I have been farming for 37 years and farming Charolais for 20 years at 450 meters on Hawkes Bay Hill country, in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand.

As low birth weights (BW) combined with fast growth rates become more important each year I have positioned myself for the future - and you can too - by selecting more than one trait at a time using Cotswold Polled Genetics.

Cotswold Genetic Breeding Objectives
Focusing on all economically relevant traits (ERT) Cotswold Genetic breeding objectives are to produce bulls with quiet temperament, good sound structure, polled with good calving ease figures followed by high growth rates, consistent breeding and good conformation.

All our stock is grown under natural conditions and grass fed, with balage grown on the property and fed out during winter. All these bulls have been raised in a commercially focused farming environment at 450 meters. Farm stocking rate is 6.0 stock units per acre or 15 stock units per hectare.

E.R.T (Economically Relevant Traits)
(A multitrait selection)

If you use the E.R.T's it gives you all the related E.B.V figures in one, and a better indication of the over all Calving Ease and Growth Weight of an animal. E.g. the calving ease score includes the figures from the ease of a calf being born, the weight of the calf and the family history of these traits. Therefore you may finish up with a bigger calf at birth with no calving problems and generally followed by better growth rates.

It may be less confusing than using a number of EBV's unless you are looking for a particular trait.

Carcase Weight ERT is expressed as kilograms of carcase weight (e.g. +20 indicates 20 kilograms more carcass weight than the average for the breed).

Bull Calving Ease
Example: For a bull with a direct calving ease ERT of +4.0, we expect his progeny, on average, to have a 2% (half of his breeding value) greater likelihood of calving ease than the progeny of a bull with an ERT of 0.

Calving Ease ERT gives an indication of the likelihood of unassisted calving from a particular sire.

Bull Health Status
Bulls have been Service and Semen Tested by Robyn How of Tararua Breeding Centre. They have also been tested FREE of B.V.D. and tested negative for Myophosphorylas Deficiency by Massey University.

TB Status: C10

Semen is also available by contacting:

Don Organ
Owner, Stud Master
Phone/Fax (NZ) 06 834 9716