Meadowslea Angus Bull Sale

• Bid on-farm or online with Yourbid. See the Meadowslea website for details.

Meadowslea Angus Stud was established in 1985 with the purchase of 6 capital stock heifers from the well-known Turihaua Stud north of Gisborne. We have steadily expanded ever since to meet strong demand for bulls from the hill-country market we target – our belief is that an animal must first and foremost be suitable for the environment in which it is run.

With the lease and purchase of neighbouring properties over the last 10 years we have taken the opportunity to increase the stud cow numbers further, and this year mated a total of 730 stud females. The demand for our bulls has steadily increased with 170 bulls sold at auction in 2025. With 230 bull calves born in 2024 the bar has been very high to make the 2026 sale team and we this is definitely reflected in the quality of this catalogue.

Selection criteria are for easy fleshing, moderate framed cattle, with plenty of meat and adequate fat cover, that will shift and perform in the South Island hill-country. Sires used are all NZ bred with real emphasis placed on the maternal and fertility traits as well as structural soundness. Over the last 15 years our cows have grazed on Steve and Sue Kerr’s neighbouring Berkley Downs property, on native tussock blocks to an altitude of over 2500 feet. Wintering without supplements through adverse conditions has further tested their hardiness and constitution, and clearly shown us the type that suits our country and even more importantly our clients’ properties.

As you read this catalogue it will become clear that the animals that perform the best in our environment are of a similar type – strong rib fat levels drive our programme forward for two reasons. Rib fat is strongly linked to fertility, early puberty and the ability to calve early and re-breed early over a lifetime. Secondly, it is the energy store the females use to get through the feed shortages and extended stress periods all too common in this harsh environment. It is significant that the average rib fat EBV of all the bulls on offer is +2.3, ranking them in the top 25% for the breed in Australasia.

Very dry conditions in inland Canterbury through early 2024 served as a stark reminder of the type of cattle needed to perform in tough environments. It was the thick deep bodied easy doing cows and heifers with plenty of fat that held their condition and continued to milk and wean good calves – the old adage that it is the fat on the cows back that determines the weight of her calf has never been truer!

At Meadowslea all yearling heifers are mated. In 2024 we had 227 stud heifers born and we mated almost all as yearlings in 7 different mobs selected on pedigree, performance, and type. The result was a 97% conception rate and is a huge endorsement of the emphasis we place on the key fertility and maternal traits that are the main drivers of profitability in any beef herd. The performance of our young genetics is again leading the progress within the herd, with over 50% of the bulls in this catalogue either sired by yearling bulls or out of 2-year heifers.

The key fertility trait of Days to Calving measures how soon cows calve after the bull is introduced, with shorter values reflecting a higher likelihood of being in-calf in the first cycle. The bulls in this catalogue average -4.9 days, which is in the top 30% of the breed. The other important maternal traits of calving ease, scrotal size, and milk are also generally at very high levels throughout the catalogue. High-growth females do not work well in our hill-country environment and over time they have failed to perform and so have dropped out of the herd. Consequently, bulls with excessive high growth do not feature in this catalogue.

Our proven senior sires, Turihaua Crump, Meadowslea F540, and Meat Machine G914, were all breed trait leaders for the fertility traits of calving ease, or short days to calving, and now all rank in the top 1% of the new Angus NZ Body Condition Score (BCS). The mixes of these bloodlines within the bulls in this catalogue offer very exciting options for improving profitability in our clients’ herds. The $81,000 Kincardine Rainstorme is again the feature sire with 12 sons on offer, 10 of which were used in the stud as yearlings, and offer exciting performance.

Meadowslea clients find our moderate-framed, early-maturing, easy-doing cattle prime up quickly, and are easily finished to grade and marble at a young age enabling them to meet the very attractive market premiums now available for prime Angus beef.

With a total of 21 pieces of data now presented in catalogues, this can be a bewildering array of numbers for most commercial farmers and indeed stud breeders. We encourage clients to look primarily at the Self-Replacing Index in the first instance. We have found this to be a very useful tool for distilling this array of figures into a useful framework that reflects genuine profitability in NZ hill country conditions, and it is the primary metric we use for selecting and comparing cattle ourselves.

Meadowslea retain semen rights for in-herd use only on all bulls catalogued, unless by arrangement.

All bulls on offer will undergo Beef Class Structural Assessment inspection and the scores for the individual lots will be published online and be available in hard copy on sale day.

All Meadowslea bulls come with a 3-year guarantee, and we stand behind them 100%.

Stud Transfers - Any bulls sold for stud transfer will be at a minimum price of $15,000.

Bulls are available for viewing any-time pre-sale – just call 027 229 9760 to make a time that suits.

We look forward to seeing you at Meadowslea, or joining us online, at 3pm on Wednesday June 17th 2026.

Regards,

David Giddings

Hazlett Booking Agents

Hamish Zuppicich - 027 403 3025

Callum Dunnett - 027 462 0126

Travis Dalzell - 027 202 0196

Craig Buckley - 027 561 4652

Greg Shearer - 027 476 6769

Nick Anderson - 021 223 7997