Luporini's Angus Stud

Graziana and Franco Luporini have made the transition from living in the high pressure world of Milan to the rural lifestyle of Angus stud breeders in Canterbury. They’ve gone from farming novices to breeding and sale award winners in less than a decade.

Franco is originally from Tuscany and was a sales manager for Citibank. Graziana was in the Milan fashion business as a fashion model booking agent.

A family tragedy convinced them to take time out and come looking for a new life. A trip through the South Island in 1989 sparked the idea of living in NZ.

When Franco asked about land values he was told he could buy a farm running 3000 s/u for the same price as a tiny apartment on the outskirts of Milan. On the way home in the plane they decided to come back to NZ to live.

The couple and their oldest daughter Martina arrived in Canterbury in 1990.

In 1992 they found their farm at Glenroy, east of Windwhistle. It was 320ha of bare land with little infrastructure but great views of Mount Hutt.

The property was run down and needed water reticulation, shelter and fences….and a house.

The property was leased out for sheep farming until 1994, then dairy grazing until 1998. The Luporinis took on the grazers themselves to learn about pasture management and continued with the dairy cattle until 2003.

They say they listened to a lot of different people then came up with their own judgement.

The Luporinis are not interested in sheep farming or dairying. They are surrounded by dairy farms and apparently contemplated converting to dairying but Franco says they didn’t like either style of farming.

They started farming their own commercial Angus cows and in 2003 bought the Glenmark stud herd and decided to carry it on as the Farfield herd.

Their philosophy was to do the best they could – so they sourced the best breeding and genetics. They concentrated on carcass quality and cow efficiency.

They say they got good advice from a range of stud stock agents. Franco also discovered something of a flair for the stud business.

In 2006 they headed to a stud in Australia to improve their carcass genetics. That move has improved the standard of their stud cattle. One of the bulls resulting from the addition of Australian genetics – Farfield TM Modest 773 – went on to win the Champion Angus title and sell at the 2009 Beef Expo for the top price of $27,000.

Two other homebred bulls Farfield Bando 703 and Farfield Image Maker 702 also sold at the same Beef Expo, fetching $8500 and $5500.

The Farfield herd is estimated to be one of the top 10 herds in the country for carcass performance.

They’ve also run sales at the nearby Colgate saleyards.

The property runs around 100 stud cows and 250 commercial cattle.

They also run 50 sheep to groom pastures and grow cereal and feed crops.

The Luporinis are passionate about the potential for Angus grass-fed beef. Franco says the signals from the Asian market is that they prefer our beef. He says that unfortunately we don’t market it very well.

He says the US feedlot style should be a great advertisement for the NZ grassfed beef – the only sensible alternative.