LIVESTOCK | GENETICS
Ram buying – what’s your genetic plan? BY: BEN ALLOTT
B
efore you start flicking through stud catalogues or booking a ferry crossing for a buying trip, I strongly recommend you take the time to review the performance of your breeding operation. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your sheep genetics, set some medium term goals and use the tools available to you to research studs that are breeding rams that complement your vision. Create a genetic plan. Your terminal ram is not an afterthought. Selection should be as careful and considered as for a maternal ram. The
lambs born from terminal sires should be the economic powerhouse of your breeding operation. These lambs need to have high survival and they should have rapid growth rates and excellent meat traits to maximise your lamb kill off mum. Those that don’t go fat should be excellent finishers and be aggressively sought after in the trade lamb market. Hybrid vigour is a great asset to the offspring of terminal sires but it should not be the sole feature of your terminal selection programme. The NZ terminal worth index is a good place to start in assessing the genetic merit of terminal sires. Three traits – lamb survival, growth, and meat yield – feed
into this single index figure, which can be used to directly compare rams on their ability to deliver your farm a quality, high performing terminal lamb.
MATERNAL SIRES Beef + Lamb NZ Genetics ‘Better sheep breeding' is a resource to help you develop a genetic plan, improve your understanding of breeding values and indexes, and to provide assistance in finding ram studs that align better with your genetic goals. A new tool this resource doesn’t mention is nProve.nz. This free online search engine is designed to help you easily find such rams and studs. When
E XC E P T I O N A L
annual entry Te Kuiti 2th Ewe Fair January 15, 2021 • Annual line of 420 Coopworth/ Romney 2th ewes • Bred by Phillip McKinnon at Rangiwahia on country rising to 650 meters above sea level.
• A long history of top-ranking Carthew Genetics gives fertility and FE tolerance (sires tested to 0.6). • Particular focus on performance weaning weights, meat yield, and conformation/type.
• Maternal flock consistently scans • Current crop averaged 49.7kg 180% plus, including past two very liveweight on November 3 - so challenging years. Maternal and on target for 63-65kg by sale date. terminal flocks past four years docked 162%, 162%, 150% (two • Losses of 2 (0.5%) since April. snow storms over lambing), and this Clipped 3.5kg wool on October 7. year expecting 157% despite impact of prolonged drought. • Can handle pressure and bounce back. Very satisfying sheep to farm.
TOP-PRICED LINE OF SHEEP AT THIS SALE FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS
Enquiries 58
Above: The 2021 lineup - averaged 49.7kg on Nov 3, on track for 6365kg at sale. Left: Same annual draft two-tooths sold in 2020 sale, pictured in early Dec 2019.
Geoff Burton 07 895 8052, gtb@xtra.co.nz or Allan Hiscox, NZFL, 0274 428 434
Country-Wide
December 2020
