lot 3 in this
year’s sale. The 14th Annual Sale had an increase in numbers to
over 50 bulls. Silverstream Rembrant a full French sire made top
price of $22,000 and was purchased by the Castle Downs Charolais
Stud. The 15th Annual Sale featured Dennis McKenzie purchasing the
top price bull for $10,000. Silver-stream Talisman highlighted the
16th Annual sale. He sold for $19,000 to Mitchell Allan. We
continue to use this sire in our A.I program and you will find sons
in this year’s sale. This sale also saw the average reach just over
$6,000. The 17th Annual sale was the first sale to offer 60 bulls
which we have remained at to this day. The selling of females in
the Silver-stream Sale had ended. Between 5- 10 heifers were sold
annually for over 15 sales. The top price bull this particular year
made $22,000 and was sold to J & H Williams. The 18th Annual
Sale included an impressive line of Silverstream Performer sons but
the top price bull was Silverstream Venus who sold to Hemingford
stud for $14,500. The 19th Annual Sale was another sale that
featured Mitchell Allan purchas-ing the top price bull Silverstream
Academic for $13,000. It must be noted that this sale included a
huge support from Muller Station who purchased 5 bulls. This sale
was also the last one to be held at this venue. The Banks Peninsula
boy’s dedication meant that there was a good and long ‘send off’
for the ‘Old Silverstream’. The 20th Annual Sale was the first sale
at the new venue on Hudsons Road where it is held to-day. This
venue had a brand new barn and excellent outdoor display pens.
Silverstream Bookmaker and Black Jack were the highlights that year
with Bookmaker being sold to Lloyd McClay for $10,000 and Black
Jack going to Hemingford Stud for $16,000. The 21st Annual Sale
Finally saw a change in the catalogue cover and the introduction of
a DVD. This sale had two full French sires at the top with
Silverstream Command-er selling to Hemingford for $16,500 and
Silverstream Chan-cellor being purchased by Maungahina Stud for
$12,500. This sale also had the exciting sale of a bull to
Australia. Silverstream Colorado sold to the Paringa stud for
$11,500. The 22nd Annual Sale had a great support from Jim Ferguson
of the West Coast who purchased 4 bulls. Silverstream Digby (a
Palgrove Zephlin son) made the top price of $15,000 and was
purchased by Rauriki Charolais. The 23rd Sale resulted in an
average of nearly $6,500 and 3 bulls making success. Silverstream
Enforcer was purchased by Minzion Station for $12,500, Silverstream
Evan was purchased by Muller Station in Awatere Valley for $12,000
and Silverstream Enigma was purchased by Whananaki Coastal
Charolais for $12,000. Last year’s 24th Sale featured Silverstream
Fever a young polled sire sell to Paul & Claire Granger for
$19,000. Over the years the sales have varied but have generally
always been a suc-cess. The average price has varied from $2,300 in
1996 to over $7,000 in 1994. We acknowledge the support from all of
our clients who have been buying bulls for a number of years and we
are genuinely grateful for the continued support from all our
clients.