Calm, quiet and a real looker.

As Arthur Beazley, past councillor of the NZ Red Devon Society pointed out  they are a remarkable breed with very adaptive qualities, that means they are now completely established within all the major beef producing nations.

Originally from the northern Hokianga, Arthur moved his herd to the East Coast in the early nineties. He is now established on a 700 acre farm near Matauri Bay. He is not organic, but he operates a ‘light’ application regime and is very wary of spraying for weed control.

Thistles are in part controlled by a herd of goats. Parts of the farm look frighteningly steep, particularly from the cab of a ute, but Arthur’s herd of around 120 animals seemed very at home.

Arthur has been handling Red Devons most of his life. Today he believes NZ is ideally placed to be the leading producer of the breed in the world. “They have to 600 days, the best growth of any breed I know,” he explained.

“I have experimented with several beef breeds, including Charolais, and the Red Devon still outstrips them all. Today I am regularly getting an average weight of 350/60 kg at 14 months for heifers, and my bulls will average 1.2/3kg increase per day over the first 600 days.”

Arthur has found a regular demand for his bulls throughout most of northern NZ, as farmers seek to improve the quality of their stock.

“It seems to be the shape of the animal that has improved birthing within dairy cows. Several of my bulls are out at present, and we have one youngster here who has produced 1000 straws of semen for both Australia and the USA.

“He is the kind of animal that the American producers in particular like as he is naturally polled. We are definitely selling into a growing trend there as there is a move against grain fed cattle in the belief that grasses fed animals are healthier.”

Bev Trowbridge believes that a breed that looks as good in the landscape as her Red Devons do, must have a lot going for it.

“Last winter,” Bev told Rural Living, “I noticed how badly pugged all the land up SH16 was from those great big beasts they keep.

“Here, by contrast, my medium sized animals did very little damage to the land. That is one of the big advantages of a smaller beef animal. They pug the slopes far less, and in this part of the world they will be on steep country, as they do well on less good quality feed.”

An ecologist by training and background, Bev is quite passionate about all her animals. She runs what she considers the best pasture management combination of cattle and sheep.

Not however just ordinary sheep – Wiltshires with curled horns the size of a small barrel, and the delightfully diverse Arapawas (you may remember Bev featured in the very first issue of Rural Living with her Arapawa flock).

“Wonderful fleeces and much in demand for their multi-colour.”

There is also a small flock of what she calls her ‘foible’ – Arapawa Goats that she got in to deal to the Gorse. Bev particularly likes Red Devon Cattle because they have a long association with Northland, as she explained to me.

“They are a triple use breed – milk, meat and draught. Because they are hardy and strong they were used to haul Kauri logs out of the forest. During the winter they were often turned loose into the bush to fend for themselves.

“Because they don’t need quantities of high-quality pasture they thrived. So they were among the very first breeds in the country, and their presence in Northland goes back to the very earliest settler days.”

The Red Devon is a docile breed, “very suitable for lady farmers like myself,” Bev said. As with any animal early in the cycle of life, the mothers can get feisty just after calving, but when Rural Living visited Muriwai Valley farm all were very peaceful. Most of the calves had been born in March, and the lush pasture the Mums’ were contentedly turning into milk, was a tribute to the skills of Bev’s organic management regime. “If the sward is thick enough then the thistles won’t get through. That is another advantage of a lighter weight breed on these poorer soils. They don’t compact the soil under the grass as heavily, and so it retains its natural structure.”

Arthur, Tuppy and Bev are all enthusiasts in the true sense about their animals.

“It sure isn’t just about profit,” Arthur said. “I take great pride in knowing these NZ bred animals are in demand throughout the world – in fact we aren’t meeting that demand as yet.

“The Red Devon is an early maturing beast that is ideal for the lifestyler for their docility, and magnificent anywhere for their marbled beef.