A brand of pure quality

Old Jock was the first Aberdeen angus bull to come to New Zealand, in the late 1800s. Today, there are plenty of black cattle, and marketing their beef is a big deal. JILL GALLOWAY talked with Guy Sargent, who owns half of the Angus Pure brand.

Guy Sargent, half-owner of the Angus Pure brand, says their early research showed that a quarter of people did not enjoy their steak.

"Out of 20 people having a steak meal, it meant that five had a bad experience," Mr Sargent says.

He wanted to change that, with guaranteed consistency and tenderness.

Mr Sargent launched Angus Pure, a brand that is all about getting the taste right every time. He also owns 50 per cent of it. The Angus Association owns the other half.

Beef cuts have to meet genetic and tenderness specifications to receive the brand.

Wholesalers buy into the brand and are licensed to use it. That's where the money comes from.

Whether it's steak or branded Angus Pure mince, "customers want to know more about what they're buying and where it has come from", Mr Sargent says.

He started farming with his father John, at Opiki.

Both were entrepreneurs, and got into embryo transplants in conjunction with Massey University.

"We were the first people in Australasia to start. It was the early 1970s, and was mainly exotic cattle such as simmental, limousin and charolais."

The cattle were imported live. Embryos were surgically extracted, then put into recipient cattle.

Most of the resulting progeny went to Australia, where live cattle from Europe were not allowed, Mr Sargent says.

The Sargent father and son team went on to embryo transfers in deer and goats during the boom years of the 1980s.

Then the business in New Zealand focused on holstein friesians in the dairy business and angus cattle in beef.

"We flushed some cows to get eggs, which were put with expensive imported semen. And those embryos were transplanted into surrogates."

The Opiki-based business moved away from surgery towards more non-invasive embryo transplants, and the relationship with Massey ended.

"Eggs were flushed and removed using catheters. The embryos were implanted, and that was non-surgical. We employed our own vets."

From 1984, Mr Sargent went to the United States to find the right bulls each year.

"With angus, the US had bigger cattle, and the feeling here was New Zealand angus needed more size."

That drove embryo transplants and, later, semen.

"There weren't the breed value figures, things like the scans of muscle area we have now," Mr Sargent says.

Technology moved on and the business became one of semen imports – which meant less reliance on transplant technology.

"We would buy a bull in the US. We'd leave him there and collect semen."

The business sold 10 times more angus semen than anyone else, Mr Sargent says.

In 1984, he decided he needed to focus on one breed, and angus was where he thought the future lay.

He maintained links with American angus breeders, and the size of the gene pool was a big attraction.

"They had 20 times as many angus registered as we did in New Zealand. The US was seen as being at the forefront of the industry."

As well as bringing American angus genetics to New Zealand, Mr Sargent saw an angus brand in action.

"The Johnston family in Ohio started the Certified Angus brand. It went under a few times before it finally broke even 10 years after the first launch."

The Angus Society in the US got behind it. But although there was a commercial prerogative, judging in the show ring still won breeder accolades.

"Then it was all about what did well in the show ring. It was about eye evaluation. In fact, it was all selection by eye. Buyers and breeders couldn't check muscle size and meat yield unless the bull had been killed."

Then in the 1990s came scans. This meant bulls could be selected on more comparable data and their genetics known.

"In the US, most beef cattle are finished in feedlots and they are selected for that. But I thought the same principles related to cattle we have here," Mr Sargent says. "Tender beef is in the cattle genetics and the management, before and after slaughter."

When is comes to Angus Pure, Mr Sargent is quick to talk about others and praise their support.

"John Turner from Whangarei was the president of the New Zealand Angus Association when the brand was launched here, and he was very supportive. There has been full support from the chief executives and the presidents."

It was all about getting beef out of the "commodity bins" so people could buy by brand and know they were getting tender beef, Mr Sargent says.

"Angus Pure and Hereford Prime were launched about the same time. They were both about having a quality mark."

Angus Pure means royalties, which are earned when wholesalers pay for the brand.

As well as his Angus Pure brand link, Mr Sargent owns the Aberdeen Steakhouse in Palmerston North. It used to be the Bath House, but 18 months ago, it became a steakhouse.

"We started off offering a wide range of beef – wagyu and grain-fed beef as well as Angus Pure.

Everyone loved the angus. We couldn't guarantee the quality of the other meat, so six months ago, we wiped them and just have Angus Pure meat now."

The wine list includes Old Jock, named after the first Aberdeen angus bull to arrive on New Zealand's shores. It is a pinot noir from Central Otago.

- © Fairfax NZ News