Lifestyler title belies business success

Two Ahuroa women have defied labelling of lifestyle blocks as “unproductive”, by turning their 10.5 hectares into the base for not one, but four, successful business enterprises.

Like most lifestyle block holders, Karyn Maddren and Susan Meszaros both have full time jobs, in addition to managing the property.  However, both choose their sheep stud, Streamland Suffolk, as their preferred occupation.

The pair decided to develop the stud 10 years ago, transforming a small flock into a specialised breeding programme which currently boasts close to 200 Suffolk and Suffolk-cross ewes and lambs, grazed partly on leased land.

The project fits well with Susan’s geneticist qualifications and past experience of sheep breeding in Canada. She says Suffolks  are 30 to 40 percent bigger than some breeds, making them good for meat production, but they have also been chosen for their distinctive, stately looks, moderate fleece and good nature. 

“They’re very good mothers and milkers, and often have twins,” she says.
Initially targeting a market of lifestylers, they were pleasantly surprised by the popularity of the black faced rams.

“We’ve had no trouble selling rams. They go like hotcakes.”

With a PhD in animal breeding, Susan is managing director of a sophisticated global mate selection system, TGRM, used in New Zealand by Ambreed and others. She is also a partner with two Australians in FeedXL, an award-winning horse nutrition software.

With no cellphone coverage at the property, her work is largely reliant on their wired broadband connection, but Susan says it’s no obstacle to success and she currently works almost entirely from home, liaising with colleagues and customers in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

The internet and sites like Trademe, also form a key part of the marketing and communications for their stud and their newly developed business, Ahuroa Feed, centered around the Pryde’s EasiFeed range of horse feeds. They also sell hay and straw and do horse diet analysis using FeedXL.

As part owner of an optical laboratory, Karyn combines regular commuting to Albany with her share of the animal management duties. Weekends involve a multitude of stud-related jobs and there are also regular daily chores, which currently include bottle feeding a number of lambs. The process is kept economical and nutritious by hand-milking two Saanen goats twice a day (and sometimes more) to produce around eight litres of milk.

Their menagerie also includes two dogs, numerous ducks, chickens and a goose, rescued as a gosling and now bonded with a ewe that it won’t let out of its sight.

Success of their current ventures has seen the pair recently purchase a nearby 68ha Ahuroa property where they expect to eventually increase their flock to include more than 300 pure-bred ewes. They also envisage open days to help others to master basic flock management skills.

Susan cautions lifestylers against buying breeding stock from saleyards, where it’s hard to tell if you’re buying someone else’s problems, like animals prone to disorders, or poor at lambing or mothering. Breeders, on the other hand, keep records of their animals and have their reputation at stake, she says.

Susan and Karyn score their lambs from birth, collecting birth weights on lambs and rating the ewes for mothering ability. They take saliva samples to test for resistance to worms and DNA tests for susceptibility to foot rot and survival ability, crucial traits for flock health.

However, there’s no secret to successfully juggling their multiple roles, which basically comes down to hard work.

“If you love doing it, you just have to be really well organised.”