LIVESTOCK | ONFARM
Shorn and ready to go: prime Dohne lambs at Rata Peaks early this spring.
Wool or meat – A bet each way? Meat is an important income stream, but the Taylors at Rata Peaks Station, South Canterbury, are still tinkering with breeding for wool - even after 30 years. Andrew Swallow investigates.
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ometimes having a bet each way works better than putting all your money on a horse to win. It’s a strategy that’s working well for the Taylors at Rata Peaks Station in the Rangitata Valley, South Canterbury. To continue the betting analogy, the breed they backed shortly after taking on the 1836ha farm in 1989 is the Merino. Since 2001, the Dohne-strain of Merino,
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which is where the each-way bet comes in. “When we’re buying rams we’re concentrating on feet and eye-muscle area,” Sam Taylor says, who is gradually taking up the reins from mother Jan Taylor and her partner Craig Feaver. Birthweight and weight gain EBVs are also checked; then they look at the wool. “The wool is coming back into it too. We’re trying to get the best of everything,” Sam admits.
Getting the wool weight up is the main focus on the wool side. The average ewe clip is about 4.5kg from the annual midSeptember shearing, and the hoggets 3.0 to 3.5kg, or a bit more for the remaining wethers amongst them. “We’re doing a bit of culling based on points that are getting too bare and wool length that’s not good enough. The aim is to get the length and weight of the fleece up without increasing the micron.”
Country-Wide
December 2020
