Breeding for the Future
Breeding isn’t a short game and we are constantly evolving our business and our methods.
About Raroa Red Deer
Raroa’s first deer were purchased in 1987 and the property in July 1988. The original hinds were 1 st and 2 nd cross Warnham Park plus 10 imported Warnham Park hinds. They were sourced mainly from Stanfield and Neville Johnson’s Otuiti Lodge and from the dispersal of the Richmond Downs herd. Forty hinds were also bought from Peter Fraser mainly by his very good NZ sires but also Caeser, Romulus and Cavalier.
In the first two years the pure Warnham hinds were mated with Brian (Woburn) and then Shogun (Warnham) and the 1st and 2nd cross hinds with Warnham Taipan and our foundation sires.
The foundation sires were Warnhams George, Churchill, Bruce and “106” plus English Park “Brackles”, Hungarians were added a couple of years later. Our own bred Balfour, a son of Brian, Parnassus a son of Shogun and Hong a son of Churchill were also soon on the sire team.
Our History
Over the years we have bought top Warnham stags, Cambridge by Terry, Joseph and Jasper by Jonathon and Horsham by Ramasses. Joseph and Horsham were both out of Rose one of the most influential Warnham hinds. Esterhazy and full brother Ladro by Heinrich joined the Eastern group and Furzeland bloodlines were introduced through Saxon and Lester by Romulus and Hastings and Howard from Peel Forest. Goldie by Lotto was also bought and his 5.37kg of velvet at 2 is probably still a NZ record. Josh by Toray who was by Laszlo was also introduced.
Quality fully recorded hinds are a key component to a stud’s performance. We are one of the larger studs with 450 meticulously recorded hinds calving each year.
We introduce approximately 100 yearling hinds each year (20% of the breeding herd) which creates very high selection pressure within the herd. Key hinds and families have been identified and the hind herd’s performance is developing rapidly. Hind Y3 x George x Eastern Y41 has produced 5 sire sons including Esterhazy and Ladro. She is one of about a dozen key hinds. We have also bought in many hinds with top complimentary bloodlines.
In recent years we have used AI on 50 to 100 hinds to introduce top complimentary genetics.
