I read Shawn McAvinue’s article about calf rearing in Southern Rural Life on September 17. In your article, the farmer talks about the rearer not turning up to pick up the calves. This is not our experience as we usually pick up two to three times per week or by arrangement with the farmers. The ideal calf is a bull, black with clear white face and four white legs. Unfortunately, even with a good Hereford or Charolais bull across the KiwiCross cow the calves tend to be a bit average.