The Waimata Stud was founded in 1974 by the present owner Pat Watson, with Selected Females from Matauri and Rangatira and with further additions from dispersal sales in following years. The foundation sire was Baxter 304 of Matauri a magnificent son of Baker 906 of Puketutu and to this day we regard him as the best bull we have ever seen. He left us a wonderful line of females and a great foundation to build on. He was followed by Matai 546 another great bull that bred so well with our young cow herd. Matai left great fleshing and constitution. In the early ‘80s the rush was on to introduce American Genetics but after careful consideration we decided to persist with NZ bloodlines. There were two reasons for this. The first was based on observation of our commercial herd which was based on traditional East Coast bloodlines. We were undertaking a large development programme at this time, and the ability of these cattle to  work so hard at controlling scrub regrowth and still maintain their condition had to be seen to be believed. Why change ? The second reason was based on the belief that with everyone doing the same thing their could be a danger of the breed having no alternative to come back to in the future. After Matai 546 came three bulls which really gave us a lift in frame size without sacrificing all important constitution. They were Rambo of Shian, Rawhiti Zeus and Bankhead Ace. All were big framed bulls probably ahead of their time. They all contributed to the growth factor that was going to be so important in producing bulls that could compete with American bred cattle. The next sire and one that was to have a huge impact was Kaharau Zulu 605. Purchased as an 8 yr, old he bred so well and was the sire of Zulu 689 of Waimata. 689 was sold for $50,000 but used here for one season in an AI programme over heifers. The result was a tremendous sire line culminating in our current senior herd sire WAIMATA WILLPOWER 383 a very strong & powerful sire with all the attributes that have made East Coast Angus cattle so successful.