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World famous Fresians, Welburn Stud, Doyleston
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TitleWorld famous Fresians, Welburn Stud, Doyleston
DescriptionWhen E.C. (Ted) Sunckell arrived at his ballot farm in Doyleston, on New Years’ eve 1929, no one was to know the influence that he and the Welburn Friesian Stud would have on the New Zealand dairy industry.
After as he described it, ”existing”, through the years of the depression and the war he bought his first four pedigree cows in 1946, two of them coming from the herd of Len Leslie.
These cows classified Very Highly Commended and Highly Commended formed the base of the Welburn herd that would go on to supply the New Zealand Dairy Board (now LIC) 39 bulls over a 30-year period and significantly influenced not just New Zealand dairy genetics but pastoral dairy genetics worldwide.
The Herd Improvement Plan of 1939 addressed a need highlighted in research, of the 60,000 dairy sires in use for the dairy cow population of 1.7m, 20% improved, 33% maintained while 39% actually lowered production.
With this in mind and the encouragement of his son, Jim, who had just completed a Diploma of Agriculture at Lincoln College, Ted embraced artificial breeding and the genetic gain that was possible.
Ted’s and the Welburn influence had its first success when he teamed up with Hector MacIntosh of the Dairy Board, to persuade John Grigg of Longbeach to make his bull, Terling Brabazon, available to the New Zealand Dairy Board bull team.
John Grigg had sent his daughter to England in 1950 with the instruction to purchase the best bull available.
This she did, purchasing Terling Brabazon as a day-old calf for 1000 guineas. With all that he had invested in the bull and the proven productive value coming through, John was very reluctant to sell, but was finally convinced by Ted and Hector.
Terling Brabazon 116 was the first imported bull to become a Premier Sire, and is an iconic breeding bull having influenced many many herds and breading programmes and was inducted into the LIC’s Hall of Fame.
Jim Sunckell took the management over in the 1960’s and the first Welburn bull made the Premier Team, Welburn TB Brando, a son of Brabazon.
The next major success was Welburn PG Butterman who set a world record of 110,000 inseminations in a 5-month period and whose dam was a daughter of Brabazon.
Such was Butterman’s success at the time that he got a centrefold in The Listener, which was quite exceptional in the late 1970’s.
Victor, Hermes, Lucky, Edwin also made significant contributions to New Zealand dairy genetics but the most prolific of them all was Welburn PM Bramble.
He had 550,000 inseminations made over his career with possibly the greatest satisfaction for the family being that he was widely used in the Netherlands.
To quote my father Jim, ”To sell a bull back to where they originally came from, to the home of black and whites, was a proud achievement”
Over a 35-year period of influencing and supplying bulls, the last being in 1990, Welburn Stud has influenced Holstein Friesian genetics not just in New Zealand but worldwide, from comparison trials in Poland to the UK, Ireland, and Europe.
Welburn Stud, the legacy of Ted, Jim, and latterly John Sunckell, slowly slipped into abeyance in the 1990’s, in many respects a response to the success of the objective breeding programme they believed in.
John Sunckell
& Ellesmere Historical Society
Photo caption
LIC Hamilton Rep, EC (Ted) Sunckell, James (Jim) Sunckell and John Sunckell at Hamilton
Date17 December 2020SourceThe Ellesmere Echo
DescriptionWhen E.C. (Ted) Sunckell arrived at his ballot farm in Doyleston, on New Years’ eve 1929, no one was to know the influence that he and the Welburn Friesian Stud would have on the New Zealand dairy industry.After as he described it, ”existing”, through the years of the depression and the war he bought his first four pedigree cows in 1946, two of them coming from the herd of Len Leslie.
These cows classified Very Highly Commended and Highly Commended formed the base of the Welburn herd that would go on to supply the New Zealand Dairy Board (now LIC) 39 bulls over a 30-year period and significantly influenced not just New Zealand dairy genetics but pastoral dairy genetics worldwide.
The Herd Improvement Plan of 1939 addressed a need highlighted in research, of the 60,000 dairy sires in use for the dairy cow population of 1.7m, 20% improved, 33% maintained while 39% actually lowered production.
With this in mind and the encouragement of his son, Jim, who had just completed a Diploma of Agriculture at Lincoln College, Ted embraced artificial breeding and the genetic gain that was possible.
Ted’s and the Welburn influence had its first success when he teamed up with Hector MacIntosh of the Dairy Board, to persuade John Grigg of Longbeach to make his bull, Terling Brabazon, available to the New Zealand Dairy Board bull team.
John Grigg had sent his daughter to England in 1950 with the instruction to purchase the best bull available.
This she did, purchasing Terling Brabazon as a day-old calf for 1000 guineas. With all that he had invested in the bull and the proven productive value coming through, John was very reluctant to sell, but was finally convinced by Ted and Hector.
Terling Brabazon 116 was the first imported bull to become a Premier Sire, and is an iconic breeding bull having influenced many many herds and breading programmes and was inducted into the LIC’s Hall of Fame.
Jim Sunckell took the management over in the 1960’s and the first Welburn bull made the Premier Team, Welburn TB Brando, a son of Brabazon.
The next major success was Welburn PG Butterman who set a world record of 110,000 inseminations in a 5-month period and whose dam was a daughter of Brabazon.
Such was Butterman’s success at the time that he got a centrefold in The Listener, which was quite exceptional in the late 1970’s.
Victor, Hermes, Lucky, Edwin also made significant contributions to New Zealand dairy genetics but the most prolific of them all was Welburn PM Bramble.
He had 550,000 inseminations made over his career with possibly the greatest satisfaction for the family being that he was widely used in the Netherlands.
To quote my father Jim, ”To sell a bull back to where they originally came from, to the home of black and whites, was a proud achievement”
Over a 35-year period of influencing and supplying bulls, the last being in 1990, Welburn Stud has influenced Holstein Friesian genetics not just in New Zealand but worldwide, from comparison trials in Poland to the UK, Ireland, and Europe.
Welburn Stud, the legacy of Ted, Jim, and latterly John Sunckell, slowly slipped into abeyance in the 1990’s, in many respects a response to the success of the objective breeding programme they believed in.
John Sunckell
& Ellesmere Historical Society
Photo caption
LIC Hamilton Rep, EC (Ted) Sunckell, James (Jim) Sunckell and John Sunckell at Hamilton
Date17 December 2020SourceThe Ellesmere EchoConnections
CollectionHistory of DoylestonOrganisationEllesmere Historical Society
OrganisationEllesmere Historical SocietyAttribution
Researched ByJohn SunckellWritten ByJohn Sunckell
Written ByJohn SunckellClick on the image to add
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World famous Fresians, Welburn Stud, Doyleston (17 December 2020). Selwyn Stories, accessed 15/06/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/5309