Stewart Anderson grew up just out of Otorohanga, the Waikato, on his dad's farm. Anderson wanted to stay in the dairy farm industry but did not wish to take over the farm after his dad, as it was located on steep terrain. He decided to buy land on the other side of the road instead. Here, the terrain was flatter and more suitable for how he wanted to create his dream dairy farm. He now runs the Arkan farm of 450 cows and the Arkan stud with his wife Kathryn, and their staff Shaun and his wife Jenny, Caitlyn and Andrew.
In the Arkan stud, the couple has used a spectacular breeding program that has led them to breed a large number of premier sires over the last two decades, one of these bulls being San Ray FM Beamer ET S2F, known as Beamer. He was a premier sire from 2015 to 2020, and had 1 million straws in AB. In addition to that, there have been around 4 million inseminations in the national herd from the Arkan stud. Their herd on the Arkan farm has always been or close to being the number one herd with the highest breeding worth (BW) in the country.
The Arkan stud has been working extensively with Samen NZ Ltd for several years. In the newest Samen NZ breeding guide 2024-2025, you will find the number 1 BW sire Arkans Achievement and multiple other sires that comes from great cow families. Samen NZ offers Arkans FD Front Runner, a polled maternal brother to Achievement along with Arkans IP Freedom who is an Achievement son. Arkans BreakFree; Maternal brother of Arkan IP Freedom.
Other sires coming from the Andersons herd include Global Future Direction Pp, Arkans New Leader and Arkans Amplify all coming from top NZ cow families. Every one of these sires live up to the standards that are set by both Stewart Anderson and the genetics team at Samen NZ who focus on selecting sires to maximise genetic gain for the NZ dairy industry.
Multiple breeding companies around New Zealand have contracts with Stewart Anderson and the Arkans stud, as they also see the great quality of the cows and sires that are being bred here.
Breeding Values in the Arkan Stud
The Andersons’ goal with breeding is to create animals that will benefit the national herd. Their goal is to breed cows with good udders and a good body, a cow that gets in calf and produces well. When they breed sires it's important that there is a good cow family behind him, and their goal is to keep that family as good as possible. They strive to breed for profitability, production and farmer opinions.
For Samen NZ, it is very important to invest in the future and keep up with what is happening around the world to bring new ideas to the New Zealand farmers. They strive for environmental sustainability and improved animal welfare in dairy production. While striving to do this they also keep the farmers in mind and search for qualities that the NZ farmer seeks; overall health, having good udders with high production and keeping conception rates high, says Craig Mckimmie, head of the genetics department.
Samen NZ selects the best bulls on the market to present for the New Zealand farmers, whether that is NZ bred sires or sires from all over the world. They always have the farmer in mind.
The Golden Bull Calf
Stewart and Kathryn Anderson were on holiday up in North visiting Daniel and Freya Lynch whom the Andersons are good friends with. Daniel and Freya are the proud owners of the Lynches farm where they breed Jerseys.
The couple mentioned that one of their cows, Freydan Gem Bracelet, had had a son. Naturally, Stewart went over to see the calf. When he saw the little golden bull calf, he felt like this bull was going to be something great. The Andersons bought him on the spot and named him Arkans Achievement.
The Number 1 BW Sire
Arkans Achievement has been used for natural mating on heifers since he was bought by the Andersons. When he was 3 years old, they started using him for cows only and no heifers. In autumn mating 2023, Stewart started using Arkans Achievement for natural mating. While mating these cows and handling such a big bull, Stewart and Caitlyn noticed how well-behaved Achievement was. “We would open the gate to the cows, and he would walk straight in, do what he needed to do, and walk out again. He never stepped a foot wrong” says Stewart. He was amazed by how good of a temperament this bull had.
They mated 25 cows to Achievement, 23 of the cows got in calf and 18 heifers were born. “These are the same results we would have gotten if we had used sexed semen, it was amazing” says Kathryn when talking about their first-time using Achievement.
His staff Shaun handles the cows daily and takes care of the milking with Andrew. In the 21 years, that Shaun has worked with cows, these heifers have been the easiest to break in. It didn't take them long to be comfortable with the rotary and they are easy to handle just like Achievement himself is.
When they did a herd test, they found that the daughters of Achievement were quite amazing, and the results where unbelievable. The somatic cell count was as low as 3 on some of the animals and didn't go above 12. This is when Stewart decided that he wanted to breed a quarter of his herd with Achievement in the spring mating season. He has once before mated his whole herd with only two bulls, and both those bulls came out to be the sire of the century in the respective breeds, and he was confident that Achievement would be just as good.
He then proceeded to mate 25% of his herd with Achievement during the spring mating season of 2023. After he had mated his cows with Achievement, he saw the BW skyrocket, and suddenly Achievement was number 3 on animal evaluation and before he could take in the good news, he was number 1. Achievement has now been the number one BW bull since January 2024 and is still at number one after the latest run in April 2024.
The genetics team at Samen NZ recognised that Arkans Achievement had the qualities they were looking for in their breeding programs and made a deal with Stewart Anderson in spring 2023, prior to him being the bull with the Highest BW. His daughters were showing extreme production and high component percentages, while also being very fertile, having low somatic cell count and very good udders. There was no doubt, farmers needed a chance to use him in the mating season of 2024.
The Dam of Achievement
Freydan Gem Bracelet was born in 2013 and gave birth to Arkans Achievement in 2018 when she was 5 years old. She was bred by the Lynch family, but the Andersons bought her and her son Achievement. She has always been an all-round good cow who has been high performing. She comes from a good cow family who has contributed to the breeding of some very good sires. Other than being the dam of the number 1 BW sire, she is also the Granddam of the number 1 genomic bull at a different genetics company.
She is now 11 years old and is still in the top 30% of the Andersons herd. “She has a lactation worth of 753 which makes her number 17 in our herd, her production worth sits at 589 and her breeding worth is 486,” says Stewart as he checks the data of their herd with 450 cows.
Lifelong Dream Coming True
Stewart Anderson certainly has a passion for cows and knows how to build a herd of high quality. He loves his job and every aspect of it. He always strives to breed better cows and add value to the New Zealand dairy industry. Although he has had great success with all his premier sires throughout the years, nothing beats being the owner of the number 1 BW bull, and Bracelet the dam, who has not only bred Achievement but also plays a very important role in the breeding of other great sires from the Arkan stud.
Stewart Anderson himself would say that this is his greatest Achievement.
