Fluke – Breeder comment
Submitted by Jim Montgomerie
As the breeder and owner of Ngaio Hugo Fluke, there is some irony in the emergence of this sire. He was the last bull calf we kept before dispersing our herd in 2003, and he is named “Fluke”!
A sense of humour is required in the animal breeding business. When I was involved, an attempt in our operation included trying to develop young bulls for progeny testing, with only varying success.
My recollection is that other AB organisations declined him as a progeny test candidate, but Liberty Genetics were prepared to give him a spin. Sire selection analysts are charged with an unenviable job.
Fluke’s background is predominately NZ. His sire, Hugo is 95% NZ and his Skelton dam descends via a Turepo Gold Bryce cow, from two lines of Prefect.
Fluke’s dam, Ngaio Skelton Flake, now classified Excellent for Tim and Kate Button of Port Molyneux Dairies Ltd, was a cowman’s delight – first cow onto the platform, fast milker and perfect temperament. She sold at our dispersal for a rather modest $2000. Her top performance here was as a four year old, with 353 kg MS and 273 LW.
Her daughter Gerris Flake, a VG two year old, has a BW 147 in the South Island.
We hope that with more two year old daughters this spring, the reliability of his current BW 232 will improve. His NZMI is a creditable 266.
There are five Fluke daughters here in our son’s herd, with fifteen more to come next autumn. They are average size only. A fertility BV of minus one, against a breed average (for bulls) of minus five, is a pleasing aspect as like most farmers and breeding organisations we’ve been working on this. Early information on farmer opinion and TOP are encouraging.
Bovine improvement is an intriguing business. It will be interesting to see if this sire has a small part to play.
(Fluke is now marketed by AmBreed NZ Ltd)
