Lowline Beef from Kaitake with Love
2022
John and Fiona Henchman are long-time dairy farmers in the North Island of New Zealand, milking up to 220 Jerseys at times. They currently milk a herd of 184 and run 40 Jersey weaner heifers which will eventually be covered by Lowline bulls.
They purchased their first in-calf Lowline heifers and two bulls after meeting Christina and David Clee, Rancho Radiata stud back in 2018. The Henchmans now have 20 ALCA registered cows, 7 yearling heifers and 2 bulls in their Kaitake herd at Taranaki. The Lowline bulls are used to cover Jersey heifers and the Jersey cows after they have been artificially inseminated.
Fiona Henchman is now branching out by selling Certified Lowline Beef to award winning butchery, The Kiwi Butcher Shop, in New Plymouth, North Island, New Zealand.
Fiona’s Story
In 2021, I had a lovely big 2 ½ year old steer that I was resisting sending to the works (abattoir) as I really wanted to supply New Zealanders with Lowline beef rather than have it exported as just beef.
One day I walked into the Kiwi Butcher Shop armed only with my phone, and asked to see the manager, Stephen Morrison, a second-generation butcher.
I showed them some photos of my cattle and they were impressed enough to want to come out and see them.
One cold wet autumn day they visited our farm to see the Lowline steers, and I remember Stephen saying, “well they don’t need any more finishing!” They agreed to take the older steer and the best younger one for company, to reduce the stress of travelling, and the steers were sent on a 2 hour truck ride to the abattoir in Wanganui.
Stephen and his butchers were very impressed with the carcases from our Lowline steers. They liked the composition and flavour but thought some cuts would benefit from aging. So, they started putting the scotch-on-the-bone in their newly purchased dry-aging display cabinet for 30 days in public view in the shop. These steaks became very popular and were all presold before they came out of the cabinet.
I provided Kaitake CLB labels for the meat packaging. They labelled the dry aged steaks, then did some terrific promotion on Facebook which blew me away!
I think I supplied 6 steers the first year, but size then became an issue. The butchery simply didn’t want carcases under 200kg (about 400kg liveweight) as they were uneconomic for them, after paying the shipping and killing fees. I had no cattle scales to weigh my steers so it meant some were under that required weight. I then realised I had to keep some steers for a second winter to make sure the steers were the correct size before offering them to the butcher, which is not economical for us.
We bought scales.
Now it depends on how many are the right weight at the right time. Recently I have had a good run of heifer calves so I haven’t had many steers but The Kiwi Butcher Shop is happy to take them whenever available and at the preferred weight.
Some steers are Jersey cross reared from our dairy herd, and they think they are just as good. (They don’t want Friesian in the steers as the bone ratio will be too high).
We rear some Lowline cross calves but they are not wanted on the dairy farm long-term, so we have had to sell most off to a stock agent before that second winter. I have my stud cattle and the Jersey yearlings to feed all winter, (presently 90 head) and its only 50 acres here and we can’t cope with many more than that.
So, I am trying to breed purebred Lowlines that will reach the required weight with only one winter. Now with regular weighing, I can find the bloodlines that will achieve this. I think Lowlines are more likely to do that than dairy cross steers, which grow bigger before fattening and finishing so take more time.
My ultimate dream was to get pure Lowline beef into a high-end restaurant and I achieved this at the recent North Island Lowline Promotion Group (NILPG) AGM/field day/dinner, by getting one killed at an MPI (Ministry for Primary Industries) accredited abattoir so legally supplying some meat for the dinner at The Vineyard Bistro at Okurukuru. It was perfect!
Fiona Henchman
Kaitake Lowlines
Taranaki, New Zealand
Part of the Kaitake Lowline Stud herd thriving in nature under the careful watch of Mount Egmont, Taranaki
Premium Quality branded Kaitake Lowline Beef
New Zealand Lowlines 