Teviot Valley sheep and beef farmer Jimmy Hill. Photo / Shawn McAvinue
Sheep and beef farmer Jimmy Hill has launched a Simmental stud in Teviot Valley. He talks to Southern Rural Life’s Shawn McAvinue about the steep learning curve up to hosting his inaugural annual bull sale and his excitement for the future on his family farm The Gums.
Sheep and beef farmer Jimmy Hill is adding “another string to his bow” in Teviot Valley.
When Lone Pine Simmental stud owners Dave and Kath Keown sold most of their 1600ha farm in Raes Junction for forestry, Dave Keown called Hill to gauge his interest in buying his stud cows.
“I thought, oh yeah,” Hill said in his usual low-key manner.
Hill bought 70 in-calf cows from Keown in 2021 and launched Hill Valley Simmentals stud on his 2000ha farm The Gums, in Teviot.
“It’s another string to the bow ... it’s exciting, I enjoy the cattle work, and I’m looking forward to carrying it on and producing good animals.”
He was confident if he produced bulls he liked then the buyers would come.
“It’s enjoyable.”
Since buying the cows, he had extended and improved the cattle yards on his farm.
In the yards, he held the inaugural Hill Valley Simmentals annual bull sale late last month.
He sold seven of the 14 bulls on offer, with a top price of $6000.
“Being new to it, it was a bit of a learning curve.”
A lot of people attended the sale, including former Lone Pine clients, and gave him plenty of positive feedback about his bulls.
A future plan for the stud was to build a bull-selling arena on-farm.
To further improve the genetics of the herd, he had bought two stud bulls and semen from Kerrah Simmentals in northern Hawke’s Bay in recent years.
The appeal of the Kerrah bulls was them being homozygous for the polled gene.
A bull that is homozygous polled will sire 100 per cent polled calves no matter what a cow’s horn status was, he said.
Traditionally, the beef breeding on his farm was to put an Angus bull over Hereford cows to produce black calves with a white face.
“Which were all good - that cross gave them the hybrid vigour.”
The appeal of the Simmental breed was how meaty the animal was, featuring plenty of fat and muscle, and its ability to hit weight targets early.
“I thought we’d give them a run.”
He had bought some Simmental bulls from Lone Pine Simmentals at its 25 annual sales before calling time.
His late father Richard Hill bought The Gums in 1980.
Born and raised on the farm, Jimmy worked across the South Island before moving to Australia.
He moved across the Ditch, after answering an advertisement in a New Zealand rural publication seeking a club rugby player in Australia.
In Australia, he did a mix of jobs, including a door-to-door salesman, furniture removal and as a shearer.
He returned home to take over the farm in 2010.
Farm improvements during his tenure include increasing the irrigated area to 100ha and putting weight on lambs quicker so they could be sent away earlier.
In his house sits a trophy for some of his wool from his Romney flock.
The price for strong wool was a “crying shame”.
“I’m passionate about wool.”
Farm life was shared with his partner Laurie and their children Regan (14) and Bella (11).
His stepson Joshua (22) shared his passion for cattle and he hoped he would one day be involved in the stud operation.
Dry conditions in January and February had made for a tough summer on the farm.
Autumn had been really good, with plenty of rain and heat to bolster grass growth and the winter crops of fodder beet, kale and swedes.
“We rely on autumn and we haven’t had one for five or six years.”