Jan Wills: The Matamata Breeder Who Led the World's Hereford Breeders

Who is Jan Wills?

Jan Wills is a New Zealand Hereford breeder from the Matamata district of the Waikato who became one of the most senior figures in the breed's global administration. Her record is one of firsts. She was the first woman elected to the council of the New Zealand Hereford Association, the first woman to serve as its president, and the first woman to hold the post of secretary-general of the World Hereford Council.

Her name appears in some sources as Janette Wills, which is how it is listed in the New Zealand honours announcement. This profile covers her public, professional record only, drawn from the breed association's own press release and trade press coverage. Readers who want more on cattle people from the world's beef regions can browse the ranching section of farm.FM.

Starting a Hereford stud near Matamata

Wills began breeding Herefords in 1968 with her husband, running their own stud near Matamata. The Waikato is dairy country, and the couple farmed intensively. According to the New Zealand Hereford Association press release, they chose the breed because its quiet temperament suited that style of farming.

The stud also did something unusual for its district. The same release says it was the first to cross Herefords with Friesians, then went on to develop Hereford sires suited to Friesian heifers. In a region where dairy herds produce a steady flow of surplus calves, a beef sire that suits a dairy-breed heifer has obvious practical value, and this crossbreeding work fits the sort of niche a beef breeder in Waikato had to find.

Wills retired from the farm to town in 2007, according to the same source.

First woman on the Hereford council

Wills joined the New Zealand Hereford Association in the early 1990s and was elected to its council in 1992. The Rural News Group report on the honours describes her as the first woman elected to the council of a beef breed society in the country. She went on to serve on the board for more than twenty years. a farm.FM story about Hereford cattle

The association itself dates to 1896 and today describes itself on its About Us page as an incorporated society with over 400 members and about 18,500 registered, performance-recorded cows in its herd book. Leading a body with that history was a significant step for a woman breeder.

Sources differ on her presidency. The association's press release gives 1999 to 2001, while the Rural News Group report gives 1992 to 1994. This profile uses the association's own dates but flags the discrepancy.

Building Hereford Prime

Wills was a director of Hereford Prime NZ, which she helped establish in the 1990s as a branded Hereford beef product, working with Don Goodall and Laurie Patterson. The breed association says Hereford Prime launched its branded beef in 1993. The Rural News Group report says she has been a director of Hereford Prime Beef New Zealand Ltd since 1994.

The idea behind a branded breed program is straightforward: breeders who produce cattle to a consistent standard can sell the beef under a name consumers recognize, rather than as anonymous commodity product. That connects the work of a stud breeder directly to the plate.

A voice for performance breeding

Beyond the Hereford Association, Wills became the first chairwoman of New Zealand Performance Beef Breeders. The Rural News Group report gives her term as 2003 to 2004. She also helped start a young breeders' Youth Programme, according to the same report, and helped New Zealand adopt two breeding programs early.

That same report credits her with involvement in an international genomic selection project, linking a Waikato stud breeder to the global effort to use DNA data in sire selection.

Secretary-General of the World Hereford Council

In 2004 Wills became the first woman secretary-general of the World Hereford Council, serving four terms until 2012, according to the Rural News Group report. A Brazilian farm magazine profile from 2011 describes the job: she runs the Council's executive functions, officially represents it, and may inspect genealogical records in any member country to check that registration follows international Hereford rules.

That year she toured Brazil at the invitation of the Brazilian Hereford and Braford project. The Revista Cultivar article says she visited bull parades and breeders in Rio Grande do Sul, the research station Embrapa Pecuária Sul, and the Expointer livestock show. The trip shows what the role involved in practice: travel between member countries to keep pedigree standards consistent.

Honours and legacy

In the 2015 New Year Honours, Wills was recognized for services to the beef industry. The association's press release calls it an Officer of the Order of New Zealand, but the Rural News Group report lists her among the Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit, which is the order that carries officer grades, so this profile uses the latter. She is also a life member of the New Zealand Hereford Association and of its South Auckland club.

Quoted in the release, she said it was an honour for the breed to be recognized, and that she is very passionate about the Hereford. She has since stepped back from most administrative board work.