Science & Technology

You can’t argue with science…

At Totaranui we’ve been utilising the most up to date technology available, for as long as we can remember. We’ve been weighing cattle at birth in the hills for over 35 years and we were one of the first to start using HD50k genomic testing across the entire Angus herd, not just the sale bulls.

Our young animals are run in large contemporary groups, which allows the true outliers to stand out from their age group peers.

An EBV defines an animal’s genetic merit for any particular trait and removes the distraction of any non-genetic influences on it’s appearance (environmental influences) or the performance of an animal. We strongly encourage our clients to utilise the EBVs and indexes available on all our animals when selecting bulls.

As well as growth and maternal traits, our Angus programme has a high focus on EMA and IMF for the sires we select and our ultrasound scanning results validate our selections. They are proof that the science behind EBVs has indeed, been improving our herd, year on year.

All Totaranui females except the heifers, are put through two rounds of fixed time artificial insemination, with sires sourced from the USA, New Zealand and Australia. AI allows us to utilise the best new sires available each year and for this same reason, we use our own young sires as the follow up bulls in most cases. Given how early we mate (calving end of July), we are only able to AI some of our heifers, with the rest being put to the best of our yearling bulls.

Within New Zealand there is a Sire Verification requirement on all bulls sold, however at Totaranui we go one step further, with full Parent Verification on all progeny born since 2021. We are currently working to PV all animals born prior to 2021 also, which gives our clients greater peace of mind when buying.

We have aligned ourselves with Angus Australia because they have a big focus on research and development — Angus Australia is focused on supporting the genetic improvement of Angus cattle. Their angus.tech suite includes a range of software tools and technologies, such as Angus SELECT, which has been developed to support you in improving the profitability of Angus genetics within the beef supply chain, by assisting with the identification of those genetics that are most aligned with your breeding goals and objectives.