Ashgrove - The Farm
Ashgrove is a 600 hectare sheep and beef property situated 55km west of Whangarei. The farm enjoys a long stream fed valley with 30 hectares of flats with some medium hill. The remaining 70% of the property is some of Northland's steepest hill country and receives on average 1800mm of rain per year. The perfect environment to breed and test hard hill country genetics.
The Matauri Angus stud herd is run alongside 1100 commercial Coopworth ewes.
The 200 Matauri Angus stud cows are run commercially, and expected to work. These are a moderate sized hill country Angus cow that are very hardy, achieve good performance and fantastic for their maternal traits such as birth weight and gestation length. Cows and heifers get in calf easily and have good temperament. Structurally they are very strong and Matauri Angus genetics are renown for shifting well. Bulls are grown out on the easier country post weaning to achieve suitable sale weights. Two bull sales are held - a Rising 2-year Old Bull Sale in June and a Low Birth Weight Yearling Sale in September. Surplus females are sold to other studs and discerning commercial farmers.
Innovation and environmental stewardship are important elements of the Hard Hill Country Genetics ethos. In partnership with Ballance Agri-Nutrients, the property was one of ten demonstration farms nationwide pioneering SpreadSmart variable fertiliser application via a plane. Hard Hill Country Genetics is also working with the Kaipara Moana Remediation to improve waterways as part of the businesses focus on environmental stewardship.
The farm business was also the first Halter Base beef farm internationally using virtual fencing and quickly moving to commercial scale across the farm. This is an amazing piece of technology enabling precision grazing across steep hill country. Frequently the farm team have hosted groups interested in this exciting ground breaking technology. You can read some of the blogs describing the launch of Halter on farm here.
The Hard Hill Country Genetics Team
Hard Hill Country Genetics is owned by three families - James and Janine Parsons, Chris and Hayley Parsons and Travis Pymm. Chris Parsons chairs the farm board, James oversees the business as Managing Director, and Travis is the Farm Manager looking after daily operations assisted by Stock Manager Dan Keay and General Hand Bryce Hunter.
Growing up in a family of 6 children Chris and James were raised in the North Hokianga on their family farm. Which James and Janine later purchased and farmed through to 2013, whilst Chris and Hayley pursued a military and teaching career, Chris becoming a senior army officer. In 2014, assisted by family friends the two couples purchased Ashgrove, originally 478 ha's which increased to 600 ha's in 2020 with the purchase of an adjacent neighbouring block.
After graduating from Lincoln University with a Diploma in Farm Management James went onto become a professional shearer, then moved into farm management and ownership. Along with overseeing Hard Hill Country Genetics, he also works as a farm consultant with AgFirst Northland. James is an experienced company director having held several roles in the primary and electricity sectors. He currently serves on the board of OSPRI and Lincoln University. James is a 2008 Nuffield Farming Scholar and was a Beef + Lamb New Zealand director then Chairman from 2009 to 2018, also serving on the New Zealand Meat Board.
Chris currently works as the General Manager Commercial for MyFarm. He started his professional career with the New Zealand Defence Force, culminating as a senior army officer. His tenure included 13 years in the New Zealand Special Forces. Holding numerous postings overseas in various military roles. After retiring from the NZ Army in 2020 he led the New Zealand Rural Leadership Trust as CEO based in Christchurch, before taking up his current role with MyFarm.
Hayley is a qualified teacher and more recently a health coach. She currently works full time as the Officer Manager for a south Auckland school. Janine is a registered nurse and lactation consultant working in Whangarei.
Travis moved to NZ seven years ago from California and embraced Kiwi life. Managing a drystock farm in the Far North before joining the Hard Hill Country Genetics team in 2020 as manager. 2021 was a big year for Travis, when he became a shareholder in Hard Hill Country Genetics and welcomed the birth of his first born son Sawyer.
Hard Hill Country Genetics is governed by a Board of directors with quarterly board meetings. It was established as a farming company by the shareholders with the motto:
“Excellence through partnership”
We believe the pursuit of excellence is a never ending journey.
The Hard Hill Country Genetics team are driven by a desire to get a little better each day. We believe that benefits and potential for excellence is multiplied when we partner with others and seek to multiply value with and for them.
In addition to partnering with sheep and beef farmers, our philosophy is to sell only the best bulls to clients. We do this by putting the stud animals through their paces on hard hill country in Northland and by using a rigorous culling regime.
