BREEDING QUALITY NOT NUMBERS

Location:

KMG Stud is located just outside the historic Central Hawke’s Bay village of Onga Onga which is off State Highway 50, about 15-20 minutes west of Waipukurau.

Situated on 40 hectares of flat fertile well-draining land, and divided by the Ongaonga stream, (a tributary of the Tukituki), which runs the length of the property, it is perhaps not where you would traditionally expect to find a stud farm breeding Angus cattle, Texel sheep, and the odd Thoroughbred race-horse. But then KMG Stud is not your traditional kind of stud farm either.

Background:

Originally Murray Grey breeders for over 10 years at Warkworth, north of Auckland, owners Rob Kent and his partner Vicki McLean relocated to Onga Onga at the start of 2018 after a 7 year “ retirement” in Rotorua, which saw Rob serve 2 terms as a councillor on Rotorua District Council. Boredom, and hankering for fresh-air, sunshine, and missing the healthy outdoor life working with animals won out.

Onga Angus:

Angus was the logical choice for the new location this time, and so Onga Angus stud was registered and foundation stock carefully selected and purchased as weaners: heifers from the Mangatara stud dispersal Seven Hills and Matauri blood-lines, and an outstanding young weaner bull of Ranui and Whaiwhero origin. All were picked for visual conformation and easy calving traits, and purchased as weaners just off their mothers to ensure docile easily handled animals once breeding age came around. No dogs or farm-bikes to round up cattle here – they come when called.

Diversification:

While waiting for the purebred stud stock to mature to breeding age a herd of quality Angus/Freisian cross calves was brought in from the Bay of Plenty, foundation stock for the second arm of KMG Stud’s breeding program which is based upon supplying top quality ¾ Angus weaners to life-style block owners who want to rear quality meat for the freezer but cannot justify the expense of pedigree Angus. These are marketed under the name “Boutique Beefies”, a name coined when the owners used the same strategy to very successfully market ¾ Murray Grey weaners to lifestylers when in Warkworth, building up a considerable repeat clientele very quickly.

Onga Texels:

Not content with just breeding Angus and Angus cross-breds, and needing something more than the owners’ character pet goat to undertake weed control around the yards and sheds, top quality Texel ewe lambs and a ram lamb were imported from Maple Genetics and Bell-View South Island studs, and Onga Texels came into being.

Today:

Four years on, and patience is being rewarded with top quality easily handled stock on the ground, and Onga Texel rams and surplus ewe lambs and hoggets already surpassing expectations and fetching top dollar.

The Boutique Beefies are proving very popular, and prove what a quality Angus bull can produce when put over a cross-bred with plenty of milk – the hybrid vigour being very evident. Visible proof to prospective breeders of what they can expect using Onga Angus sires.

Going Foreward:

Looking to the future, and to expand the bloodlines to move further towards future Angus of top overseas quality for conformation and easy calving, as well as growth rates, top Canadian semen has been used - the bull Hamilton Farms Alcatraz 60F. Our first young bulls by Alcatraz will be available later in the year.

We may be small, but obvious and demonstrable quality, not numbers, is what KMG Stud is all about.

You won’t see us mailing out glossy brochures and pages of highly controversial EBV figures like the big studs, but you will see the quality stock we have for sale on this website and are welcome to come and see for yourself by appointment.