On Farm Story
28 FARMERS WEEKLY – farmersweekly.co.nz – July 16, 2018
Frustration leads to success John Falconer makes something of an understatement describing his Central Otago deer farm business as diverse. Neal Wallace visits the Falconers’ Clachanburn Station in the Maniototo, and a farmer who says he is benefiting from two generations of careful deer breeding.
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HE stencilled 1988 on a shed wall at Clachanburn Station in Central Otago is more than a piece of graffiti or a casual reference to a year last century. It marks the year John Falconer’s parents, Charles and Jane, started progressively replacing sheep with deer on the property near Patearoa in the Maniototo Basin. For the family that date signifies much more: an historic reference to how each of the previous two generations to farm the property created the legacy of a sustainable business for future generations. Today Clachanburn covers 2600ha and runs 6200 deer with Elk and Red stud herds, terminal sires, specialist venison and velvet finishing herds and a trophy hunting block. The station also includes the 300ha Loganburn farm, a finishing property on river flats in the Styx Valley south of the home block. John Falconer said his parents made the bold decision to move to deer and astutely decided to use the best genetics they could find. Clachanburn was settled in 1920 by Charles and Dorothy Aitchison as Run 624 when Puketoi Station was subdivided for ex-servicemen. The name Clachanburn is Gaelic for Stoney Creek, which
flows through the farm. Laurie Falconer worked for the Aitchisons and when he returned to Maniototo after serving in WWII he bought an adjacent farm. In 1959 with wife Marj, they bought Clachanburn from the widowed Dorothy Aitchison, eventually establishing Hereford, Merino and half-bred studs. Their son Charles married Jane (nee Roberts) in 1971 and took over the farm in 1977, introducing irrigation, developing the hill country then switching to deer out of frustration with the sheep industry. John Falconer said his father saw parallels for deer in the cattle industry, specifically the need for terminal sires, a role he saw for Elk. “Dad saw an opportunity in the very early days with what exotic cattle were doing for beef finishing operations,” he said. He sourced dual-purpose genetics from noted breeders Foveran Deer Park and John Barber, focused on meat production and a style of antler that suited both velveting and trophy hunting. The development programme started in the 1980s has today extended to 230km of deer fencing. Falconer took over what was then a 700ha farm in 1997, by which stage all the sheep were gone though some beef remained but were soon sold. Clachanburn today has grown to a much larger but balanced property over two farms. The main station runs from fertile basin flats 450m above sea level to 1000m asl on the rugged Rough Ridge. Loganburn is about 500m above sea level. Falconer recently branched into
PRODUCTIVE: Clachanburn Station, Maniototo, Central Otago.
Red deer as an investment for the future, buying Dave and Chrissie Mackie’s Antler and Views Red Deer stud from Kaikoura. The herd will supply stock for velvet, stud and terminal stags and improve genetics for his hunting block. Today Clachanburn runs 700 stud Elk cows, 300 Red stud hinds, 1600 commercial Red hinds, 120 rising two-year-old Elk bulls, 110 rising three-year-old Elk bulls, 100 Elk bulls aged four to seven, 40 sire bulls, 400 Red velveting stags, 600 stud Elk weaners, 250 stud Red weaners, 1500 hybrid weaners and 600 bought-in yearlings for trading. His biggest Elk bull weighs 570kg. Elk cows kill out at average between 120kg and 130kg and
yearling bulls at 100kg. The station operates as the main breeding and wintering block with Loganburn running 400 velveting stags and each year finishing 2000 animals for venison. Most of those are the progeny from 1600 Red hinds mated to Elk bulls, which are trucked to Loganburn in March and killed from October to December averaging 62.5kg. They are joined by about 250 weaner Red stags from the stud herd, out of which trophy stags are selected and culls killed for venison. Elk bulls average 8kg of velvet and Reds 5kg. The size of Elk has deterred some from using the breed but
SPECIMEN: An Elk bull on Clachanburn Station, Maniototo.
I am taking an animal worth venison value and turning it into something worth a lot of money. John Falconer Clachanburn Falconer said a combination of loyal customers and a history of breeding for temperament, growth, antler style and constitution make the breed easier to work with. He described Elk as intelligent and sensible. “A lot of big bulls are naturally dominant and you can’t completely get rid of that. If they get submissive you can have problems with mating.” Falconer said Elk demand respect but he and his staff have few problems. Breeding has created larger animals. He recalls three-year-old Elk at 300kg when he started. Now he has animals that age averaging 400kg. He has introduced single-sire mating, artificial insemination and progeny testing to the stud herds to improve genetic gain. The 700 Elk cows are mated in 18 mobs and 300 Red hinds are also fully recorded and singlesire mated with DNA testing to confirm parentage. “We find AI a very good way to evaluate quality females we purchase and to acquire the male genetics we want.” The focus of the Red breeding programme is body confirmation and antler style, especially as he is adding Reds to his hunting block.