The cows at Wayne and Leeanne Taylor's aren't confined to a paddock. They are on the dining- room table (the tablecloth pattern is cows interspersed with bright yellow flowers) and cow-covered coasters sit in a rack down one end. Above, cows dangle from a mobile reports the Taranaki Daily. Framed photos of cows and paintings of cows line the walls. Shelves in the lounge are covered with cows of all shapes and sizes, a couple of them with long eyelashes and pretty frocks. The couple have been breeding Holstein Friesians for more than 20 years. Mr Taylor is vice president of the NZ Holstein Friesian Association and is a member of the Taranaki branch. The couple have continued with Holstein Friesians because of the good production and good protein. "There is an advantage in the payout for milking black and whites." The Taylors are 50/50 sharemilking 200 cows in Tikorangi and breeding is an "add on". Their stud is called Muritai, which means sea breeze, and many of their cattle have names beginning with the letter W. Milking comes first, but the money from the breeding comes in handy when the payout is down. "I like the challenge involved [with the breeding] and look forward to the next generation of cows." And he is happy they have now bred a bull good enough to go back into the system for the benefit of the New Zealand industry, he says. One of their bulls, Muritai Talent Warrior, is being marketed overseas. "It is very exciting. They just think he's a nice fit for the commercial guys over there. It's not often New Zealand bulls are released and used over there. We still own him and have a financial interest in the bull." New Zealand is grass-based, so the genetics are different to what they have in Australia, Mr Taylor says. Warrior's sire is Ladino Park Talent, the first Australian bull to sell a million doses of semen worldwide. Warrior graduated as a proven sire for artificial breeding company Semex as a result of a joint venture with the New Zealand Holstein Friesian Association.
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