A family business

Located on the lower east coast of the North Island, we generally experience wet winters and dry summers. The farming system at KayJay consists of 590 hectares 35% flat and the rest rolling to steep hill country. The Stud is run along side 2000 commercial breeding Ewes with all lambs finished on farm and 500 hoggets lambed. The cattle have to fit in within the larger farming system. We are currently calving 200 Stud females including R2 Heifers, with numbers increasing annually. 50 R2 Bulls are sold at our annual on-farm sale in June and we also have a spring sale where we sell 20-30 yearling bulls and a selection of heifers. The KJ brand is nationally recognized in the marketplace with strong demand for KJ bred cattle commercially.

We have such an awesome community around us and we are so grateful for being able to work alongside such passionate clients. We care for what we do and for others and this is a massive part of who we are and is what drives the discipline within our program to be better. 

KayJay celebrated 65 years of breeding in 2023, however the Kjestrup family have been farming here since 1919. The Stud has had 3 Kjestrup generations at the helm with 3rd generation Roddy along with wife Sam currently running the stud along with Neil & Joan who are still heavily involved.