Country-Wide Sheep Annual - October 2020

OCTOBER 2020

Efficiency Jo Lucas and her son Tim are part of a family business which has transformed farms with their development p54

$12.00 incl gst

OCTOBER 2020

Markets

Wool

Animal health

Genetics

Management

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October 2020

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October 2020

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New and existing subscriber OFFER We’re offering the chance to WIN ONE OF THREE packs of 800 RapID electronic identification tags supplied by Allflex NZ. They will also provide a RapIDmatic automatic tag applicator so you are ready to tag a selection of ewe lambs at docking or weaning, or your ewe hogget replacements early next year. EID tags take the effort out of monitoring performance in your flock.

Visit www.allflex.global/nz for advice on tagging

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Ensure you are an active subscriber to Country-Wide by October 31, 2020 and you’re automatically in the DRAW TO WIN.

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Email: subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz • Phone: 0800 224 782 or +64 6 280 3161 Terms and conditions: New and existing New Zealand based Country-Wide print or digital subscribers will be automatically entered into the prize draw based on being an active subscriber as at October 31, 2020. There are 3 prize packs to be won with each pack containing 800 RapID tags and one RapIDmatic applicator, valued at $2000 (RRP). Winners will be notified by phone or email and then upon acceptance, provided with a voucher/voucher code to redeem directly with Allflex NZ Ltd. Prizes are not able to be exchanged for cash or other product/s nor can they be on-sold. Visit www.allflex.global/nz for more information on products or tagging advice.

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October 2020

EDITOR’S NOTE

Wool carpet sucked up

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rossbred wool use and prices have fallen a long way since I started in journalism in 1990.

In August, 1990, the crossbred greasy price was $4/kg which today would be worth just under $8/kg - be nice wouldn’t it. In 2000 it was still $4/kg, $3.50 in 2010 and in 2020, 1.20/kg. It is sobering reading but the fixation on price, not the end product for the consumer has been wool’s downfall.

Farmers and others in the wool industry have focused mainly on price rather than adapting and developing it as a consumer product. Pumping money into wool groups, consultants and reports has proven to be wasted money.

In the past 20 years more than $80 million of taxpayers’ money went into about 30 reports.

Just over $4 billion has been spent on propping up wool prices since the 1940s.

There have been many well-intentioned projects and campaigns to boost the wool price but the focus should have been improving the wool to match non-wool products, especially nylon, for the consumer.

Why should a consumer buy a woollen product? We are told it is a natural product, environmentally friendly and has a host of other values, but is that enough of a selling point?

If consumers do not see a need for a product or it is inferior in specifications and price compared with competitors, they won’t buy it. Forcing a government to buy woollen carpets when nylons

are superior and cheaper is not a good deal for the taxpayer or a long-term answer.

I bought woollen carpet for our house in 2008 even though my wife wanted the nylon one. To buy a woollen one of the same specs as nylon would have been another $3-4000. So I went for an inferior woollen one.

There is a combination of measurements for carpet quality; width (gauge tufts/inch/cm), length (number of tufts/inch/cm), yarn count/twist/ply, then there is pile height.

The more tufts/cm the denser the carpet. The fewer tufts the less density. But one can have a twoply yarn and five tufts/inch with long tufts giving a higher pile weight than shorter tufts. Still not a heavy duty quality carpet. But one could have a similar pile weight with shorter tufts and 10 tufts/ inch. It would be much denser with a similar pile weight but heavier duty.

So we bought the woollen carpet but it didn’t last nine years. Every time the vacuum cleaner went over the carpet it was like it had alopecia and large clumps were sucked up. It was an inferior product.

Terry Brosnahan Got any feedback? Contact the editor: terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz or call 03 471 5272 @CountryWideEd

NEXT ISSUE: NOVEMBER 2020 • Regenerative agriculture A look at Jono Frew and Peter Barrett’s road show and what the scientists says.

• Wool special A special report into the wool industry: its market failure, who or what is responsible, and a blueprint to resuscitate it.

• How good is modelling Simulation models should not be the only voice in the room. It needs to include humans providing real life observations and robust discourse.

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October 2020

• From South to North A coastal, central Hawke’s Bay beef and sheep station has developed a system that works in the challenging environment, particularly in the winter which includes returning to the Southland tradition of wintering ewes on swedes.

• Testing times Failing drenches, labour shortages, and consumer preference for minimal chemical inputs are why the low input sheep progeny test is essential for the future of the New Zealand sheep industry.

From South to North

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2020

Development in the genes

MORE p55

Country-Wide Sheep is published by NZ Farm Life Media PO Box 218, Feilding 4740 General enquiries: Toll free 0800 2AG SUB (0800 224 782) www.nzfarmlife.co.nz

EDITOR: Terry Brosnahan | 03 471 5272 | 027 249 0200 terry.brosnahan@nzfarmlife.co.nz PUBLISHER: Tony Leggett | 06 280 3162 | 0274 746 093 tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz SUB EDITOR: Andy Maciver | 06 280 3166 andy.maciver@nzfarmlife.co.nz DESIGN AND PRODUCTION: Emily Rees | 06 280 3167 emily.rees@nzfarmlife.co.nz Jo Hannam jo.hannam@nzfarmlife.co.nz SOCIAL MEDIA: Charlie Pearson | 06 280 3169 WRITERS: Andrew Swallow 021 745 183 Anne Hardie 03 540 3635 Lynda Gray 03 448 6222 Robert Pattison 027 889 8444 Sandra Taylor 021 151 8685 James Hoban 027 251 1986 Russell Priest 06 328 9852 Jo Cuttance 03 976 5599 PARTNERSHIP MANAGERS: Janine Aish | Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty 027 890 0015 | janine.aish@nzfarmlife.co.nz Tony Leggett | Lower North Island 027 474 6093 | tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz David Paterson South Island 027 289 2326 | david.paterson@nzfarmlife.co.nz |

SUBSCRIPTIONS: nzfarmlife.co.nz/shop | 0800 224 782 subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz Printed by Ovato Print NZ Ltd, Riccarton, Christchurch ISSN 2423-060X (Print) ISSN 2423-0618 (Online)

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Contents BOUNDARIES 8 9

Time to fight back Sheep of confused identity

HOME BLOCK 10 11 12 13 14 16

Mark Guscott contemplates the circle of life Paul Burt spots a harrier working at nature’s recycling Young sheep and cattle prove a challenge for Suzie Corboy Blair Smith finds little sign of life among policymakers John Scott tells of farming in the Highlands of Scotland Robert Hodgkins gets wet, then dry, then wet again

MARKETS 18 20 23 24 26

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UK:EU - Brexit threatens NZ sheepmeat trade China - Exporters confident Australia - Side effects of China tension China - Lost opportunities for sheepmeat Outlook - Lamb market yet to shake Covid-19 effects China’s consumers go online for lamb

BUSINESS 31 32 34 36 38 41 42 45

Covid-19 takes toll on US trade Succession, equity, partners and people Co-operative research delivers for Aussies Spreading the word on NZ lamb Using figures with mid-micron sheep Trimming out the fat Talk efficiency not intensification Aussie wool markets doing it tough

MORE p11 Harrier works at nature’s recycling

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MANAGEMENT 46 Mum’s milk drives good weaning numbers 50 Fewer, more efficient ewes 52 Better raising of pasture-fed lambs

LIVESTOCK

Front-footing drought fight

MORE p66

55 66 74 77 83 90 98 100 102 107 111 112

Development in the genes Front-footing drought fight FE tolerance test break new ground Wiltshire sheep - away with wool A passion for numbers Pathway to ownership Selecting for body condition scoring Beware threat of BVD in sheep Questions for your ram breeder Time to centralise sheep traceability Hogget mums show promise Beltex living up to its billing

WOOL 116 118 120 126 128

A passion for numbers

MORE p83

Where to for crossbred wool breeding?

Better options for wool Still looking for answers to low wool prices Making a swag of progress A burden on farmers’ back

ANIMAL HEALTH

Where to for crossbred wool breeding?

MORE p116

130 131 133 134 136 138 140

UK:EU split threatens NZ sheepmeat

Autumn issues with drench Moving to low-input sheep Efficiency in animal health Clostridial disease - A cost of lamb efficiency Body condition scoring sheep Planning ahead for internal parasites The triplet conundrum

MORE p18

GENETICS 142 146 149 151

Significant breakthroughs Science, scale and collaboration Genetics for low-fuss performance Coaching farmers in genetics

CROP AND FORAGE 155 Helicropping successes 160 Science insight into designing

pasture mixes Science, scale and collaboration

ENVIRONMENT

MORE p146

163 Fish hooks in the fine print

REARING LAMBS

OUR COVER:

167 Team effort rearing 3000 lambs

Jo Lucas and her son Tim are part of a family business which has transformed farms with their development. More p55.

Photo: Brad Hanson

SOLUTIONS 172 Answering farmers’ needs

BREEDER DIRECTORY p181 FARMING IN FOCUS p186

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BOUNDARIES WHEN BACON ISN’T BACON Bacon has to come from pigs, right? Wrong, it seems. Over the past decade or more an increasing number of alternative meats, or meat alternatives, have been cured and smoked in attempts to emulate that delicious, salty taste of the traditionally thin-cut, cured pork strip. Most miss the mark by a mile. Here’s hoping Alliance’s newly launched Te Mana Lamb bacon does a lot better.

ORGANIC PLEDGE HAS DOUBLE-EDGE

Livestock carrier Gulf Livestock 1, which sank in the East China Sea.

Time to fight back

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t is time to fight back. The recent maritime disaster in the East China Sea, with the loss of a live export ship containing 43 crew and 6000 dairy heifers, should be a wakeup call to the farming community.

The initial lack of any empathy for the loss of people’s loved ones by the media and instead a focus on the loss of the animals, and a rush to judgement by the minority group SAFE, was an outrage.

Groups like this are laser-focused on their agenda.

It is time to realise that they do not fight fair, they will never give up, and will kick agriculture in the guts at any opportunity. These minorities have embedded themselves deep within this coalition, socialist government. There are not enough adjectives to describe these rump-sniffing, armpit-licking sycophants.

The Clean Water Accord is a national disgrace. Unachievable goals, with Otago and Southland affected by rules, set by people who are quite clearly… stupid.

How do we fight back? Easy. While Damian O’Connor and David Parker may be on their puritan crusade; farmers, perhaps unknowingly, hold the gold. Do not pay your rates. Any of

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them. Suck up the late payment fee – the fight is a thousand times bigger than that. Do not support businesses that do not support us. If a local law firm acts for the crown against farmers, boycott that firm. Do not apply for consents to winter graze. If local people in regional councils have other business interests – blacklist them. Simple, simple, simple.

One more thing. Come election day, pile your staff in the ute, grab their friends and take them to the polling booth, with the promise of a beer afterwards for their trouble.

Talk is cheap. We have seen this from our so-called Minister (or rather, Misleader) of Agriculture. The fight is real. If we stick together, we can slowly but surely, drag them back to the table for a constructive yarn. Just saying.

Subsidies to change to one form of farming or another usually end in tears. First, those already in the target sector find their prices fall as new entrants boost supply, then, as the money for the new entrants dries up and they find the grass isn’t as green as promised, they too become disillusioned.

The Green Party election pledge of $37 million to assist transition to organics sounds like just such a subsidy. Existing organic farmers be warned.

PRIME BANGERS A farmer after sending a load of lambs to the works was heading back to his house for morning tea when he spotted three lambs by his shed. Annoyed, as they were prime lambs, 25kg-plus carcaseweights, he stomped inside and rang the butcher to book them in.

When he delivered them to the butcher’s shop, the farmer left instructions for them to be processed as normal but extra sausages this time.

When time came to pick them up, all the lambs had been put into sausages. Not happy the farmer took them but didn’t pay.

Then farm visitors and food connoisseurs began to remark on how good the sausages were, best they ever tasted. After that the farmer gladly deposited the money and he’s now set to become the toast of the barbecue scene this summer.

››

A hurricane is the same as a typhoon. In 1938, famous columnist Alistair Cook was on the second largest ocean liner in the world when it was picked up off the water by a hurricane then dropped back into the sea. He said out of 3000 passengers only three went to breakfast that morning.

SUBSIDY DATABASE The latest wage subsidy searchable database from MSD isn’t the complete list of employers. It is for about 90,000 employers available.

Available here: nzfarmlife.co.nz/wagesubsidy-directory/

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October 2020

EXCELLENT EXFOLIANT

CONFUSED IDENTITY

Woolly soap isn’t an idea with instant appeal and Eco-felted soap founder Brandon Vickers admits a lot of people cringe at the thought.

But those who try it usually come back for more.

Over the last four years Vickers (25), an Auckland University marketing graduate, has refined the wool and soap concept. First he released a palm-oil based range and last month a palm oil-free range with antimicrobial and antifungal properties. Each 100g triple-milled, coconut oil and olive oil-based soap is encased in felted Corriedale wool.

He hit on the woolly idea four years ago when looking for a body wash that would ease the itch of his eczema.

Trial and error led him to natural and fragrance-free soap. He also discovered that exfoliants helped, which through further research hooked him on to the potential of wool. “The lanolin in wool has natural antibacterial properties and the wool itself is a great exfoliant.”

The wool encasement also makes the soap last longer, at least four weeks.

Multiple Tokomairiro, and South Otago A&P Show champion and reserve champion pet lamb winner, Jemma McKenzie, 8, has high hopes of winning her classes again this year.

Jemma, who started competing in both shows when 4, had planned to retire. This was until Matilda arrived, a lamb with a closer resemblance to the farm dogs than to any of the sheep in the Romney Texel cross flock it belonged to.

Each day after school Jemma trains her to lead, and on weekends the lamb gets to ride in the back seat of the car when they head off on family adventures.

Merino was his first choice of wool but proved unsuitable for felting or exfoliating. The stronger midmicron Corriedale wool proved to be ideal and is supplied by Ashburton spinners Ashford’s in 1kg bumps.

The soaps don’t consume huge amounts of wool – only about 10g a bar – so are never going to be a mainstream end use for Corriedale wool. However, Vickers, who manufactures the soap in Tauranga, is proud to be doing his bit to promote a home-grown natural fibre.

“It’s the perfect New Zealand product: clean, green and natural.”

Go to bruntonwoodlane.com to view the range.

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JOKE HERETICS ANON

TAX PAYERs’ MONEY

WIN WAG PAC

W3

UNIVERSITIES

NZ MERINO

CONSULTANTS AGRESEARCH

›› More p120 Country-Wide

October 2020

L WOO EXPRESS

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off.

So I ran over and said “Stop! Don’t do it!”

“Why shouldn’t I?” he said.

“Well, there’s so much to live for!”

“Like what?”

“Well... are you religious?”

He said yes.

I said, “Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?”

“Christian.”

“Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?

“Protestant.”

“Me too! Are you Anglican or Baptist?”

“Baptist” “Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?”

“Baptist Church of God!” “Me too! Are you original Baptist Church of God, or are you reformed Baptist Church of God?” “Reformed Baptist Church of God!” “Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?”

He said, “Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!”

I said, “Die, heretic scum”, and pushed him off.

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

paying what they should or it’s quite an expensive system, if it worked in 2004 then let’s keep doing it. That might be a bit unfair but hopefully you get my point.

If we haven’t been reading the tea leaves over the past 10 years around the environmental changes that have arrived, then we’ve got rocks in our head. It’s been quite obvious that there have been issues with the way humans are treating the planet for a while and everyone has to play their part.

Part of the circle of life Carterton sheep and beef farmer Mark Guscott reflects on the challenges of change.

W

here were you on September 11, 2001?

There was a pretty big event on that day 19 years ago.

I was living in a dodgy upstairs flat in Hawera as a trainee rural banker. The world has changed a lot from that one event in New York. Suz and I came home to start farming a few years after that, September 2004 to be precise and the farming world has changed a lot since then.

Side-by-side motorbikes and GPS autosteer in tractors were talked about but were in the rare category. In 1997 I got paid a salary of $15,500 before tax as an inexperienced shepherd. No one had heard of Facebook, Instagram etc.

Roll forward to 2020, side by sides are common as is GPS guidance in tractors and a junior shepherd would earn something in the early $40,000s as a salary and social media has taken over some people’s lives.

The point is, things change. Change happens whether we want it or not. The

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challenge for all of us is dealing with the change. That’s the hard part.

As food producers, we know that setting up a farm production system isn’t easy and as it’s a biological system you can generally do most things only once a year. Shit happens and then you have to wait a whole year to have another go at getting it right. Farms aren’t factories that you can change the settings on between production runs.

Some of the policymakers farmers are arguing with at the moment might do well to take that into account in their thinking.

BUT… We are just as much to blame as they are.

For the reasons above around production systems, we can’t change our production systems as fast as some people would like. But when we do get something right in our production systems and it works really well, we seem to be loath to change them.

It doesn’t matter that markets aren’t

If we haven’t been reading the tea leaves over the past 10 years around the environmental changes that have arrived, then we’ve got rocks in our head.

Our part is about less soil damage, better biodiversity and better water quality, for example. That will require us to change the way we farm.

Unfortunately, some of the changes we’re being told we have to make are expensive, time consuming, disruptive and quite prescriptive. Some are poorly thought out by the policymakers and it’s right that we push back against these.

Let’s not get started on the general trend of using food producers as a punching bag for everything CARTERTON that’s wrong with the world.

Sometimes when everything is going to shit, it’s good to get back to basics. Remember what makes farming a great occupation and way of life. Things like watching lambs and calves tearing around the paddock, getting a clean muster of a difficult gully or getting the piss taken out around the docking pen.

Just quickly before I run out of room, we’re half way through docking here in the early parts of Wairarapa with pretty good tallies so far but not record breaking.

We’re on the final burst of last season’s lambs heading for processing and the first paddocks have been sprayed out for spring cropping. As one season finishes, another is starting. That’s another reason to enjoy what we do, the never-ending cycle of life.

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October 2020

HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

It doesn't take much to be out of kilter to stall the spring and under-feeding milking hoggets or ewes will be hard on them and knock any profit out of the system. Another thing to consider, is there a safety valve in your stock policy?

At a pinch, well-grown unmated hoggets can be under fed for a month in the spring with no lasting harm and hoggets have been the stock class traditionally tightened up at ewe lambing time.

Other systems are available that can return well-grown two-tooths to the farm and these usually involve grazing contracts off farm. Depending on the set up this could work well for the owner of the hoggets and the rearer. Our own arrangement has changed this year and now hoggets are the only sheep class we run.

We are partners in a lease property that is in a development state. All spring feed goes into the ewes as the simplest most profitable policy. The two partners buy has cost Paul Burt half each of the replacement ewe lambs his lambs. at weaning (this year $100), grow them and mate them, rear the lambs and sell the two-tooths back to the partnership in January (guessing $200 at 65kg).

In order for sheep farming As with any new idea a fair bit of to be a competitive land use optimism was involved and the MATATA today, it’s almost essential that driest summer/autumn in our replacement hoggets lamb.

30 years of farming has dampened However, before letting some of the performance hoped for. the rams loose a long hard To their credit the fertile Coopworths look must be taken at your scanned a 112% lambing potential. management system.

Weaning 100% as budgeted is not going There is a list of questions that to happen. Adding in the abortions, the require honest answers or the dollars are being whittled away so I hope hoggets and their lambs will come off the capital gain part of the policy still second best. First is there improvement to holds. be gained in the ewe flock performance?

Our farm is a grass-only operation so of If the ewes are not docking 150% with course there are cropping or alternative a 32kg hundred-day lamb weight it may feed options to ensure hoggets are be more profitable putting the extra feed well-fed. This brings with it another (mated over non-mated hoggets) into the dimension in economics, specialist ewes. management and possibly animal health.

Secondly, how good are you at For us, in the first year of this new growing lambs? Hoggets need to be arrangement, gremlins have appeared but a minimum 40kg at mating (say May all going well the policy should provide 1). That’s not a high daily weight gain efficiency and profit for both parts of our target but if your farm is stocked with farm business in the future. finishing lambs, summer and autumn NB. Pathology has sent notice the it will be hard to achieve. The third abortions are due to listeria. Something thing to consider is your spring pasture rare and a first for us. A sheep farmer management. Infrastructure, fertility, of many years I should have known to altitude, stocking rate. expect a bolt from the blue.

Harrier works at nature’s recycling An unusual attack quite a number of

T

he hoggets were already streaming off the hill as I approached the gate. The daily shift routine has made the dogs lazy and all I have to do is circuit the paddock. A harrier hawk lifted off from somewhere ahead and I noticed two small lifeless bundles already bloody as nature's recycling gets underway.

I’d been getting one or two abortions a day over the last week which is disappointing having got the mob this far in a very challenging year. Despite being behind their weight target, 75% had got in lamb and all received their toxo and campylobacter vaccinations.

They were doing well but so it goes with stock policy, the fine balance between production and economics and animal welfare.

The idea of mating hoggets has been around a long time but historically there were few farm systems capable of doing it profitably. Besides, when wool contributed half of a sheep farmers’ income a hogget was paying its way unmated.

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN yards. We always hope that we don’t have to calve any or many heifers, but as we are calving them at 24 months old, and we aim to feed them well, so that they milk well, and are hopefully growing over winter, we are realistic that there will be a few needing some assistance.

This is why we use paddocks with easy access to the two lanes leading to the cattle yards, so it is relatively easy and quick to get them there.

As they calve and are shed from the calving paddocks, the heifers are spread out through the paddocks with tripletbearing ewes, two-tooth twins and lambing hoggets, to help with pasture management through to lamb weaning in early January.

I check the calving heifers at least twice a day and shed off calved heifers as soon as I am happy the calf is fed, and it can walk fast enough to be manoeuvred out of the gate.

If I leave them too many days after It has been a wet, but mild winter on Paul and Suzie’s Catlins farm. calving the calves get fast on their feet, and more independent, and it becomes a bit of a circus, with the heifer going one way, normally in the right direction and the calf running anywhere, except towards the gate.

This is followed by the heifer realising the calf is missing Young sheep and cattle mums prove and her then running away a challenge for Suzie Corboy in South from the gate. The calf seems Otago’s Catlins district. to think this is all a game and runs even faster in the wrong direction and we end up at the wrong end of the reetings from tropical swedes and fodder beet, for a paddock, or back where we started.

OWAKA South Otago. What an number of reasons, one of which This daily shedding is not a job to be amazing winter. I am was training them to stay behind a attempted when you are short of time, writing this in midsingle electric wire, and as a result we or running low on patience.

September, and we have still had about five hectares of fodder For example when you have just hardly seen any snow, hopefully it has beet untouched on September 14. This chased an ignorant lambing hogget in the stayed that way by the time you are has changed our normal spring grass previous paddock, that had a big head reading this. management, and we are going to be able hanging out her back end, with no legs Our temperatures have been above to calve on some of the paddocks that obvious, but the hogget had no intention normal, and I have been moving cattle were in the original plan to be grazed by of lying down and waiting for assistance. fences with only two layers of clothing the yearlings, when they came off winter She thought it would be much more most of the winter. Paul was at a sheep crops. fun to run through the middle of all the breeder’s conference in August and many This has turned out very convenient already-lambed hoggets, mis-mothering of the attendees were worried about this year, as some of our normal calving them as she ran, then the lost lambs how dry their soils are, but we have no paddocks are bare ground just now, as chase the four wheeler, as they do, for concerns in the Catlins. they were used for swede and fodder beet some strange reason.

We have had plenty of rain in the past crops.

Dealing with teenage ovine and bovine few months, and will be happy if we have We have 146 in-calf, beef heifers mums certainly has its challenges, and very little rain until late October, when which start calving in the last week of most years I think there must be easier calving and lambing is well through.

September. Our normal management ways to make a living, but every year we We were a bit later than normal putting of these heifers is to quite heavily stock keep mating heifers and hoggets, so we some of the 210 yearling cattle on to them in the paddocks near the cattle must be slow learners.

Catlins, wet and warm

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

It might be a safer bet for Jane to focus on tagging twins in the tussocks than politician castration duties.

Zero accountability and zero commonsense North Otago farmer Blair Smith finds little sign of life among policymakers.

E

ither I’m becoming even less tolerant of fools as I age, or the world has gone crazy. I suspect it’s a bit of both. The 6pm news is now more like watching a badly directed episode of The Muppet Show.

Our coalition Government loves poor people so much that they seem hell bent on creating more. I’m sure that the recipe for dragging a country out of a major economic crisis doesn’t include stifling businesses, choking innovation and cutting off your key industries at the knees.

There has been no proof of life on any policies, with Labour’s economic plan based on the heroic feat of a new public holiday. Wow, I’m pretty sure the 190,000 people that have lost their careers since lockdown would be happy to have a job, let alone a holiday.

I could point out that given society’s opposition to colonial leaders, the monarchy and religious connotations; they will be more than happy to forgo regional anniversaries, Queen’s Birthday and Easter as paid holidays.

There is a total inability to utilise both sides of the brain when making a decision, with zero carbon, zero

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accountability and zero common sense the latest fad.

Parker’s new water plan regulations will result in poorer environmental outcomes, at a massive cost to our export earnings. I hope people in South Auckland are ready to pay $5/ litre for their milk, $30/kg for their beef mince and 30% more for their power and fuel. Not sure how these clowns think we are going to increase primary industry returns to the tune of $44 billion by 2030.

On a positive note, I’m bloody glad to be a sheep and beef farmer in a country that is the most efficient in the world at producing pasture raised protein, without a subsidy in sight.

We have two young guys working with us that are keen to learn and are motivated, and we can’t afford to lose that youthful enthusiasm out of our industry.

Being stud breeders we constantly have to look forward a decade or so to make sure we are producing sheep and beef genetics that will help the industry move even further up the efficiency curve.

With nil drench for nearly three decades now, a ewe that needs to produce

her weight in weaned lambs each and every year and the ability to thrive in both the driest and wettest of years. Bring it on.

I think people underestimate the cost that some sheep breeds have when you factor in lack of worm resilience (disguised by hefty capsule use), foot rot and shitehouse wool.

We are really proud of our wool and pleased that while the industry is crying the price of wool down with depressing headlines, we (and our ram clients) continue to focus on producing the best fleece possible.

Once you let quality go, you don’t get it back. We were stoked to have a photographer at our hogget shearing last week, commissioned by a forwardthinking insurance company to promote the use of NZ wool carpets, insulation and furnishing in house contents.

A big thanks also from the industry to Amy Blaikie and Georgie McGregor for the work that they continue to lead promoting NZ Wool products online.

Good old mother nature seems FIVE FORKS hell-bent on challenging us, with an underwhelming 225mm of rain so far this year. Bloody glad we have Perendale ewes that have come out of winter looking fit yet fat and ready for lambing, with the Angus stud cows finished cleaning up the back tussock blocks - and at the time of writing we are 70% of the way through calving in only 12 days.

Unfortunately our tailing will land about the week after the election we are all dreading. Most farmers look forward to this event on the calendar but those unfortunate enough to join the Newhaven Farms tailing crew, will be aware that Jane missed the memo that any conversation in the tailing pen is to be based around two topics only. Politics will never make the list.

Jane did however suggest last year that we get a daily guest speaker along to liven things up. This has proven easy to arrange with a number of politicians knowing they will have spare time on their hands post-election. I’m looking forward to seeing how Parker, Peters, Jones and Shaw escape without being castrated by Jane, although going by their lack of performance over the past three years, it appears someone has already beaten her to it.

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

Farming in the Highlands John Scott farms 40 miles north of Inverness on the east coast next to the small village of Hill of Fearn in Scotland.

I

left New Zealand 25 years ago for home in the Scottish Highlands.

One of the main reasons for leaving with a heavy heart was that we were leaving behind us many friends who have been made over the years. Roger and Barbie Barton, Greytown employed us many years ago during our OE, Trevor Cook has acted as adviser and mentor to our business and myself in recent years and there are many others who I will refer to in future articles.

The kids reliably inform me (list of names is on the fridge) that we have now employed 43 Kiwis in the last 12 years who have worked and often lived with us for varying lengths of time adding a different dimension to farm and local community life.

I farm with my wife Fiona, our four kids James 18, Izzy 16, Lexie 14 and Archie 12 and mum and dad 40 miles north of Inverness on the east coast next to the small village of Hill of Fearn where many years ago former New Zealand prime minister Peter Fraser was born.

Our 600-hectare base at Fearn has everything from heavy clay to sand and lets us grow most cereal and forage crops providing us with an excellent platform

14

for wintering most of the livestock we look after either for ourselves or for other farming businesses in the area on contract farming agreements.

We run 4000 breeding ewes and 250 beef cows with most progeny sold for breeding or finished on farm, one of our main constraints is that we are spread over six blocks throughout the area and even though they are all within 10 minutes’ drive we spend more time on the road than we would like.

We also have several roads dissecting Fearn and even a simple job like moving cattle across the road now needs three people due to the volumes of traffic, during Covid lockdown this went back to being a one man job and every day was like a Sunday morning again which was bliss!

We have a full time equivalent of six members of staff plus myself, Fiona and dad who doesn’t do as much as he used to but still checks stock while offering wisdom whether needed or not.

On the face of it our staffing numbers seem high but there’s quite a lot going on in the business and we run 800 stud ewes within our ewe numbers and stud beef Shorthorn and Luing cattle. We have

also diversified into renewable energy with wind turbines and a biomass boiler and have recently built holiday houses replacing an old mill on the farm.

Recently we teamed up with the Mcgowan family at Incheoch and the Giddings family of Meadowslea Genetics in Fairlie, NZ, to bring the ‘Yourbid’ auction system to the United Kingdom.

It would be fair to say we were a little nervous but wow did it work well with our annual ‘Great from Grass’ sale of breeding sheep recording record averages, rams topped at £2175 (NZ$4160) and averaged £924 (NZ$1767) for 112 rams and gimmers/two-tooths averaged £140 (NZ$267) for 281 sold with a 100% clearance.

There’s no doubt we will repeat this process next year and hopefully we can have a full social occasion if restrictions on social gatherings have eased by then?

Trade for sheep and cattle remains strong at the moment with finished lambs receiving £4.50kg (NZ$8.60) deadweight whilst finished steers and heifers are around £3.95kg (NZ$7.55) and the knock on effect HILL OF of this is that store trade FEARN, SCOTLAND remains buoyant for all classes of stock.

While we are delighted with this trade we still have the dark cloud of Brexit looming and to make sure we don’t get ahead of ourselves for those of us growing malting barely the market is decidedly flat at the moment with little signs of improvement, Coronavirus hasn’t helped here with many distilleries shutting down for several months over the summer.

Our wool cheque has also been affected

by Coronavirus, with demand even lower than usual, on a good year it pays the shearers and this year it’s not even worth selling by the time you pay the transport.

On a positive note however our oldest, James has now completed his first season shearing and Izzy has been away with the same gang as a rousie.

Looking forward to next year we are keen to explore opportunities for our annual wool clip, could we add value by teaming up with others to sell our wool for a premium/have our own garments made, is it good enough?

Plenty questions, hopefully I will find the answers.

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October 2020

You can rely

on Wairere

James Bruce, near Martinborough, feeding Baleage to Wairere Romney ewes which tailed 162% in 2019. Mid March, 2020.

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HOME BLOCK | COLUMN

than my father and brother’s Romney stud, (nothing like a good bit of family rivalry!) It will be a really, really tall order.

His top rams on the NZMW index are rated around the 3400 mark, and are some of the best in the United Kingdom.

Last year our top was 2300 - obviously figures are not everything and rams need to be structurally sound etc. But some good family competition will hopefully drive everyone forward. (Let’s just hope Jo gets us slightly more forward over the next few years!)

I think I have talked about it before but we are still struggling to get the arable Tractor drivers have been horsepower nuts with no interest in the farm’s sheep enterprise. fully integrated and firing on all cylinders.

The sheep and arable should work very well together but all the tractor drivers we have had have been horsepower nuts bigger is better and much bigger is best.

They have also had no real interest in the sheep or how we can make the two systems work together. I hope we have A Kiwi team is helping out on Robert corrected that problem by bringing in a Kiwi manager to take on the arable, Hodgkins’ farm in Hertfordshire, England. so we are very excited Monty White from Hawke’s Bay is flying over to take on the position. he weather gods have He has recently gone back Trying to get him across HERTFORDSHIRE, in the middle of a global certainly not been kind to college for his final year, ENGLAND this year. We went from the but has promised to come pandemic has been interesting wettest winter on record back and work for us full time when he but it's great that on his first day here through to March when it finishes. He will be incredibly missed and he came for a farm tour, loved what we suddenly stopped raining and didn’t start I have had to put my dogs back on an were doing with the plantain and clover again until August when in the middle emergency diet and fitness programme fertility leys, understood why we are of harvest it suddenly hasn’t stopped to try and bring them back into the front trying to use lower hp, lighter-weight raining! row. (The same goes for me!) tractors etc. So he seems tuned in to what We have had a good run of it though We are still waiting for SiL data to come we are trying to achieve and has bought with the sheep, scanning was a little low back from this year’s crop of lambs. We into the system. this year with the previous year’s drought should have made some good progress.

Finally we have just bought ourselves and very wet winter meaning we scanned We started last year with 500 unrecorded a sheep parlor – the plan is in 18 months at 1.55 usually the Romneys manage females and some high index Nithdale we will start milking some Finn x around 1.7 in our system.

Myomax rams we flew over from Andrew Romneys, initially only 300 or so but We also had an outbreak of enzootic Tripp. hoping to take the flock to about 600 abortion in one mob of ewes which would When last year’s results came back we animals. It will open the door to some have hurt our lamb losses, nevertheless took the opportunity to drop a lot of the more interesting break crops on the arable we are out the other side and things on poorer index ewes out of the recording with intensive red clover leys for the the sheep are very positive. system – paying money to record shit lambs and lupins for ewe lactating protein We have had a student help us this didn’t seem a good use of money. We etc. year who has been amazing. James came have now got a Kiwi consultant on I will keep you informed of progress on board late last summer and quickly board – Jo Scott from Targeted breeding is but it's an exciting time ahead for the established himself as an awesome helping us try and drive our genetic gains farm. Subsidies are scheduled to end in stockman. Within a couple of months he forward I think she is really going to help a couple of years. I think the farm is in was very much running the show leaving us avoid a few traps and we are looking an excellent position to take advantage me free to take on the arable jobs (arable forward to her expert advice. of that fact and the opportunities it will guy left the farm in the spring). His dog Our first step was establishing some present. With Monty and James on skills and general livestock ability was good goals with one of the main ones board I think we have a great team to incredible. trying to breed rams with a higher index help us.

Wet, dry, then wet again

T

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October 2020

LAMBS DO BETTER ON CASEIN-BASED MILK REPLACERS OVER WHEY IN THE FIRST THREE WEEKS OF LIFE

The question therefore arises: which lamb milk replacer will provide the best growth, health and survival rates? The impact of whey-based milk replacers on calf performance have received attention in the literature but the production performance of lambs reared on casein-based milk replacer has not been described.

A study was conducted with 289 lambs to evaluate the effect of casein-based versus whey-based lamb milk replacers on the growth, health and survival of lambs in the first 3 weeks of rearing using an ad libitum milk feeding system at commercial scale. The results of this study were recently presented at the International Symposium on Ruminant Physiology in Leipzig, Germany.

During the 3-week rearing period, lambs reared on an ad libitum casein-based milk replacer grew faster (Figure 1), had lower mortality and antibiotic use and improved overall feed conversion efficiency than lambs reared on whey-based milk replacers These results highlight that the casein-based milk replacer used in this study under an ad libitum milk feeding regime supported greater growth independent of birth-rank and reduced the incidence of disease in the first 3 weeks of life compared to the whey-based milk replacer.

Animal performance beyond 3 weeks of age remains to be established.

The differences in production performance are likely driven by the greater intake and quality/digestibility of milk proteins in the caseinbased versus whey-based milk replacer.

Selection of milk replacer for lamb rearing should consider not just feed cost, but economic and welfare implications of slower growth, increased antibiotic treatment and increased mortality.

Reference: 1. McCoard SA, Ryrie J, MacDonald T, Hea SY, Khan MA, Stevens D. Growth and health of lambs artificially reared with casein- or whey-based milk replacer. International Symposium on Ruminant Physiology, 3-6 September 2019, Leipzig, Germany (poster presentation).

Figure 1. Effect of milk replacer protein source (casein-based milk replacer, CBMR; whey-based milk replacer, WBMR), birth rank (single/twin vs triplet/ quad) and sex, and their interaction, on average daily gain. Data are presented as means + standard error.

500

CBMR

Diet: Rack: Sex: Diet x Rank

WBMR

450

Average daily gain (g/d)

In nature, lambs are reared by their mothers receiving numerous small feeds of milk throughout the day. However, in dairy sheep operations this is often not possible therefore lambs will need to be reared using milk replacer to help maximise the yield of milk harvested for sale.

Lambs may also need to be reared using milk replacer if they have been orphaned, or their mothers are unable to meet their nutritional needs (e.g. some triplets and quadruplets) in sheep meat and dairy production systems.

400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Male (single/twin)

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MARKETS | BREXIT

Will sheep farmers be thrown under the wheels of the Brexit bus?

UK:EU split threatens New Zealand sheepmeat BY: NIGEL STIRLING

F

or more than four decades New Zealand lamb has enjoyed unrivalled access to the European market.

During that time our meat exporters have been able to sell up to 228,000 tonnes of sheep and goat meat to British and continental European markets without paying a cent in tariffs.

Australia comes a distant second with a mere 19,000 tonnes of tariff-free access allotted to its exporters annually.

NZ’s market share has sat about 84% of all sheep meat imported into the European Union for most of the past two decades.

Australia was second with 8% to 10% market share during that period.

NZ’s dominant position looked rock

18

solid until the 2016 Brexit referendum.

The surprise vote by Britain to exit the EU meant both had to come up with a new set of rules for trading with each other and with the rest of the world.

Within months the EU and the United Kingdom had unilaterally decided upon a method for splitting between themselves more than 100 quotas for food imports from third countries.

In the case of imports of NZ sheep meat the quota would be split down the middle – up to 114,000 tonnes could be exported tariff-free to the UK and the same to the continent.

Meat exporters and industry lobbies were quick to dismiss the proposal as a legal outrage just begging to be knocked down by the NZ Government at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva.

TRADE LAWYER’S INSIGHT One of the country’ top trade lawyers spoken to by CW Sheep in the middle of 2018 agreed NZ would have a strong case if it came to a legal show-down.

New trade agreements that diminish the quality of existing market access arrangements are illegal under WTO rules.

Splitting the quota violated that principle by curtailing the ability of NZ meat exporters to divert sheep meat from the EU to the UK or vice versa as market conditions dictate without copping eyewateringly high tariffs.

The proposal also diminished smaller quotas for NZ beef and dairy exports.

However, while NZ’s position looked correct legally it failed to take account of the UK’s desperation to re-integrate itself into the global trading system.

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October 2020

A legal battle with NZ or any other quota-holder could stand in the way of certification of the UK’s tariff schedules at the World Trade Organisation and throw a procedural spanner in the works for the UK as it sought to establish its own trading terms with the rest of the world after four decades of operating under those set by Brussels.

Furthermore negotiations with the EU and the UK for separate free trade agreements gave yet more leverage over NZ to drop its objections.

“They are very clear about it. If [NZ] and a few others kick up a big stink in Geneva it is going to be impossible for the UK to finalise their schedules [and] they will not be able to become a full member of the WTO…they are basically saying back off and we will make it up to you in the context of the FTA,” the legal source said.

WTO IN LIMBO The chance of a win at the WTO has only got tougher since then.

The global trade policeman’s appeals body, where any successful legal challenge

by NZ would ultimately have ended up, has been in limbo since United States President Donald Trump blocked the judicial appointments needed to allow it to function.

Work to model the cost to sheep meat exporters in lost returns from the quota split that Beef + Lamb NZ had been ready to contract out to private sector economists last year in support of any WTO case has been quietly shelved.

CW Sheep’s trade lawyer said the EU and the UK would prefer to settle the dispute with NZ as part of a FTA negotiation where any number of trade-offs went into reaching an agreement.

That opacity was preferable to a precedent-setting formula for compensation in a stand-alone judgement at the WTO that other quota-holders could then use against the EU and the UK in their own disputes.

However the horse-trading involved in an FTA negotiation was dangerous territory for sheep farmers.

NO GUARANTEES There were no guarantees previous access would be restored and not traded away for gains in other areas such as dairy and beef

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October 2020

where existing market access was pitifully small in comparison to sheep meat.

“If all the concessions were for the dairy industry then the sheep meat industry is the real loser in all of this,” the trade lawyer said.

“The meat industry has to keep the pressure on the government not to roll over and not to accept concessions which don’t actually address the harm done.”

It is not hard to see how pressure could come on the meat industry to give up some of its generous allotment of quota.

China’s increasingly voracious appetite for NZ sheep meat means the EU quota of 228,000 tonnes has not been fully utilised for more than a decade, and last year a little over a half was used by exporters.

By comparison the UK is one of the world’s biggest importers of dairy products but quota restrictions meant last year it soaked up a mere 0.08% of NZ’s dairy exports.

Surely NZ negotiators would seize on quota not being used by the sheep meat industry as negotiating coin to improve access for other primary industries which have done without for so long?

COWARDLY? In February last year Trade Minister David Parker said NZ was continuing to object to the quota split at the WTO though he wouldn’t be drawn on the chances of a lawsuit.

But CW Sheep’s trade legal source said by the middle of 2018 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was no longer opposing the split with the same vigour.

“Officials appreciate this is going to be difficult for them to win in Geneva.”

However the horse-trading involved in an FTA negotiation was dangerous territory for sheep farmers.

WON’T SELL OUT SHEEP MATES But one dairy trade negotiations veteran said his industry was not in the habit of selling out its primary industry colleagues even if there were benefits to its members in doing so.

The starting point for NZ negotiators in any trade talks was for no sector of the economy to go backwards.

He pointed to the early stages of negotiations for the Comprehensive and Progressive TransPacific Partnership when the American pharmaceutical industry heaped pressure on its negotiators to make the dismantling of drug-buying agency Pharmac a condition of any deal with NZ. “You never play the game of saying how about we argue that Pharmac goes under the bus so we get something more for dairy.

“You would never do that. I would use the word disgusting to talk like that.

“I am a New Zealander first and a member of a certain sector of the economy second.

“I have never had to have an argument with anybody saying it is dairy first and screw everybody else.”

We shall see.

19

MARKETS | CHINA

By August major hot pot restaurant chain Haidilao reported 85% of its outlets were open again.

Meat exporters confident BY: NIGEL STIRLING

M

eat exporters are predicting a 10% fall in returns for lamb destined for the Chinese market this coming season as a gradual re-opening of restaurants and chronic shortages of pork help to shore up prices in the face of massive economic upheaval.

Despite the predicted easing in prices at least one major exporter is confident returns will remain 6-8% above the average of the previous five years.

Much will depend on competition from rival markets, according to Silver Fern Farms group sales manager Peter Robinson.

“If China does not have any competition for the likes of forequarters then they will understand that very quickly and that will potentially have an impact on pricing.”

Demand in China was gradually recovering as the country slowly opened again after locking its economy down through much of the first half of 2020 in response to the original

20

coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.

Alliance Group general manager of sales Shane Kingston said authorities continued to respond to flare-ups of the virus with localised lockdowns.

“Some urban areas are still locked down. Where they are open they are still operating on reduced capacity.”

By August major hot pot restaurant chain Haidilao reported 85% of its outlets were open again.

Those were operating at 70% of their usual capacity.

“Definitely people are still adjusting to spending time in public,” Kingston said.

“There is still a proportion of the population that have some nervousness about exposure to potential infection.”

Shutdowns of food manufacturers also hit demand for mutton, SFF’s Robinson said.

“It is processed into hot pot rolls and kebabs and they rely on the processing sector to be open and the majority were shut.”

Normally factories would be busy from April to June processing mutton ahead of

the peak demand for hot pot rolls during China’s winter months.

“It was around April or May before they started to get into processing and then they had issues getting people back from where they were… it took the processors a long time before they got back to full speed.”

Both SFF and Alliance throttled back sales to China where they could during the first part of the year.

A massive run-up in prices for sheep meat last year was stopped in its tracks with a 20% correction in December after a release of tens of thousands of tonnes of pork from state reserves in an attempt to rein-in rocketing prices ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations.

The increase in pork prices had flowed through to sheep meat and beef prices in the second half of 2019 and followed them down again after Christmas.

Imports of sheep meat from NZ to China in the first six months of 2020 fell by 10% to 117,000 tonnes, while imported NZ beef was down 6% to 99,000t versus the same period the year before.

“January to June we diversified forequarters away from China to the Middle East which picked up a bit early on,” Robinson said.

“Europe was still going in January and February as was the UK in terms of legs.”

China continued to hoover up other protein from the rest of the world during the first half of the year, however.

Pork imports more than doubled while beef was up by 27%, according to Chinese customs data.

May and July were record months for South American beef.

At the same time nearly half a million tonnes of pork was released from state reserves compared to 169,000 tonnes in the first half of last year.

But while inventories were higher than normal, particularly for beef, there was no suggestion of a glut, Robinson said.

Importers were buying on expectation of a revival in demand rather than to meet current consumption, he said.

While pork prices had eased they were still high by historic standards.

Robinson said China’s pork production had yet to recover from the devastation wrought on its pig population by African

›› More p23

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MARKETS | AUSTRALIA

inquiry into what it alleged was dumping of subsidised Australian wine in its domestic market.

The meat industry has not escaped unscathed either.

In August five beef processing plants were suspended after Chinese customs authorities claimed to have found a banned chemical in beef originating from the plants.

Plants processing sheep meat haven’t been targeted so far but Silver Fern Farms group sales manager Peter Robinson said it was becoming a factor for Chinese buyers to weigh up when dealing with Australian meat imports.

“Importers are very nervous about Australian plants being delisted… not so much tariffs.

“I think the Chinese authorities tend more to do it with a delisting.

“But there is nervousness that their product may be caught at borders or maybe subject to more testing.”

Whether it was the buyer or seller left carrying the can if the Chinese government decided to target Australian sheep meat is not a straightforward matter, according to Canterbury-based meat trader Sam Clark-Hall of Lattitude Commodities.

Most of the sheep meat trade with China is conducted on a CIF basis where the exporter would bear the liability of repatriating containers or moving them to another destination if the plant where the meat originated from were to be delisted.

“However it would be typical they would be holding some sort of deposit or leverage over the importer so could choose to deduct some of the cost out of this.”

In the case of a tariff being imposed once the meat was on the water it would be the importer’s problem.

“However if they refused to pick up the container and left it on the wharf it would be the exporter’s problem so I would expect some sort of renegotiation of price in this situation with the exporter helping their customer out with some price relief.

“That said the threat of a political dispute does create uncertainty and importers and exporters will be proceeding with caution and probably not selling too far forward.”

SFF’s Robinson said while the threat of retaliation hung over Australian sheep meat NZ exporters hadn’t yet seen any benefit in increased sales.

He said with an election looming the risk was higher than normal that a NZ politician could make comments inflammatory to China which could result in retaliation against exporters.

“We also have to be mindful that could be us at the drop of a hat too.”

keep sheep meat prices up for now despite patchy demand.

By early September SFF had sold its lamb flap production for September and October.

“The really telling part will be when we get to November and December – two of our biggest months in terms of lamb kill to see whether that demand is still there,” Robinson said.

“My feeling is that it will be okay.”

Overall pricing would be dictated by other markets however.

“Given currently weak competition for legs from the UK and forequarters from the Middle East we will see more product diverted to China and that will see a slight softening from last year of at least 10%.”

That would still be 6%-8% above the five-year average.

‘Importers are very nervous about Australian plants being delisted.’

Side-effects of tension BY: NIGEL STIRLING

R

ising tension between Australia and China could play into the hands of New Zealand sheep meat exporters.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison irked China after he led calls for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Chinese state media accused Morrison of using the call to cosy up to the United States and to deflect attention from his handling of bushfires.

The rising diplomatic tensions have had an impact on trade between the two countries.

An 80% tariff effectively stopped Australia’s wheat exports to China overnight in June.

In September China announced an

›› Continues from p20 Swine Fever and the country was struggling to fill the gap.

“At some stage China will exhaust their reserves and imports just won’t keep up and that is where beef consumption will replace pork and we will see that underlying shortage of protein kick in.”

The shortage of pork was also helping to

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23

MARKETS | CHINA

Lost opportunities for NZ sheepmeat BY: HUNTER MCGREGOR

C

hina consumes nearly half of the pork produced globally and produces a lot of this within China.

Since African swine fever first arrived in China in mid-2018, the virus has had a major impact on the national pig meat industry with estimates suggesting a up to 30% reduction in the pig herd. The actual number is most likely higher.

The reduced availability has pushed Chinese consumers to look for other protein alternatives driving a high demand

for lamb and strong prices since late in 2019. I predict this will continue to have a positive impact for New Zealand farmers in 2020 and beyond.

While China continues to grapple with challenges associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, there is plenty of demand for high quality protein to sustain its large population.

According to Beef + Lamb NZ, from October 2019 to July 2020, China corresponded to 36% ($1.066 Billion) of all lamb exports and 71% ($422.9 Million) of all mutton exports. The Chinese market is extremely important to the New Zealand agriculture industry.

When I first arrived in China in 2007 New Zealand sheep meat was seen as premium product featured on most Chinese restaurant menus.

Fast forward to 2020, everything about the Chinese market has changed.

Compared to other NZ industries such as dairy, NZ meat industry suffered from low levels of investment in brand building.

Consequently, the ongoing improvements made behind the farm gates across NZ has not translated into stronger Chinese market opportunities, driving the image of the NZ sheep meat in China backwards.

It is easy to be negative about this but there are still plenty of opportunities

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available to NZ sheep farmers in China.

I will also offer some suggestions on how we can start capitalising on some opportunities, as it’s not all bad for NZ lamb.

I started my own Chinese meat distribution business in 2015 selling Mountain River Venison. In every meeting in addition to venison, I always discuss NZ beef and lamb with the top western restaurants and hotel chains all over China.

Unfortunately back then feedback wasn’t positive and many customers could not name the NZ brands they where using. They appeared to have issues with consistent supply and quality of NZ meat.

I found this very surprising at first, and unfortunately, it was a common trend I found in discussions around China. This changed a few years ago when the NZ brand of Coastal Spring Lamb entered the Chinese market.

They have done a fantastic job at marketing, re-establishing the image of NZ meat, establishing a strong supply chain and selling NZ lamb to the top end food service throughout China. It is great to see what it is possible for NZ lamb, as they have had a very positive impact in the top end of the market.

The market has moved on and to sell something on just being from NZ or a foreign product in China is not enough any more.

Taste Pure Nature is also another interesting example. The idea and concept of this branding is good since it builds on the quality of the NZ meat products.

However, from a Chinese consumer point of view I don’t really get it. It uses generic NZ branding and feels like something that would have worked in the Chinese market five to 10 years ago when being foreign was enough. The market has moved on and to sell something on just being from NZ or a foreign product in China is not enough any more. It feels like Taste Pure Nature has taken the important first step of a long process, they have a lot of ground to cover and this impact is yet to be quantified.

Ultimately, Taste Pure Nature’s strategy

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October 2020

This is part of a Hema supermarket meat section in a downtown Shanghai, which does not stock any New Zealand Lamb. This is one of the many missed opportunities for NZ lamb suppliers in China.

in China will only be classified as a transformational success if it can create demand for NZ lamb and here is what I think they should do.

First, the social media and e-commerce landscape in China is very different to the rest of the world, and China is leading in this space.

Online sales via WeChat, Tmall, Taobao, JD, Hema/supermarkets and live streaming are years ahead of NZ. Yes, Covid-19 has pushed this further ahead again and these sales channels will also continue to evolve.

The Taste Pure Nature marketing campaign should start by focusing only on the Shanghai market. Get it right in this high-profile food trend-setting city first, then build in other large markets over time. A China-wide approach initially is not the way to go, as focus is important.

Offline (restaurants, supermarkets and other meat retail outlets) and online (which has China-wide reach anyway) needs to all work together to lift the profile of NZ Lamb in Shanghai.

Chinese consumers need to be informed that the value of NZ lamb extends beyond “grass-fed”, a term not seen as positive with most Chinese consumers. We need to listen to the consumer and quickly adjust our product mix and marketing messaging on this feedback.

From experience, the product mix will change as what you think will work will most likely not. The best market research in China is by doing (ie: selling lamb) and listening to direct feedback.

Interestingly, the Covid-19 environment has only increased the importance of a packed-in-NZ retail range. Look at what has happened with imported salmon in China to understand the new risks.

The market for salmon in China has crashed because in a Beijing wholesale market, an imported salmon cutting board (not the product but just the board) was found to be infected by the Covid-19 virus.

There will always be a place in retail for NZ lamb packed in China but if we want to demand premium price, you need to offer a premium product. The Chinese companies already selling NZ lamb do not see the packed-in-NZ opportunity. Yet, there are still plenty of opportunities for NZ farmers and entrepreneurs to establish themselves in the premium meat market in Shanghai and other Chinese centres. I am disappointed this is not already the case but optimistic for the future of NZ lamb in China.

• Hunter McGregor is a Chinese-speaking Kiwi based in Shanghai selling NZ meat into China.

25

MARKETS | OUTLOOK

Lamb market yet to shake effects of Covid-19 BY: MEL CROAD

T

he new processing season is nearly upon us, making this a perfect time to review the year to date and also focus on what is in store for lamb prospects towards 2021.

It is safe to say 2020 has been a testing year on all fronts and our lamb market has not been immune to it. To begin with, increasingly dry conditions in January already had many farmers on guard. The record money of $9/kg achieved through November 2019 saw many hold on to lambs for much longer than normal. As

the dry conditions took hold into the New Year, processors were swamped with lambs.

Backlogs grew as there were very few options to lighten stock numbers onfarm.

Processing space remained at a premium and farmgate prices were being reduced by as much as 20-30c/kg a week.

Then the Covid-19 shutdown of China in early February sent panic waves through the industry. These concerns were somewhat pushed to one side when New Zealand went into lockdown in late March.

Never in such a small space of time has there been so much working against us.

Farmgate lamb prices fell by 50c/ kg through April as meat companies

were unsure how markets were going to manoeuvre their way through the impact of Covid-19. They looked to reduce their exposure to export markets by slowing throughput at processing plants. These meat companies also grappled with spacing requirements at processing plants, which impacted their ability to process livestock efficiently. But it was a trade-off they were prepared to make to keep plants open.

From the peak of $9/kg CW in November, lamb prices continued to fall week on week before bottoming out in May at an average $6.58/kg in the North Island and $6.40/kg in the South Island – a

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October 2020

Dec

fall of between $2.40-$2.60/kg. The usual downside through this period is 45-50c/ kg. This shows the severity of the market conditions lamb has dealt with this season.

Covid-19’s spread across our global lamb market highlighted the common complexities exporters deal with. Almost overnight, values for high-end restaurant lamb cuts were slashed as, globally, lockdown regulations forced people back into their homes and away from social gathering spots such as restaurants and places of work. An early lesson was that markets with a higher proportion of retail trade weathered the storm better than those more heavily reliant on foodservice and high-end restaurant trade. And this has been the common theme since April.

Typically by April, average export values for NZ lamb start their upward march on the back of strong export demand. However, this year they have continued to fall month on month, reflecting the trying conditions Feb of our most Apr relied-upon Jun export Aug markets.

This market weakness is in stark contrast to previous years when overseas demand was strong enough to warrant monthly increases in value from key markets.

July’s average export value was $9.61/kg compared with $11.13/kg in July 2019. As a result, farmgate lamb prices have stuttered.

Since coming to rest in the mid $6/kg range, farmgate lamb prices have shown some marginal upside but it’s only half of what normally occurs through this part of the season.

Current lamb values are struggling to maintain their position at $7.20/kg in the North Island and $6.95/kg in the South Island. This time last year North Island prices were sailing past the $8.50/kg mark.

Demand for our lamb products remains much weaker than normal. The lack of demand at food service, which encompasses not only restaurants but also the tourism trade and cruise ships, has taken its toll on market returns as they involve most of the higher value cuts.

Retail demand has once again blossomed as more consumers eat at home, and traditional markets where these relationships were already well ingrained have benefited from increased export volumes. However, it hasn’t been enough to offset the lower demand for our higher-valued cuts. Only a full recovery of the foodservice sector will drive that, and unfortunately that recovery looks to be some way off yet.

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NZ average lamb export value (NZD/kg) 12.5 11.5

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NZ average lamb export value (USD/kg)

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Prices for lamb fell between $2.40-$2.60/kg CW.

WHAT IS IN STORE FOR LAMB Many winter lamb trade operators are still banking on some procurement competition to develop into October, which would see some further upside at the farmgate. Many need this upside after the earlier prices paid for store lambs.

The temporary closures of sale yards across the country through our initial lockdown period created some pentup demand for store stock when they eventually did reopen. Buyers didn’t hold back, and store lamb values catapulted by 80c/kg or more, driving per-head prices

well in excess of $100. At that time the expectation that farmgate prices would simply revert to their normal seasonal trends by September and October also encouraged more buyers into the market.

However, as witnessed in the last few months there has been very little upside in farmgate lamb prices.

And it’s going to be a tough ask in this current market environment. If we do happen to see any upside in average export values it will be short lived as these

›› More p28 27

Dec

BUSINESS | INTERNET

China’s consumers go online for lamb BY: NIGEL STIRLING

A Online purchases by Chinese consumers overall rose by 9% during the peak Covid-19 period of February to May, while retail sales dropped 16%.

›› Continues from p27 values tend to peak in October.

Processors will have to weigh up any procurement competition in the coming weeks against how margins are looking.

To date, margins have been much weaker than normal. Some winter trade operators will also look to take lambs to heavier weights to offset the stagnant pricing levels at the farm gate. Caution is advised, however, as the majority of printed schedules are already showing significant pricing reductions for lambs over 25kg carcaseweight.

Beyond the last of the winter trade lambs there will be a lull before new season lamb slaughter rates pick up.

A relatively kind winter to date has supported good lamb survival rates but

28

surge in online sales of New Zealand sheep meat during China’s lockdown continued to gain momentum even after the country opened its economy back up again.

Online purchases by Chinese consumers overall rose by 9% during the peak Covid-19 period of February to May, according to figures compiled by the NZ embassy in Beijing.

That compared to a 16% decline in all retail sales during the same period.

But Alliance Group’s general manager of sales Shane Kingston said online sales of the co-operative’s products outperformed the wider market with a 200% increase in May and a further 700% increase in July.

May’s sales were boosted by an online marketing campaign in conjunction

it’s unknown if this will be enough to offset the earlier drought-affected scanning rates.

There has been little to no indication that breeding ewe numbers were on the rise so it’s likely the lamb crop will be near to or below last year when those reports are released later this year.

There is no question that new season lamb prices are going to be significantly below this time last year. There is much weaker demand and simply too much uncertainty in the global market for prices to stage any sort of recovery. While interest has picked up for the chilled Christmas trade, the volumes procured won’t be enough to offset the overall weaker market signals.

Chinese demand should also pick up

with Beef + Lamb NZ on two of China’s largest e-commerce platforms JD.com and Alibaba’s TMall.

The campaign targeted online events run by the e-commerce giants with display advertisements on web pages and search engine optimisation marketing to attract the eyeballs of Chinese users of the platforms.

The co-operative had followed up May’s campaign by enlisting food critic and Chinese social media personality Make to promote the company’s products.

Kingston said the online space in China was “very, very cluttered” with over 25,000 meat items alone listed for sale online.

The use of so-called influencers like Make with large followings on social media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat was crucial to differentiating Alliance’s products.

as buyers start securing product for their Chinese New Year celebrations in early 2021. However, we are mindful that any improvement in interest is coming off a very low base. AgriHQ is forecasting pricing downside as our lamb slaughter rates pick up and export volumes start to lift. This will continue into the New Year.

Chances are we will face less competition from Australia this coming season as they look to actively rebuild their flocks. But the problem is not on the supply side of the equation, it’s squarely on the demand side, and until we see any sort of recovery in demand, and in particular foodservice, then lamb prices are going to face a softer outlook.

• Mel Croad is a senior analyst for AgriHQ.

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While Alliance was targeting different age groups the association with Make was aimed at younger consumers eating at home during the week.

“We built content in partnership with them that met their ethos and met ours and was able to talk to their followership in an effective way.

‘China was probably ahead of the rest of the world in terms of that type of shopping anyway.’

“We got 200,000 views which is large relative to their viewership.”

Despite the impressive gains made over lockdown, online still made up less than 10% of Alliance’s total China sales.

“But it is pretty explosive growth and we do see it being a much larger part of the overall sales we do,” Kingston said.

Silver Fern Farms group sales manager Peter Robinson said it was no surprise Chinese online consumption of meat had skyrocketed considering its early adoption of the format.

“China was probably ahead of the rest of the world in terms of that type of shopping anyway.

“Whereby the ability to have product delivered to your door in Shanghai within an hour is quite impressive.”

Robinson said SFF did not have an accurate picture of how much of its products were being sold online because its major customers did not report that information back to it.

But the company was convinced online sales would be significant from now on.

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“Because people not only in China but around the world have found a new way of shopping and as a result they know it works and they know it is reliable.

“These sorts of events change habits.”

Robinson said SFF was investing accordingly and planned to establish its own online store independent of other virtual shop fronts it was already associated with other exporters in China.

“Our major part will be getting the right platform and marketing and selling the right message.”

While SFF would hire influencers it saw less of a role for them than targeted advertising on social media and creating its own content to attract shoppers.

“We spend a bit of time on social media advertising and getting click through to our offerings whether it be on e-commerce or retail,” Robinson said.

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BUSINESS | UNITED STATES

THE LAMB COMPANY Set up by the NZ Meat Producers Board in 1964 as DEVECO to develop the North American market.

Shareholders are Alliance Group, Silver Fern Farms, ANZCO and Perthbased exporter WAMMCO. It buys beef and lamb from shareholder companies as well as non-shareholder suppliers in NZ and Australia.

Supplier of 90% of the NZ lamb sold in Canada and 60% in the US.

A build-up of frozen racks is hanging over the market and not expected to have cleared within the next few months.

Covid-19 takes toll on US trade BY: NIGEL STIRLING

T

he bombed-out food service sector has cast a shadow over the outlook for high-value lamb cuts in North America for the foreseeable future, according to a major importer.

A build-up of frozen racks is hanging over the market and is not expected to have cleared by the time New Zealand production gets into full swing in the next few months.

“We have been discounting like everybody else and have run up against some pretty significant price competition,” the Lamb Company’s chief executive Tony Ruffo said.

“Everybody is holding significant stocks and of course more animals are being produced which is producing more racks.”

Owned by NZ and Australian exporters the Lamb Company is the largest importer of NZ sheep meat and beef operating in the North American market with a billion dollars of sales last year.

Its sales slumped 30% overnight in

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late March as North Americans deserted restaurants and locked themselves in their homes while the coronavirus pandemic took hold across the continent.

A combination of booming retail demand as people were forced to eat at home and meat shortages created by mass closures and production bottlenecks at virus-hit processing plants meant the Lamb Company had been able to claw back much of those losses.

Lamb racks unwanted by food service buyers were unpacked and cut down again into cutlets for supermarket shelves.

However, this fell short of mopping up all of the surplus.

Inventories of frozen boneless legs were also higher than normal.

“A lot of legs are used for events whether it be conventions or meetings or other group functions that have all been pretty much stopped,” Ruffo said.

“Although legs are a pretty large retail item… and [because] there is still good demand at the retail level the impact on that product has not been as significant.”

By mid-September rack prices were $4-5/

lb down from their pre-pandemic peak.

A recovery in rack prices was tied to the food service sector getting back on its feet again – the timing of which remained highly uncertain.

Increased takeaway options and more outdoor dining were being used by restaurants but hadn’t been able to make up for the loss in sales created by physical distancing requirements inside their premises.

“Food service is still well back,” Ruffo said.

“I do not know what the official numbers are but in our case it is less than 50% of what it was.

“Certainly a vaccine and treatments when they are readily available to cover off a large majority of the population that will get us a large step forward towards returning to normal but we haven’t factored that into the coming year.

“If anything right now we are concerned about what the impact will be from what most of the health experts here are saying will be a significant second wave.”

The Lamb Company had been talking to NZ exporters nervous about the capacity of the North American market to absorb the volume of racks it had in the past.

Ruffo was hopeful of buying as many racks as last year although he said the proportion of chilled to frozen would need to be higher to cater for increased demand from retailers.

“Right now the plan is to procure in line with what we did last year.

“The challenge is going to be next winter [but] by that time we should have moved through a good chunk of the frozen inventories and we should be able to take a bit of frozen prior to that.”

31

BUSINESS | EQUITY PARTNERSHIPS

Equity partnerships in sheep and beef farming are less common.

Succession, equity partners and people BY: PETER FLANNERY

F

or the 20 years from about 1995 through to 2015 a huge number of dairy farm equity partnerships were put together. Some were spectacularly successful and others spectacularly disastrous.

I’ll come to the “why” in a moment.

Dairy equity partnerships were possible partly because of the profitability within them. With profitability and a strong commodity outlook, they were seen as a good passive investment for those with capital, and a good career progression for those with limited capital but good expertise, i.e. sharemilkers.

Equity partnerships in sheep and beef were less common, partly because of the lack of profitability and the lack of young people with both capital and expertise.

There have been a few, but the numbers pale into insignificance compared with the dairy industry.

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Equity partnerships have also played a role in business succession. When a family member is brought into part ownership of the farm they are effectively forming an equity partnership. Sure, there is no outside investor but they are equity partnerships nonetheless (although sometimes there is also an opportunity for a non-family member to buy into the business).

It gives a young couple a start and it retains family investment/interest in the property. So, no family involved but business succession nonetheless. This actually raises a point. We all refer to “family succession”, whereas we really should be talking “business succession”.

Equity partnerships and business succession can, and do, overlap.

Profitability in sheep and beef farming has improved. Sure, right at the moment Covid-19 is creating uncertainty but it has also led to historically low interest rates.

Capital at the moment is cheap, and a well

run sheep and beef unit can generate good returns if lamb can stay above $6.50/kg and beef $5.50/kg.

The average age of farmers continues to rise, and business succession continues to be a challenge. An equity partnership can be a viable and good option for succession.

It may or may not involve a family member, and the passive investors may or may not be family members.

As I said, with low interest rates and reasonable returns there is a case to be made for non-farming family members to keep their money “in the farm”. And just like the dairy equity partnerships, some of these will be spectacularly successful and others will be spectacularly disastrous.

Why? As any successful property investor will tell you, the first three considerations for property investment are Location, Location, Location. Similarly, the first three considerations for an equity partnership are People, People, People.

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October 2020

I often think I keep beating the same drum but that is because it is important.

Success in any business, and indeed any relationship, is enhanced by having alignment on values, purpose and vision.

Like it or not, we all have an inherent set of core values. Values influence our behaviour and it is our behaviour, or what we do, that influences our results. When the pressure comes on we will revert to our core values.

Here are some examples.

Someone who values honesty will revert to the truth under pressure, whereas someone who does not will revert to lying.

Someone who values self over others will be first in the lifeboat when the ship starts going down. Someone who values teamwork and collaboration will work well together when the pressure comes on, whereas someone who doesn’t is likely to head off in their own direction and make decisions without consultation, which impact on others.

So, back to People, People, People. The first person to analyse is yourself. Have a good long and honest look in the mirror and answer this question truthfully.

“Am I the right person to be going into partnership with?” If you put too much value in control, independence and self, then you are definitely not the right person.

The second group to analyse are those you are potentially going into business with. What are their values? They do not have to have the same values as you but their values must at least be complementary. For example, you may value big picture thinking whereas your business partner may value detail. So, while you may find each other frustrating, if you both value teamwork and collaboration you can combine to get good synergy.

The third group is the partnership as a whole. The partnership is a group of individuals, with their own set of core values, coming together to form a business partnership. Under what set of core values will they agree to do business with each other?

You can agree to a set of business core values, but if those values are in conflict with any of the individuals’ own values they will struggle to adhere to them.

That will be the root cause of the start

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The people you are potentially going into business, their values must at least be complementary.

of a relationship breakdown. Once the relationship starts to break down it can be difficult to stem the tide.

Values are one thing, but purpose also plays a part. Other than making money, what is the purpose of the new partnership and what are the reasons for investing?

Consider the following two examples: • A retiring farmer wants a young couple with energy, enthusiasm and capital to do the work and provide some capital he can remove from the business for his own purpose. That is fine, but if he wants to remain firmly in control and still sees the property as “my farm”, then he is not entering the partnership with the right purpose and it will most likely fail.

• A young driven and enthusiastic couple wants to find a retiring farmer to leave money in the farm and expects him to then just sit quietly in the corner with no input while they run the farm to their own agenda, it will also most likely fail. Once again, the wrong purpose.

There needs to be clarity why the partnership is being formed, and there needs to be something in it for everyone.

Everyone needs to win.

Finally, you need to have alignment and clarity of vision. How do you see this business looking in five years time, and in 10 years time? What is the end game, and then what? How do you exit?

It is easy to gain agreement on the vision at the start. The trick is agreeing on the plan to achieve the vision and then implementing it.

Values and purpose will most likely

remain constant but the vision and plan to achieve the vision will constantly change. Therefore it needs to be constantly reviewed and revised. The vision needs to be designed and agreed to by the partnership’s directors – governance.

The plan to achieve the vision needs to be designed by management and agreed to by the directors and, once agreed, needs to be implemented by management. This gets complicated and murky because often the management team is also part of the governance team.

The lines of responsibility get blurred, and it is common for governance to interfere with management and management to interfere in governance. Unless there is a very special relationship with each other this will not bring out the best in the individuals and the partnership.

If you get all of the above right the probability of success will be enhanced: get it wrong and it will undoubtedly fail.

How do you get it right? Sort it out at the start, and, in my view, there has not been enough of this done. Do your due diligence, take your time and get someone to help you, and be prepared to walk away before it starts.

Marry in haste and repent at leisure.

• Peter Flannery is a Southland-based farm consultant who started Farm Plan 10 years ago after five years as a stock agent and 20 years as a rural banker. Farm Plan specialises in business planning, financial management, business succession and equity partnership facilitation. Find out more at www.farm-plan. co.nz

33

BUSINESS | RESEARCH

Co-operative research delivers for Aussie sheepfarmers BY: DR KEN GEENTY

T

he recently completed Sheep Cooperative Research Centre (Sheep CRC) in Australia is a shining example of research effectively delivering gamechanging technologies for farmers.

Over a period of 18 years from 2001, the three CRC terms have transformed the Australian sheep industry to greater productivity and profit under the mantra “concept to impact”.

This spectacular transformation results from co-operation between four state departments of primary industries (DPIs), producer organisations, universities, commercial companies and farming groups. All 40 partners work together, with financial and in-kind contributions matched dollar for dollar by the Australian federal government’s multi-million-dollar investment.

The CRC concept has been widely used across many industries in Australia including farming, manufacturing, telecommunications and mining. The farming sector has seen CRCs in wool, sheep, beef, and predator control.

Much of the emerging Sheep CRC technology is applicable to our New Zealand sheep industry as are aspects of the highly successful co-operative research model. Press releases and detailed reports can be found by Googling “Sheep CRC”.

This author was privileged to be part of the Sheep CRC between 2004 and 2013 while based at the University of New England at Armidale in northern New South Wales. Insights here are from my role as operations manager of the Sheep CRC’s Information Nucleus (IN), run at eight DPI research sites in four states of Australia with involvement of some 32 science and technical staff.

The IN sheep genomics programme, reputedly one of the largest of its type in the world, saw some 25,000 lambs born to artificial insemination across the eight

34

Sheep using a walk-over weighing and auto-drafting system near Armidale ‘heading for greener pastures’.

sites over five years. Around 50 production traits were measured in all lambs, and one third were DNA tested using 50k single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chips, each from a drop of blood. Each SNP represented a chunk of DNA, some relating to a gene or group of genes controlling targeted production traits.

The schematic of the IN programme below shows linkages between the eight research sites, Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs), and Sheep Genomics, with the central Sheep CRC database. Research projects were broadly grouped into meat, wool and easy-care programmes.

On the back of the central IN programme the many research dimensions included meat and wool quality, genomic breeding values, e-sheep systems for precision management, easy-care sheep, animal health including parasites,

reproductive performance, and various management regimes. A prerequisite for research was that applied deliverables be completed within the time frame of each 5-6 year CRC term.

Other important activities were information dissemination to farmers, and student teaching including postgraduates at some participating universities.

One of the big hits from this CRC has been delivery of innovative genomic breeding values. These were estimated from calibration of SNPs against traditional estimated breeding values (EBVs) from measured traits. A major benefit of genomic EBVs is wider use in pedigree linked or related animals, giving greater genetic reach.

Another plus is ability to provide estimates in young animals. For example, genomic EBVs for post-weaning

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liveweights can be obtained for young lambs from a blood sample, thus speeding up the rate of genetic gain. Use of genomic EBVs for difficult and expensive-tomeasure traits, such as meat eating quality, is invaluable. Recorded measurements are needed only in the reference animals used for initial calibrations for the genomic EBVs. The financial power of genomics has been quantified in a recent press release

by Sheep CRC CEO Professor James Rowe.

Economic analysis estimated a A$121 million (NZ$130) net present value for adoption and impact on productivity projected over the 2015-29 period. This means a $2.55 (NZ$2.75) return for each dollar spent on genomics by the Sheep CRC, which is conservative according to Rowe because benefits of associated and ongoing genetic improvement are cumulative.

An important reason for increased adoption of this DNA technology, currently delivered by Australian genomics company Neogen with some 50,000 SNP tests for ram breeders in 2018, has been a reduction in the cost of each test from an initial $50 (NZ$54) to $27 (NZ$29.10).

Parentage tests using lower density SNP chips are available at less cost again.

Another high impact area for the Sheep CRC has been the use of e-sheep technologies for precision management.

The technology relies on radio frequency identification (RFID) eartags in the sheep, which can be recorded by an electronic tag reader. For practical reasons there is also a corresponding visual tag number.

A raft of e-sheep applications has been developed including: • Walk-over weighing • Auto-drafting • Pedigree-matchmaker Probably the most commonly used application has been walk-over weighing.

This simply involves a raceway with weighing scales and a tag reader. Sheep can be either manually moved through the system or left to voluntarily pass over the scales. The latter usually requires an incentive for the sheep, such as moving to a fresh paddock or to access supplementary feed. Most tag readers also record time and date of weighing, with the data able to be downloaded easily to a computer for further processing.

The auto-drafting option has the

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Sheep CRC Information Nucleus Flocks Trangie Cowra

Rutherglen

Hamilton

Industry Flocks

Armidale

Sheep CRC Programs Meat

Sheep CRC Information Nucleus Flocks Database

Wool Easy Care

Struan Katanning

sheepGENOMICS

Left: A schematic of the Information Nucleus with DPI flocks in New South Wales (Armidale, Trangie and Cowra), Victoria (Rutherglen and Hamilton), South Australia (Struan and Turretfield) and West Australia (Katanning) linked to the IN database and research programmes with input from Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) and Sheep Genomics.

Turretfield

additional ability of drafting sheep according to pre-set criteria such as particular weight ranges. This can allow for sheep below a certain target weight to be preferentially drafted off to feed supplements. Alternatively, some farmers use the system for decisions on targeted animal health treatments including drenching for internal parasites.

Another application this author was actively involved in was maintenance of ewe body condition during pregnancy by giving lighter ewes access to feed supplements. With the system shown in the photo, manually assisted ewe throughputs were 400 per hour while voluntary walk-over counts were around 300 ewes per day.

The Pedigree Matchmaker option simply involves having a walk-over weighing and recording setup strategically placed in a paddock during the lambing period. As ewes walk over the system followed by their lamb(s) the tag numbers are recorded in sequence so the data can identify lambs belonging to each ewe. This avoids the often disruptive process of manually tagging lambs and recording their mothers in the paddock during lambing.

The relevance of research findings, such as those above regarding application on commercial farms, is sometimes questioned due to the very nature of experimental environments. Results are usually obtained amid intensive recording and sometimes compromising experimental requirements.

The Sheep CRC and co-operating state DPIs minimised any disruption, with experienced farm managers over the eight research farms working closely with

technical and science staff to make sure management was as close to commercial conditions as possible.

Similarity of reproduction in the IN research flocks to industry standards reflects efforts towards conformity to commercial farming. Ewe conception rate of 72% in the IN with artificial insemination compared well with natural mating on farms. Causes of lamb mortality monitored in the IN flocks during 2007 to 2011 showed that, of the 25,000 lambs born, mortality averaged 21% for Merino ewes and 15% for crossbreds.

Autopsies on some 3200 dead lambs revealed dystocia (difficult births) and starvation-mismothering accounted for 72% of deaths. These figures were similar to previously published estimates in both New Zealand and Australia, with the similar recommendation that lamb birth weight for optimum survival was in the 4-8kg range.

In conclusion, it is this author’s opinion, after this rewarding experience with cooperative research, that it is generally more effective and beneficial to farming than the contestable model.

Participating partners add strength by working together towards common outcomes without potential competitive barriers around contestable funding and exclusive intellectual property. It is suggested that application of some elements of the CRC model in our New Zealand research environment would pay dividends.

A summary of the 2001-2019 Sheep CRC and its achievements can be found on www.sheepcrc.org.au

35

BUSINESS | CAMPAIGN

Spreading the word on NZ lamb

S

ocial media influencers have been used as part of a Taste Pure Nature retail campaign to grow awareness of New Zealand’s grass-fed lamb.

Targeting “conscious foodies” in the Tri-State area of New York, nine social influencers were part of a wider marketing campaign carried out by Taste Pure Nature, Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) and Silver Fern Farms (SFF). By sharing grass-fed lamb recipes with their followers, the influencers’ content generated more than 550,000 impressions.

Michael Wan, B+LNZ’s Global Manager – New Zealand Red Meat Story says the campaign aimed to create awareness and preference for NZ grass-fed lamb and the

Imagery used for NZ’s Taste Pure Nature campaign.

Silver Fern Farms branded retail product range. “We wanted to educate conscious foodie consumers on the benefits of NZ grass-fed lamb and use the influencer content to both inspire and direct people to the three retail locations in New York: Fairway Market, Morton Williams and NetCost Market.”

A survey on behalf of B+LNZ of 2000 US consumers explored how people were becoming more environmentally minded, what they expected from brands and products and how their purchasing habits were shifting. Results show 85% of Americans have made at least one positive change in their lifestyle in the past year.

Nearly seven in ten of those surveyed said buying food products that are

sustainably raised or produced was a priority and Americans would pay an average of 37% more for meat or other animal products if they knew the animal was humanely treated.

Nick Beeby, Chair of New Zealand Farm Assured Incorporated (NZFAI) which oversees New Zealand Farm Assurance Programme (NZFAP) says the industry has built a comprehensive and aggressive marketing campaign in the US, and the trust built into the Taste Pure Nature brand helps drive more value and ultimately higher premiums for its product.

“The system’s in place and the global demand is there, now we need more farms to get assured.”

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37

BUSINESS | DATA

Using figures with mid-micron sheep BY: JAMES HOBAN

F

igures are a fantastic tool when the data behind them is robust and the limitations and validity of the figures are well understood by the people using them. In the Corriedale world, indexes have been a contentious topic for years.

While not the only breed grappling with some of the Sheep Improvement Ltd (SIL) complexities and politics, Corriedales and other mid-micron sheep pose a slightly more complicated picture than some other breeds. The most sensible wisdom is that estimated breeding values (EBVs), indices and structural traits need to be balanced. Terminal breeds are a relatively simple breeding proposition compared with a maternal. The NZ terminal worth (NZTW) and NZ maternal worth (NZMW) indices reflect the main important traits

of each type of sheep. Most maternal breeds are strong woolled and provide an umbrella for breeders largely focused on growth and fertility ahead of wool traits.

SIL can handle wool traits, and as a result

Suggesting NZMW is a uniform index, which all maternal breeds can be adequately compared with, is misleading.

Corriedales and other breeds are able to use a tailored index that reflects the wool value of the sheep and weights it accordingly to other traits.

When compared with strong wool breeds using the NZMW index in isolation,

Corriedales generally struggle to stack up on figures because their wool value, a key trait and focus for Corriedale breeders, is not adequately reflected. As a result, mid-micron breeders can use a mid-micron index. This becomes more relevant to them and their clients than the NZMW. Suggesting NZMW is a uniform index, which all maternal breeds can be adequately compared with, is misleading.

Some breeders adopt their own indices using the range of traits they rate as most important – this is different again.

There is a conflict between using raw data and EBVs. Many clients still revert to looking at a ram’s weaning weight or fleece weight in kilograms. However, both of these are influenced by feed and environmental conditions. EBVs are more relevant because they put that sheep’s value for a particular trait in perspective relative to the flock, and account for other

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TOP TIPS

Indexes are contentious in the Corriedale world.

influences such as birth rank. The closest breeders come to consensus on the use of indices and EBVs is when they discuss balance.

Figures are a tool to use but they do not pick up all the faults that a good eye does. Conversely, EBVs and indices

complete part of a big picture concerning an animal’s merit, which no one can see simply by looking at an animal. Breeders and clients who consider a range of tools available, and balance the traits on offer in a way that aligns with their own business goals, tend to make the best decisions.

• Know the index a ram breeder is presenting – check if they use a standard index or tweak it in any way, for example, adding a trait index on to the standard index.

• Check if the index is from a withinflock or across-flock analysis.

• Take time to understand the traits included in the index and the weighting of each. If the weighting is understood then a client might choose a top performing ram based on key EBVs rather than index alone.

• Check if the breeder records all the included traits or whether some rely on default values.

• Are there traits that are important that the index does not include?

Looking at EBVs as well as the index is a good way to find the sheep that best suit the client’s goals. For example, dag score, longevity or wool curvature might be valued traits that the index does not account for.

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BUSINESS | EFFICIENCY

The way to go: Lambs weaned off mum and sent straight to slaughter.

Trimming out the fat BY: CAMPBELL WOOD

E

fficiency – Doing more from less. We hear this all the time everywhere we look, with businesses always looking at ways of trimming out the fat.

What does this mean for a sheep farmer?

Farmers in general have been doing this for generations, albeit without the fancy wording around it you hear from the corporates, they have had to do this to survive.

An example is in the past 16 years AgriFocus has been operating, our average operating surplus per stock unit (gross income minus farm working expenses), has grown from $43 to $72 per stock unit.

Yes, commodity prices have a lot to do with this, but so does a lift in production measures, with lifts in lambing percentages and carcaseweights across the board.

Now, more than ever, is time to focus on efficiencies in our farm working expenses.

Commodity prices in the red meat sector have been very favourable for the past few seasons.

Yes, every year throws its different challenges at us which we can’t control,

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October 2020

but this increase in income has allowed farmers to catch up on a few deferred maintenance jobs, but it has also allowed some complacency to creep into businesses with a few extra costs creeping in on the farm, and in the personal expenses.

This is where careful planning needs to come in this season.

Now, more than ever, is time to focus on efficiencies in our farm working expenses.

Very early days yet, but the outlook is not as rosy as it has been the past couple of years. This means we need to make some adjustments now to ensure we still have a positive bottom line. Cashflow is King, and the problem in sheep farming is it’s generally poor, ie; we spend money for the first six months of the financial year without any income, and then our income comes in over the second half of the financial year.

This is always going to be the case, as we need to spend money to keep the system

running which is normally setting us up for the following season, but we need to get a better understanding of how the decisions we make now will impact us later in the season.

If we spend too much now, then if the income isn’t as high as we had expected later in the year we could be left with a deficit.

Gone are the days of making losses and relying on the bank to clear out the overdraft every few years. Some businesses are not reliant on the bank at all, but our clients have gone from an average of $131 debt per stock unit 16 years ago, to $422 debt per stock unit now, however the interest charges as a percentage of income was 17% 16 years ago, and is 15% now, so we are all lucky that interest rates are low, which is helping.

We think the prudent thing coming into the spring is to cut out any of the excess in both the farm working costs and personal expenditure. Maybe we need to put off any of the wish list items for now and pull the repairs and maintenance back to a minimum. There are too many unknowns out there. If the money ends up coming in later on, then maybe carry out those jobs in autumn once you know what your year is looking like.

We also need to start focusing on income per kg of drymatter and how to maximise this. A lamb sent to slaughter straight off mum is going to be more profitable than a lamb held until May or June.

What is the opportunity cost of that grass from weaning to winter? To achieve this people are moving more percentage of their flocks to a terminal ram, focusing on that rapid meat growth and yield to get the lambs away earlier. Also getting the one-year ewes to the terminal and lambing slightly earlier to get those lambs but also the cull ewes away earlier to free up space for other stock onfarm.

This has caused a movement away from the traditional meat and wool breeds, and more into the straight meat breeds.

Most farmers are still traditional in their main flock with strong meat and wool, but for how long? We all know where wool returns are.

• Campbell Wood is a partner at Agrifocus who are accountants and farm financial advisers, based in Southland and Otago.

41

BUSINESS | OPINION

Ignoring efficiency is not acceptable. It needs serious thought to pursue robust definitions for both farming and the environment, these two interests are inextricably entwined.

Efficiency or Intensification: The weak link in land use and farming intensity modelling.

Talk efficiency not intensification BY: RAY MCLEOD

T

he ignorance and confusion on show about what is efficiency and what is intensification in the sheep/beef and dairying sector is frightening.

Truly efficient farmers risk being suffocated by the ill-informed enforcing poorly considered regulation. Regulation resulting from modelling. Thinking that ignores efficiency and employs a weak definition of what constitutes intensification.

If we get more kilometres on a litre of petrol that is efficient and we collectively welcome it. If we get more milk, or meat per hectare that is intensification and efficiency is ignored. The definition provided to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment

by Motu in its Land Use and Farming Intensity report of November 2013 is as follows; “We define farming intensity as production per hectare (kg milksolids per hectare for dairy farms, kg meat and/or fibre per hectare for sheep/beef farms).�

42

These are seriously deficient intensification measures for both beef, sheep and dairy. They studiously ignore efficiency gains available due to improvements in management, animal efficiency and emerging technology, for example. It is difficult to define intensification and it is a conundrum we all face when modelling farm systems but let us try to get it right.

Ignoring efficiency is not acceptable. It needs serious thought to pursue robust definitions for both farming and the environment, these two interests are inextricably entwined. This seemingly is not happening where it matters the most.

Take for example the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Rural Workshop presentation of February 2019.

The word efficiency is mentioned in the text eight times in 64 powerpoint slides and not defined at all, not even hinted at. The word intensive was mentioned four times in the text and not defined and again not even hinted at.

So how can we suggest farmers move to less-intensive systems when we do not have a definition provided and it appears

neither does the ICCC, otherwise surely it would have used it? The Motu report provides a definition that is so superficial it is dangerous. The risk is efficient farmers will get taxed more, on the basis of a flawed and deficient understanding of basic production principles.

There is no room in the burgeoning primary sector regulatory industry in New Zealand for efficiency, innovation, and technology improvements. Dare to produce more from less and you risk getting a punitive tax levied on you or regulated out of business. Why? Because the regulatory system is not good at listening. It is instead creating a regulatory/ technology time warp by not showing any interest in how efficiency may contribute to better environmental outcomes. One size does not fit all, the approach being taken is incredibly lazy, destructive, and dismissive.

The primary sector is not blame-free here. It grapples with the same definition issues but needs to provide well-considered direction and balanced dialogue for policymakers, think tanks and politicians, on farm system efficiency. The risk otherwise is having to counter definitions around critical farming measures driven by the ill-informed, the cynical and downright hostile NGO and activist interests. And that all occurs before we can focus on sane discussion of truly helpful ideas and advances in farming methods.

For my money producing more from less seems like a pretty good deal. The fewer resources required to make a kilogram of milksolids or red meat may put a farm over some almost arbitrary regulated limit, but it clearly is not wrong. It is really an environmental win. Unless you want the tax to fund your future income? • Ray Macleod is an agricultural economist for Landward Management, Dunedin.

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BUSINESS | AUSTRALIA

Aussie wool markets doing it tough BY: VICTORIA O’SULLIVAN

A

fter an all-time high around two years ago the Australian wool price has faced a tough run, with the benchmark Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) losing around 46% of its value on a monthly average basis since September 2018. And while there was a market correction in 2019, 2020 has brought with it the full weight of the coronavirus pandemic, depressing prices further.

According to National Australia Bank (NAB) senior economist Phin Ziebell, Australia is almost completely dependent on China as an export market. Up to 80% of production by volume is shipped to China and has been for the last decade.

Chinese buying activity had been slowing before the pandemic hit and, while Chinese industrial production had largely recovered, Chinese consumers remained cautious and forthcoming export

demand was uncertain, he said.

Clothing sales across a number of major economies had crashed spectacularly in the first wave of the pandemic, but have recovered somewhat faster than many expected. However, with the hit to incomes across the world, he said it’s likely discretionary purchasing will remain limited. A change to buying behaviours could also be on the cards.

“We must also consider the possibility of a structural move away from traditional wool-heavy office attire if working from home becomes entrenched.”

Ziebell said market factors meant wool was unlikely to see limited upside for the remainder of 2020. “While a poor price will likely lead to domestic stockpiling, it’s hard to see a pick-up in demand fundamentals, and a higher AUD will be a drag. NAB sees the EMI around $10/kg this year and $12 next year.”

Australian wool production has fallen 63% since 1989-90. Consumer moves away

from wool and unsustainable support culminated in the collapse of the wool reserve price scheme in 1991, leading to a structurally lower wool clip in Australia.

The stockpile took a decade to sell down and by the mid-2000s China was the sole remaining large buyer of Australian wool.

There has also been a move away from mixed farming in the sheep-wheat belt towards cropping-only enterprises, with fencing, sheds and management expertise now gone. Many remaining sheep producers have transitioned to crossbreeds for fat lamb production and, with lamb prices strong, the incentive to focus on meat rather than wool is considerable.

While wool production in other major exporting countries has also fallen, Chinese domestic production has continued to increase. Australia produced nearly 30% of the world’s wool at the beginning of the 21st century but now produces around 20% – roughly comparable to Chinese domestic production.

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45

MANAGEMENT | LAMBS

The first port of call for a mouthful of grass or milk is to maintain the animal.

Mum’s milk drives good weaning numbers Achieving a high percentage of lambs “off mum” takes top genetics and good management, as Gore-based farm consultant Graham Butcher reports.

S

heep farmers like to talk about scanning and lambing percentages, and those that achieve good numbers of lambs weaned off mum often add that one to their repertoire. And for good reason. There is a large range in the percentage of lambs killed off mum and it’s not all related to the farm, stage of development, altitude, aspect, etc.

Much of it is related to genetics and management. Most farmers know what the important factors are but not all farmers

46

achieve good drafts. The difference is probably all about execution. Doing the right things at the right time to make sure it all comes together when lambs hit the ground.

If, for whatever reason, you just can’t get good drafts, the factors in play are still important because they will add to your weaning weights, and that’s good business as well.

You will have seen the AgriHQ graphs in the papers showing average per kg lamb pricing – a five-year average and the last

two years – one each for the North and South Islands. A recent South Island graph showed that between late December and early March the average premium available per 18kg lamb was $14 over the past five years. Two years ago it was $17 and last year a massive $25. So, early premiums are very significant.

Another factor is feed savings. We all know that any animal growing fast takes less feed to achieve a given weight. It works that way because the first port of call for a mouthful of grass or milk is

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October 2020

RYAN SHAW LAMB PRODUCTION RESULTS • 2019 season 75% of our lambs off mum at an average weight of 19.1kg • 2020 season 85% if our lambs off mum at an average weight of 18.5kg.

• 2019 average lamb price for the season of $141 • 2020 average lamb price for the season $152

PAKI-ITI ROMNEY & ROMTEX • • • • •

160 clients last year purchased or leased Paki-iti rams Bred on a 870ha hard hill country property rising up to 637m asl (2090f asl) Breeding for constitution, longevity, structural soundness and then performance Constitution = moderate frame, deep bodied type of sheep Performance = Growth, fertility, survival, meat yield, incorporating FE tolerance and parasite resistance PAKI-ITI SUFFOLK • 10 years of breeding Romtex, utilizing a stabilised SIL recorded Romtex flock • Paki-iti maternal Romtex offer faster growth rates and higher meat yields • Romtex rams sold as 22th rams

to maintain the animal. Once that’s done, the rest of the mouthful goes to growth. If we are underfeeding there’s not much left for growth, most of the feed intake goes to maintenance. So it takes longer and more maintenance • 147 clients purchased or leased Paki-iti rams last year feed.

If you take a 28kg lamb at weaning • 97% terminal sale rams fully SIL performance and grow it at about 150g/day it will recorded PAKI-ITI SUFTEX sold and leased last take an additional 140kg DM•to400+ get Suffolk and Suftex rams PAKI-ITI SUFFOLK to a good killable weight. Over year 500 years of C/T scanning lambs, that’s about 300 bales •of5balage • 10 or 6.5ha swedes to put that into years of wintering ram hoggets on steep hill country • 97 to years of breeding rams perspective. Again, good business grow very fast.

BUT BREEDING IS MORE THAN NUMBERS Then we can look at lower costs It is for about longevity, structural soundness, constitution early killed lambs, less work and you and then the performance numbers. get paid for lambs that might have died Visit weaning.

Think about what 147post clients purchased or leased Paki-itiyou rams last year could do with the feed saved, the 300to view our breeding programs 97%bales terminal fully performance fromsale 500rams lambs offSIL at weaning. recorded Perhaps provide more feed to lambed PAKI-ITI SUFTEX 400+ Suffolk and Suftex rams sold and leased lastMorton 06 328 5772 PAKI-ITI SUFFOLK Stewart • Andrew Morton & 06SUFTEX 328 2856 hoggets. year Toofme, you talk about the scanned R D 54 Kimbolton, Manawatu • pakiroms@farmside.co.nz 5 years C/Tifscanning • 500 Suffolk and Suftex rams sold and leased last season percent you are talking about on ewe 10 years of wintering ram hoggets steep hill country • Breeding for constitution, longevity, structural soundness and then performance management from weaning to 97 years of breeding rams • Constitution = moderate frame, deep bodied type of sheep scanning.

If you IS talk aboutTHAN lambing • Performance = Fast growth, high meat yield, high survival and incorporating BUT BREEDING MORE NUMBERS you are talking about meat quality traits (INF, tenderness and PH) It is percent about longevity, structural soundness, constitution • 12 years of wintering ram hoggets on steep hill country - constitution to tailing.

But, if you andmanagement then the performance numbers.

• Suftex bred for darkness talk about percent lambs off mum, Visit you are talking about the whole year’s management. to view our breeding programs At a recent Beef+Lamb conference in Gore I led a discussion with two Stewart Morton 06 328 5772 • Andrew Morton 06 328 2856 top Southland farmers that achieved RD 54 Kimbolton, • pakiroms@farmside.co.nz outstanding percents offManawatu mum who Visit to view our breeding programs outlined what they were doing.

Ryan Shaw operates 330 hectares Stewart Morton 06 328 5772 / 0274 453 110 rolling to steep country near Ohai with a combination of 1250 ewes (168% • Andrew Morton 06 328 2856 tailed), 320 in-lamb hoggets, 190 bulls R D 54, Kimbolton, Manawatu • pakiroms@farmside.co.nz and 350 dairy cows wintered. He’s

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JOHN LINDSAY SINGLE EWE Average birth date: September 2 Average birth weight: 5.5kg Days to slaughter: 67 days Live weight: 41.3kg Slaughter weight: 19.84kg Growth rate per day: 534g TWIN EWE Average birth date: September 2 Average birth weight: 4.75kg Days to slaughter: 81 days Live weight: 39.4kg Slaughter weight: 18.93kg Growth rate per day: 427g Growth rate per day per ewe: 854g TRIPLET EWE Average birth date: September 2 Average birth weight: 4kg Days to slaughter: 81 days Live weight: 39.4kg Slaughter weight: 18.93kg Growth rate per day: 437g Growth rate per day per ewe: 1311g Shepherd Katey Craig at Otiwhiti Station moving a mob of ewes and lambs.

only been there four years. In 2018, 75% of lambs were killed off mum at 19.1kg.

Remarkable! In 2019, 85% at 18.5kg was achieved. Average lamb price for 2018 was $141 and for 2019, $152. Works lambs are above 36kg and full weaning takes place mid January. Skim drafting is done.

Ryan discussed the key points that help him achieve this.

• Maximum use of terminal rams.

• Ewe and lamb rotations, fully fed.

• Tetraploid grasses for early spring growth, late flowering.

• Good ewe condition (CS 4).

• Having a mix of cattle (fewer worms).

• Drafting from about day 75.

I would add another point: Ryan’s aim is for a Poll Dorset x Texel ewe, with rams of that cross bought.

Lactation ability is critical, and feeding so that ability can be expressed is also critical. The thing about these factors is that we all know about them and it’s not rocket science. It’s all about execution, making a call and then actually putting it in place.

John Lindsay also presented. John runs 1,571ha, including 648ha hill country close to Dipton, with a diverse stock mix

48

of sheep (7500 ewes and 2100 hoggets), breeding cows and deer. All up, about 17,000 stock units.

John runs an interesting breeding policy.

There is a base flock of Wairere ewes that are mated to Polled Dorset x Texel rams carrying the Inverdale gene and Loinmax.

This provides Inverdale ewe lambs to a flock mated to terminal sires.

The Inverdale flock lambs at 187%, and 84% of lambs are weaned off mum by December 20. Remarkable really.

If we take the Wairere flock into the overall average figures, we get to about 50% off mum at over 18kg.

How does John do it?

He talked about maintaining feed quality by integrating cattle and deer.

Pasture grooming needs to start before quality drops off.

Lambing management was also important, with staggered lambing.

Flats are intensively shepherded and paddocks split with electric fences into mobs of about 40 ewes. Paddocks are shed off at about 5% left to lamb, and numbers shuffled depending on feed – the “Southland Shuffle”.

Keeping ewe weights as constant as

possible and focusing on the bottom end was important. Average weight is not a good measure – you can achieve the target average weight but all that means is that half the flock is underweight.

Triplets are scanned and set stocked two weeks prior to lambing. Twins are added at about three or four days pre-lamb.

Stocking rate is about eight ewes/ha, with a 1500kg cover aimed for.

After lambing, cattle are introduced as required, skim drafted every 10 days with a cut-off at 37kg for milk lambs. Balance of weaning is done 20th December.

Pasture renewal critical to this operation.

There are common themes running through Ryan’s and John’s presentations.

A very significant one is the genetic makeup of these high performing flocks, with Polled Dorset featuring.

Using a Polled Dorset will increase the size of ewes and probably necessitate removal of wet/dries, but this is a small price to pay.

I believe we underestimate the importance of lactation ability and feed intake for its full expression.

These two farms and farmers show what is possible.

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• Tested at .65 since 2007 • Tested at .67 since 2019 • Industry leaders in FE, Worm Tolerance and MZMW

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49

MANAGEMENT | SHEEP EFFICIENCY

Fewer, more efficient ewes BY: PETER ANDREW

ANIMAL HEALTH AND FERTILITY These days well-fed sheep are heavy and have a high condition score. High condition score ewes are healthy and are less interested in dying than their skinny colleagues.

This allows the animal health spend to be more proactive. Less ewes and more lambs is all about fertility. Some farmers suggest we want less focus on our sheep fertility, they want our stud breeders to move away from the selection of Number of Lambs Born (NLB). They are concerned our scanning results are getting too high.

We were all probably saying that before 2000 when the district's lambing was at 100% and some crazy guy was doing 130%.

Sure, we want balanced genetics, but as an industry we need to keep driving to sustainably produce more from less. So, let's push hard for NLB with most top studs already doing an outstanding job.

LAMB SURVIVAL Having got your fertile ewe flock, how do you turn that into live lambs?

We do not really have farmers lambing inside sheds at this stage in this district preferring to try and master a more natural paddock approach. I see the reasoning especially in a big storm event you would certainly sleep well knowing the new lambs were being protected. In many parts of the district we do not (touch wood) have snow, but we certainly can get rain and the associated chill factor.

A key focus for our paddock multiple ewes is having a bit to eat and some fat around. We are also lucky in many parts of our district we tend to grow grass to some degree through winter months. Chuck in a

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Live weight (kg)

F

ewer, more efficient ewes has been the number one driver of increased sheep productivity in the Gisborne region. It is a core fundamental driving profitable sheep production gains in recent times.

Having fewer ewes is also a core component of running a lower-cost business model.

Live weights of ewe in pregnancy and lactation Pregnancy treatments: =1 =2 =3

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80

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7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Weeks before lambing

bit of strategic winter nitrogen and, boom, we have some grass to work with.

Really our focus now is all about triplet survival as our singles and twins seem to be getting the results.

The successful landing of a triplet crop takes the same skills and planning to try and land a full jumbo jet at Wellington Airport in a southerly storm.

The seed may have planted five months earlier but preparation for a successful landing is almost a 12-month strategy.

Nail it, and you will get a nod of achievement at the highest level from your mates when celebrating with the end-ofdocking beers. People say you cannot do a lot about the weather, but you can decide whether to put a coat on or not. There are tonnes of things you can do to minimise the impact of a storm at lambing.

LAMB WEANING WEIGHTS Should we focus on a faster lamb growth for a higher weaning weight?

Lamb weaning weights are all about milk on mum. We are not feeding our ewes to their current lactation potential as demonstrated by the research graphs presented from Rene Corner-Thomas, sheep expert at Massey University. Feeding multiples and especially the triplets in the last six weeks of pregnancy will tap into some of that underutilised lactation

Weeks after lambing

potential. There’s still lots of unfed potential in those udders.

HOGGET MATING The concept to have been born and within 12 months you are all grown up and loaded with a lamb of your own just oozes efficiency. It is why it is a keeper, especially when it is also such a powerful tool for selection of our most fertile replacements.

BEARINGS I have often heard a top farmer say a bearing is a sign that you are getting the feeding of the rest of the ewes about right.

That is tough to swallow when every ewe package is worth over $400 of ewe and lamb value. Well worth saving if you have the skills and time. But you certainly do not want to breed from them. Bearings used to be worse and were often associated with coming off the big winter rotation and going on to saved lambing paddocks.

Sadly, in comparison cattle efficiency is always going to be an uphill battle with the extra time to first mate and the difficulty with multiples. Despite the ambitious prediction from the cow’s udder creator.

Lets have lots of exciting opportunities to improve on farm sheep efficiency.

• Peter Andrew is a farm consultant for AgFirst based in Gisborne.

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October 2020

Buy with confidence “If one of our Romneys or Maternal Composites BUY WITH CONFIDENCE Buy with confi dence break out with facial eczema, , we will refund your entire ram purchase.”

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Maternal entire purchase.”Composites

break out with facial eczema,, we will refund your entire ram FE purchase.”

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• Composite • Perendale • Suffolk • AllRomney rams guaranteed for soundness and structure for 2 years

• Ewes run commercial no drench policy WillinJackson phone:conditions 07 825 4480under or email: william@piquethillfarms.co.nz • Romney and Maternal Composites have a lifetime guarantee against FE • Modern and prolific ewes www.piquethillstud.co.nz lambing between 140 - 150% on hard hill country

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www.piquethillstud.co.nz • Romney • Maternal Composite • Perendale • Suffolk Country-Wide

October 2020

51

MANAGEMENT | GENETIC POTENTIAL

Newly shorn mixed-aged Romney triplet ewes.

Better raising of pasture-fed lambs BY: DR KEN GEENTY

R

ealising the genetic potential of your lambs is very dependent on their efficiently converting feed to liveweight gain. This efficiency is underpinned by a good maternal environment during pregnancy followed by astute management during the all-important milk and pasture feeding of lambs pre- and post-weaning.

The management and feeding options discussed here are based on research by this author several decades ago, still as relevant today as originally.

EWE PREGNANCY It is very hard to maintain ewe body condition during mid-late pregnancy because of limitations in space needed for both the rumen and developing foetus(es).

For example, a 65kg ewe carrying twins rarely consumes the 1.6-2kg of dry-matter per day required in late pregnancy to maintain a body condition score of 2.5-3.

The sheer bulk of up to 8kg of fresh pasture obviously limits how much a ewe can eat during this pregnancy period. Therefore most highly productive ewes lose body

52

condition during pregnancy.

Such loss of body condition should be minimised or avoided to support important growth of the udder and foetus shown in the diagram below. It is unlikely placental growth will be affected but reduction in foetal and mammary growth can seriously impact lamb survival and early growth.

The most effective way of minimising ewe body weight loss during this late pregnancy period is through generous supply of high quality pasture, supplemented as needed with feed having an energy content of at least 10 megajoules of metabolisable energy (MJME) per kilogram of dry matter (kg DM).

High quality hay or balage can do the job in association with available pasture or crop. Attention to animal health to avoid metabolic pregnancy disorders, or known mineral deficiencies, is also important during this pregnancy period.

optimum times to wean. For example, if seasonal feed is in very short supply due to dry conditions it will be very beneficial to wean lambs early onto saved feed and tighten weaned ewes up. Remember that the moment you wean lambs and ewes stop lactating, their feed requirement pretty much halves to under 1kg DM per day. Furthermore, when lambs are weaned they can be given the best quality feed available and are not competing with ewes.

Importantly, as the lamb weaning ages

Growth (kg) of the mammary gland, placenta and foetus during pregnancy

5

4

3 Foetus

2

LAMBING TO WEANING There is a lot of flexibility in managing lambs to weaning, including different ages weaned. Various factors such as the season and feed supply will determine

1 Mammary gland

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October 2020

ARTIFICIAL REARING An alternative way of rearing orphan lambs or those from dairy ewes is use of cold ewe milk replacer as demonstrated experimentally in association with the lamb weaning age experiments above.

Lambs were offered cold ewe milk replacer in feeders in the paddock with liberal high quality ryegrass-clover pastures.

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October 2020

Lamb growth with different management and weaning ages = Weaning point

Expt A 12

40

12wk (creep grazed)

20

Source: International Sheep and Wool Handbook, 2010, Chapter 11

12wk 4wk (creep grazed)

4 0 5

Liveweight (kg)

graph below shows, the growth trajectory of lambs is similar whether on milk from their mothers or good quality pasture alone. This is because the nutritional value of high quality spring pasture is similar to that of ewe’s milk. But economically pasture is vastly more efficient than milk, valued on variable costs, at less than 20 cents per kg of dry-matter compared with around $12 per kg of milk solids based on sheep dairy prices. Furthermore, for ewes the feed cost of producing milk is very expensive. Total pasture required by ewes and lambs between five and 10 weeks of age is 40 percent greater compared with when lambs are weaned at five weeks. So it is much more efficient to channel feed directly through lambs from as early an age as possible.

A key requirement for very early weaning of lambs at 4-5 weeks old, under conditions of extreme feed shortage, is a minimum lamb liveweight of 12kg. Use of creep grazing can assist greatly with early weaning, simply by raising a gateway high enough for the lambs to creep ahead of the ewes onto fresh pastures. Lambs need high quality pasture with good nitrogen levels for early rumen development. Leafy lucerne does this job admirably though good clover-dominant pasture is equally effective.

If quality pasture is plentiful lambs can stay on their mothers until 12 weeks old as long as they are growing at around 200g per day to reach at least 24kg at the later weaning age.

In the experiments shown in the graphs ryegrass-clover dominant pastures were used pre-weaning with lucerne postweaning. Associated lamb growth and development studies showed that lamb rumen development was surprisingly advanced from three weeks of age meaning very early weaning was not a major setback to lambs. If pasture is not in good supply supplements such as lucerne chaff are ideal to promote lamb rumen function in preparation for early weaning.

40

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Expt D

18 40

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Weeks from birth

The objectives with chilled milk were to limit intake at each feed and avoid digestive upsets and, at the same time, promote early intake of pasture and rumen development.

Newborn lambs are monogastrics just like us and unable to digest herbage.

So early rumen development is crucial for efficient conversion of pasture to liveweight gain as lambs become selfsufficient from their mums.

This innovative lamb rearing system worked extremely well with lambs successfully weaned at 30 days of age weighing 12kg on average. After weaning the lambs grew at a similar rate to those conventionally early- or later-weaned from ewes. Total amount of milk replacer used per lamb was 6-7kg at a cost in today’s prices totalling about $50 per lamb.

If there had been no colostrum to kick the lamb’s immune system into action an artificial form would need to be given at around $14 per lamb.

POST-WEANING The key requirement for lambs after weaning is a good supply of quality pasture or specialist crops such as brassicas, lucerne or herbs, all with a protein content above 15 percent. To achieve growth rates of 200+ g per day lambs will need to consume 13+ MJME per day or 1+kg per day of dry matter, requiring liberal offers of the high quality feed.

In the lamb weaning age experiments referred to above, quality leafy lucerne did the job admirably.

A key factor for lambs post-weaning is good animal health management including effective parasite control and supply of mineral supplements where there are known deficiencies. Lambs will also need to have had earlier immunisation against clostridial diseases.

• Dr Geenty is a primary industries consultant.

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October 2020

LIVESTOCK | ONFARM

Development in the genes Developing farms is what enabled Jo and her late husband Trevor Lucas to build equity in their Wairarapa sheep and cattle farming business.

Russell Priest reports. Photos by Brad Hanson.

O

Aerial view of Kenmore.

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October 2020

ne of Jo and Trevor Lucas’s two sons, Tim, has got the bug for farm development and has taken it to an exciting new level with the acquisition four years ago of a neighbouring 1012-hectare farm (Mamaku) with plenty of scope for improvement.

Their farming business now covers 1984ha (1784ha effective) including three QEII covenants and there’s an air of excitement among the Lucas family and their staff as they embark on another farming adventure.

“Development is so satisfying,” Jo said. “Mamaku is being completely transformed with Tim now taking on his father’s mantle.”

From humble beginnings as lessees (1979-1987) of Wellington Regional Council land between Upper Hutt and Pauatahanui and later Battlehill Farm Park, Jo a teacher at the time and Trevor Lucas managed to scrape together enough money to acquire a 142ha farmlet in the area.

Eighteen months later they sold it, doubling their money giving them the springboard they needed to buy Kenmore, a 486ha farm 22km southeast of Masterton, for $360,000. It was exactly the sort of underdeveloped block they were looking for being covered in scrub and requiring a lot of TLC. Jo and Trevor were a great team. While Trevor took charge of the development

work Jo took charge of the stock.

Jo remembers there were fires everywhere as piles of scrub were burnt after being pushed up into heaps by the bulldozer.

“Tim’s a chip off the old block. He enjoys machinery work as much as his father did,” Jo said, “and he continues to work on machinery whenever he gets the opportunity.”

With most of the development work completed the Lucases began to look for further projects. A 60ha easy-contoured farm (Longridge) five minutes up the road was bought followed by the leasing of the neighbours 619ha block.

Sadly Trevor died in 2005 leaving a huge legacy and a wife and family who were determined to carry that on.

The family’s development work was recognised in 2005 when it won the Wellington Regional Council’s Environmental Award.

When Trevor was alive he and Jo had surrounded themselves with an excellent team of professional advisors, particularly George Murdoch, their financial adviser, so Jo was able to carry on managing the business with their support after Trevor died.

So when the 142ha farm bounding Longridge came on the market Jo had the confidence to buy it at auction giving them a block of 210ha of excellent finishing country.

›› More p57 55

OUR INPUTS

YOUR OUTPUTS

NZGE Trait Leading Sires High NZMW stud ewes Rigorous culling program All sires FE tested

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Contact Peter on 027 447 5383 or email hollycombefarming@gmail.com Visit www.hollycombe.co.nz 56

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October 2020

LOOKING TO EXPAND Tim returned to the farm in 2010 after completing a BAgCom at Lincoln and spending some time in Australia. In 2016 the family lost the lease on the 619ha block and not wanting to downsize the business they went looking for new ways to expand. The opportunity was waiting at their back door (on their boundary) in the form of a 1012ha development block that had been farmed conservatively for many years.

In June 2016 the Lucases bought “Mamaku” as the farm was known along with the pick of the Perendale ewes and the Angus cows. To top up the numbers, stock from the 619ha lease block were literally walked across the road on to Mamaku.

With the excitement and anticipation of the rewards of development running through his veins Tim threw himself wholeheartedly at the new challenge strongly supported by his mother and the rest of the family.

Sadly, tragedy struck the family again in 2018, two years into the development project when Nicola and Tim lost their second child, Olive, to a rare genetic disorder.

Mamaku urgently needed fertiliser and subdivision with Olsen P levels ranging between 13 on the front easier country to three on the back country. The average paddock size was about 40ha. One or two paddocks at the back of the farm were over 100ha.

According to Jo, pastures at the back of the farm had a yellow appearance due to low fertility and large areas of some of the easier country were occupied by rushes.

The soils on Mamaku, as they are on Kenmore, are predominantly sedimentary while the prevailing wind comes from the south/south-east. The southerly is the “money” wind according to Tim but can also bring snow and extremely cold conditions.

Tim conceded that the previous owners who were in their seventies when the farm was sold ran the farm extensively.

Set stocking was the norm so stock camps were a feature of the farm resulting in significant fertility transfer. The 200ha at the back of Mamaku was the hogget country. The owners employed a stock manager (Shaun Dunbar) and a general hand to run the operation and when the ownership changed Shaun stayed with the farm.

“Shaun has been invaluable because he

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October 2020

Tim and Jo Lucas with Jake.

brought with him so much knowledge associated with Mamaku,” Tim said.

Tim maintained that while the management of the farm may have worked for the previous owners he could not afford nor wanted to continue running it as they had.

PINES AN UNREALISED ASSET When Mamaku changed hands it included an unrealised asset of 19ha of 50-year-old pine trees situated mostly in the southeastern corner of the farm. These were not considered to be accessible by the previous owners however a feasibility study by the Lucases revealed their removal was financially viable if a road capable of taking logging trucks was constructed.

Tim immediately redirected the bulldozer from bulldozing new fence lines to track work and within four weeks (six months after takeover) logging trucks were removing the pine trees. Ten kilometres of road costing $120,000 topped off with lime from a local quarry enabled the trees to be harvested and removed.

“The trees had not been thinned so were that tall it was possible to get three log lengths a tree,” Tim said.

KEY POINTS: • Total area 1984ha (1784ha effective) • A dynamic family business • Specialise in farm development • Sheep breeding/ MASTERTON lamb finishing, cattle breeding • Carry-over dairy cows and Friesian bulls • A summer-dry environment • Rely heavily on high energy green feed crops

Mamaku’s low soil fertility has been addressed by applying three consecutive years of capital fertiliser in the form of superphoshate at 500kg/ha/yr, 350kg/ha/yr and 250kg/ha/yr to the back, middle and front of the farm respectively.

“The response has been phenomenal,” Jo said. “We’re now just applying a maintenance dressing of 300kg/ha of DAP in the spring.”

›› More p59 57

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October 2020

Top: Triplet-bearing ewes on the move. Above left: Left-to-right: Willow, Tim and Nicola Lucas (holding Ash). Above right: Jo Lucas.

The need for sub-divisional fencing gave the Lucases the opportunity to establish a laneway to the back of the farm. In total 37km of fencing involving two postramming crews has been erected in two years. Being able to get electricity to the back of the farm using a heavy multistrand aluminium cable as a lead-out wire has enabled them to erect cost-saving sixwire electric fencing.

“This was a godsend for us,” Tim said “otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to afford the amount of fencing we’ve done.”

Tim commented that there was initially only six ohms of resistance and 9000 volts in the lead-out wire however these figures have since dropped because of additional shorting.

About 250ha of easier country on the south-eastern boundary which included a river was covered in rushes. The area has now been contoured and cultivated as part of the annual cropping programme and much of it returned to highly productive pasture. Fencing off the river, riparian

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October 2020

planting and sub-divisional fencing of the area has greatly improved its management.

The construction of two large dams was included in this development.

Unproductive areas have been fenced off and planted in pines along with some of the harvested area. Alan Pankhurst, the multi-skilled bulldozer-come-diggercome-tractor-driver and fencer has been kept busy cleaning out old dams (30) on Mamaku and forming new ones (30) as part of the development programme.

PRODUCTION TRANSFORMED Four years after acquisition Mamaku has been transformed and is well on the way to joining Kenmore and Longridge as being a highly productive farm.

The Lucas empire has a number of different income streams from breeding and finishing lambs to trading Friesian bulls and carry-over cows to breeding Angus weaners.

The primary focus of the business is their sheep breeding and lamb-finishing operation. Last mating 9300 ewes went to the ram including twotooths as well as 3400 hoggets.

The Lucases used composite rams up until five years ago when they switched to using Wairere and Wai-iti Romneys.

Mating begins on March 1 with 1600 one-year ewes going to Dorset Down rams for 50 days followed by 2000 (B flock) Perendale (ex Mamaku ewes) and low fertility Androvaxed Romney ewes on March 10, 2500 MA Romney ewes to Romney rams on March 15 and 3200 two tooth Romneys to similar rams on March 25.

Any of the Perendale ewes from Mamaku and any ewes that have had singles as twotooths are tagged and vaccinated with Androvax to improve their conception rates. According to Tim it is highly successful showing a 20% scanning advantage over the A flock Romneys.

Hoggets (3400) which have been on

59

Sending animals off to grazing?

The movement must be recorded in NAIT

• Farmer must create the sending movement • Grazier must confirm the movement (or create a receiving movement).* Need help?

Call 0800 482 463 or contact your information provider.

* Failure to record and confirm farm to farm livestock movements in the NAIT system may result in a $400 fine per animal or prosecution. The requirement to record livestock movements within 5 business days in the NAIT system is temporary and will return to 48 hours after the National State of Emergency is lifted.

NAIT is an OSPRI programme 60

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October 2020

Top: Mamaku’s low soil fertility has been addressed with capital fertiliser in the form of superphosphate. Above left: Tim and Jake on young grass paddock. Above right: New-born Dorset Down cross lambs.

young grass and crops on Longridge since weaning and weighing on average 38-40kg are mated to Romney rams on May 1 for a month. They are set stocked on young grass and clover/plantain (P/C) over the winter. Any that are struggling at scanning get preferential treatment. Generally 2200 get in lamb returning a 110% lambing based on hoggets in lamb.

“We used to have a cut-off weight for mating of 40kg however with our high ME feeds we back ourselves to grow our hoggets out well enough to achieve good mating weights as twotooths,” Tim said.

Having weaned their lambs on Longridge the hoggets return to Kenmore as twotooths at a similar weight to their dry contemporaries wintered on Mamaku.

Some ewe lambs out of hoggets are themselves mated as hoggets.

This year scanning results for the ewes were back a bit due to the drought at 175%

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October 2020

(one-year ewes 185%). Last year’s scanning of 190% resulted in a 150% lambing and 15,000 lambs however Tim concedes it was an exceptional tupping and lambing and is unlikely to be repeated this year.

The business normally kills 95% of their lambs between 16.5-19kg.

“Because we farm in a summer-dry area we don’t aim to achieve high slaughter weights. The lambs are killed when prime and the only reason we can kill such a high percentage is because of the finishing crops we grow,” Tim said.

Pivotal to their lamb finishing programme is the killing of the one-year ewes and the majority of their lambs by the end of November. These have been on stands of P/C since lambing so removing them frees up finishing country allowing Romney lambs to be finished.

Weaning of the Romney lambs starts in the second week of November and

continues through to mid-December when all the ewes and remaining lambs are shorn. Ewes are shorn again before scanning in May/June.

LAMBS HEAD FOR PROCESSING As many lambs as possible (normally about 30%) are POM at ANZCO’s plant in Marton resulting in about a unit load a week leaving the farm. Between 6000-7000 lambs are normally killed by Christmas.

The remaining lambs go on to stands of P/C and 100ha of mainly rape (on Kenmore) which has been sown in the early spring. The 3400 replacement ewe lambs go on to high quality feed on Longridge.

After shearing the lighter ewes are identified via the drafting gate, drenched

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In-lamb ewe hoggets returning to their paddock.

and given preferential treatment. This practice continues throughout the summer whenever ewe mobs are near yards.

Tim doesn’t hesitate to drench ewes if a faecal egg count test indicates one is required. He also does an annual drench reduction test.

“We normally have good springs in Wairarapa so the ewes are usually in excellent condition at weaning,” Tim said.

The good-conditioned ewes are drafted into their mating mobs and enter into their own rotations with the aim being to maintain ewe bodyweight during the summer.

Ewe mobs are shifted daily during the three-cycle mating period with Dorset Down rams being introduced to all A flock mobs for the third cycle. Any ewes that conceive during this cycle go into the B flock.

Ewes continue to be rotated over the winter in their mating mobs.

“We try to finish the winter rotation in the singles paddocks but back our pastures

62

and soil fertility to keep on growing strongly post grazing,” Tim said.

DAP fertiliser (annual maintenance) is applied in the late winter at 300kg/ha to boost the lambing covers and improved ewes’ milk production.

‘Tim’s a chip off the old block.

He enjoys machinery work as much as his father did,” Jo said, “and continues to work on machinery whenever he gets the opportunity.’

Triplet-bearing ewes are separated at scanning and are set stocked at 8-10/ha depending upon the covers and twins at 10-12.

“Our best triplet-docking percentage is 230%. However I believe there’s an opportunity to improve our triplet survival

rate so this year as a trial we’re going to remove one of the three and hand rear it in a facility in our covered yards,” Tim said.

At the time of writing triplet rearing is going well, under the supervision of Tim’s wife Nicola, children Willow and Ash and Tim’s mother Jo. Because there are so few single-bearing ewes Tim has difficulty finding paddocks small enough to accommodate them during lambing while also struggling to find enough good country for the increasing number of ewes scanning twins and triplets.

Tim buys their Romney rams from Derek Daniell and the Wallaces and targets SIL’s Maternal Index and more specifically fertility/fecundity and early growth as well as milk as he believes this is a vital component of weaning weight. He likes to buy rams out of high performing old ewes to infuse longevity into the flock. Dorset Down rams are bought from Damien Reynolds’ Puketi stud.

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October 2020

Top: R2 Angus heifers on the drop. Above left: Sheep breeding and lamb finishing is the primary focus. Above right: Tim in rape and turnip crop for wintering bulls.

BULLS WINTER ON BRASSICAS The business winters 450 R1 Friesian bulls on brassicas and balage for three months starting in July. These are bought from a neighbouring dairy farmer as 100kg weaners in November/December and sold store the following October/November at 350-400kg LW. If growth in the spring is exceptional some may be retained and killed. The store margin on these is about $500-$600.

“The beauty of farming bulls is that they are flexible in that you can sell them at any time,” Tim said.

The Lucases have wintered carry-over cows (150) for many years and use them to manicure pastures mainly over the winter and clean up rushes. They do however

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October 2020

have to be acclimatised to the hills.

“There used to be a $1000 margin in them, however it’s more like $500-$600 nowadays,” Jo said. “They come to us in May as skinny as rakes and do an excellent job for us however if you don’t like paperwork they’re not for you.”

Only Friesian cows that are well marked, are younger than five years and have BWs over 80 are bought mainly from Taranaki through agents. Mated to calve in midMarch and in late winter/early spring the first group leaves the farm in early February.

The Angus cows bought with Mamaku form the base of a herd numbering 220 cows and 60 R2 in-calf heifers. The majority of the latter were bought as

yearling from two local Angus studs.

Tim’s aim is to produce good weaners for sale both locally and for the Chinese market.

“It’s a minor part of the business and not a particularly good money spinner however in saying that weaners have been selling well and last year we sold some weaner heifers to China receiving a reasonable premium,” Tim said.

The role of the cow is to clean up pastures in the winter for lambing ewes.

A few are calved among ewes and lambs however the majority are set stocked by themselves on saved pasture just before calving then go onto other saved paddocks after calving. Calving begins in late July for

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the heifers and late August for the cows.

When selecting herd sires Tim targets 200 and 400-day weight EBVs and for heifers, direct calving ease. He would like to increase the size of the cows a little but doesn’t want massive ones.

CROPPING ALLOWS LONGER FINISHING

Willow Lucas with pet pig.

Cropping is a vital component of the business enabling finishing lambs to be carried deeper into the summer, ewe hoggets to be grown out to good weights for mating and R1 Friesian bulls to be wintered. It’s also an essential part of the development work enabling contouring to be carried out and old run-out pastures converted to high quality finishing and wintering crops and eventually more productive pastures.

The business requires about 120-130ha of crops to be grown for both the spring/ summer and the winter periods. All cropping work is carried out by Tim and the staff as is all the spraying.

“Without the crops we’d have to sell 30%40% of our lambs store,” Tim said.

The main crops sown are Spitfire and

Goliath rape followed by P/C in the spring.

Poorer grass paddocks are sown in Goliath rape and turnips in the autumn (March) as a winter crop for Friesian bulls and poorer summer crops are replaced by young grass in the autumn.

The rape is grazed up to 10 times by finishing lambs before being closed up. The regrowth, boosted by an autumn dressing of urea is break-fed to bulls during the winter.

“The cropping programme is about identifying poorer producing paddocks and turning them over,” Tim said.

Poplar poles are being planted on Mamaku at the rate of 500 a year at the maximum allowable spacing to capture carbon credits, for soil stabilisation and for stock shelter.

“Dad used to say a happy stock unit’s always a profitable one,” Tim said.

The staff on Kenmore include stock manager Shaun Dunbar, tractor driver/ general Alan Pankhurst and Kendyl Hall (shepherd) while Andrew McDowell manages Longridge.

Tim is extremely grateful for their contribution as well as that of his wife Nicola and mother Jo towards making the business the success that it is.

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64

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October 2020

Parasitism is a major cause of production loss in livestock. Sustainable management of worms is a major challenge for farmers. Misuse of drench products is resulting in an alarming rise in drench resistant worms and drench failure.

Tools to use include drench selection, pasture management and genetics.

BLNZ Wormwise National Worm Management Strategy.

FARMS WITH RESISTANCE (REDUCTION <95%)

Worm FEC Gold breeders have made significant genetic progress selecting for stock resistant to parasites.

100% TECTED DRENCH RESISTANCE ESTIMATED TO COST THE NZ SHEEP

SECTOR $48 MILLION A YEAR AND IT’S GETTING WORSE 80%

Analysis of 15 years of data proves the speed of drench resistance is increasing

iate Release

60% 40%

31 August 2020

20%

75% Drawing on data collected from sheep farms across New Zealand over the past 15 years,

0%

edicting the incidence of drench resistance to triple combination drenches could rapidly

0% if farm practices do not change.

78% 78% 75%

Benzimidazole

29% 32% 59% 53%

Levamisole

7%

13% 31% 43%

Combination (BZ & Lev)

4%

2%

0%

26%

5%

Abamectin

1%

3%

26%

Moxidectin

0%

0%

7%

20%

Combination (Lev &Aba)

0%

0%

9%

15%

Combination (BZ, Lev & Aba)

DRENCH ACTIVE

nder and CEO Greg Mirams said drawing upon DrenchSmart test results collected from 2005

f July 2020, the company has seen the incidence of drench resistance increase substantially.

2005-2008 (n=155)

t is a faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) that reports to farmers which drench actives are

2009-2012 (n=37)

2013-2016 (n=56)

2017-2020 (n=56)

ctively on their farms and which are not.

“Drawing on data collected from sheep farms across New Zealand over the past 15 years, Techion is predicting the incidence of drench resistance to triple combination drenches tween 20% and 43% of New Zealand farms, while triple combination drenches are currently could rapidly increase to 40% if farm practices do not change.” Techion founder and CEO Greg Mirams % of properties we have tested.”

resistance to combination drenches was low to non-existent. However, now it is becoming

mmon, even to triple combination drenches. Results show double combination drenches are

NORTH ISLAND

SOUTH ISLAND

rying to be alarmist. We’re simply drawing upon a significant body of data collected over a

a-half which proves, without a doubt, drench resistance in New Zealand Aotearoa is

Gordon Levet

Kikitangeo

Allan Richardson

Avalon Ultimate

Kate Broadbent

Nikau

Allan Richardson

Avalon

Craig Alexander

ARDG

Allan Richardson

Avalon Texel

J Marchant

ARDG

Andrew Tripp

Nithdale

Ross Alexander

ARDG-Makino

Robert Peacock

Orari Gorge R/T

Alaister Reeves

Waimai

Mount Linton

Mt Linton Station

Glenbrook Ltd

ARDG - Glenbrook

Andrew Tripp

Wairaki

Abbott K A & P J

Waiteika

Peter Moore

Moutere Downs

Ross Richards

Romani

Graham Maxwell

Longview

Forbes Cameron

Ngaio Glen

pidly. If farmers continue to use drenches the way they have for the past four decades,

ance will continue to develop. The problem is impacting animal welfare and performance,

tivity and hurting New Zealand meat exports.”

quoted Beef & Lamb NZ statistics which show New Zealand farmers sent 18,000,000 lambs to

he 2019-2020 financial year. Studies have shown that undetected drench resistance can

se value by 14%. This translates to undetected drench resistance costing the sheep sector in $48 million per year in 2020. At an individual farm level, for a property producing 4000

ar, undetected drench resistance could cut income by $71,169 per year. Undetected drench

a significant issue as few farmers have tested drenches on their properties.

“When enough ram breeders are breeding sheep with a high degree of parasite resistance then we will see an impact on the national flock. For individual farmers this will mean savings in labour and costs because they won’t need to drench as often – and for some, possibly never.”

Gordon Levet, founding member of WormFEC Gold with 34 years experience breeding parasite-resistant sheep

Country-Wide

October 2020

www.wormfecgold.co.nz

65

LIVESTOCK | ONFARM

Jon and Fiona Sherlock have implemented a range of strategies to reduce the impacts of drought on their North Waikato farm.

Front-footing drought fight Third-generation sheep farmers are adapting to climate change on drought-prone hills. Mike Bland reports.

N

orth Waikato farmers Jon and Fiona Sherlock are finetuning their sheep policy in an attempt to reduce the impacts of increasingly

dry summers.

The Sherlocks run Otorohaea, a 660-hectare (575ha effective) hill country farm at Waingaro, west of Ngaruawahia.

Otorohaea has about 50ha of rolling ash contour and the rest is medium to steep hill, most of it Land Use Capability Class 6e and 7.

66

Jon, a third-generation of Sherlocks on the farm, says the exposed hill country is challenging to manage at the best of times, but a double drought hasn’t made life any easier.

“Because of the farm’s steepness it feels the drought more than easier-contoured properties, and it takes longer to recover.”

Annual rainfall is typically about 1300mm, but the farm’s received much less than this over the last two years. So the Sherlocks have front-footed their approach to drought management.

“After the 2018-19 season we decided we had to come up with a strategy to cope with very dry years,” Jon says.

“Drought comes with a cost, so you have to put a plan in place and make decisions early.”

Otorohaea is split into about 70 paddocks averaging 2.7ha on the rollingmedium hill and 13.5ha on the steep hill. Sheep will always be a big part of the operation because of the steepness of the country. Coming out of a drought it has a 72:28 sheep to cattle ratio. Most lambs are

Country-Wide

October 2020

sold as stores in early December at 27-29kg liveweight (LW).

This year Otorohaea wintered about 2550 mixed-age ewes and 650 two-tooths, along with 190 R1 heifers and 53 R2 heifers.

Jon says ewe numbers are down due to the drought. In a more typical season the farm would winter about 3500.

“In the summer of 2018/19 we had to sell some capital stock, but we probably could have maintained numbers if we had started feeding sheep nuts earlier.”

The plan for the next summer was to buy in up to 500 ewes – preferably with strong genetics – between December and February if feed conditions allow, “and then sell the bought-in ewes and/or cull ewes if it starts to get very dry”.

Jon says the biggest challenge is keeping ewe weights up to minimise the impact on next season’s production.

With Fiona, manager Graham Hayde and farm consultant Peter Fraser, he has made a number of tactical decisions designed to combat drought on Otorohaea. These include flexible lambing dates, feeding out supplement to the mixed-age ewes, and grazing ewe hoggets off-farm.

Since 2016 about 800-1000 ewe hoggets have been shifted from Otorohaea to the Sherlock’s other farm near Naike, bought in 2016.

n

n

n

n

Ewe hoggets are mated only if they reach a minimum of 40kg.

“They haven’t been mated for two years because we didn’t see the feed in front of us,” Jon says.

“We’d much rather see a 62kg twotooth coming home than a lighter, mated hogget.”

HIGHER MATING WEIGHTS TARGETED Jon says a 62kg mating weight for twotooths and 65kg for mixed-age ewes are key targets. He reckons this is a good match for the farm’s steep contour. A 65kg ewe is an efficient feed converter while being mobile

enough to handle the hills without causing damage.

Records taken by him and his father, Rory, show a strong correlation between mating weight and scanning results. In 2019, following a drought, the average mating weight was 57kg and ewes and two-tooths scanned at 151%. In 2017 they averaged 62kg and scanned at 179%.

In 2008, another bad drought year, the ewes averaged only 44kg and scanned at a disappointing 114%.

Jon says the 28% drop in scanning between 2017 and 2019 shows the real cost of the drought in terms of lost lambs.

He says the farm is targeting a consistent

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Contour on Otorohaea ranges from rolling to steep hill.

67

lambing of 140% docked.

“We haven’t cracked that yet, but we were hitting about 135-136% in the years before the drought.”

Last year, after the 2018-19 drought, the farm achieved only 121%.

Jon says the 15% drop in lambing drove the decision to start feeding supplement as soon as conditions started to dry up this year.

SHEEP GO NUTS FOR PELLETS

Ewes are pregnancy scanned in June and set-stocked from mid-August.

This year the Sherlocks fed about 40 tonnes of sheep nuts at a cost of $750/tonne.

The pellets were fed from a spreader towed by an ATV. “Sheep nuts are the only practical option for our contour,” Jon says.

“At around 75c/kg drymatter (DM) and a total cost of $30,000, the sheep nuts were not cheap, but we decided to take the hit and go early so we could maintain ewe condition”.

He believes the investment will pay off.

“A 15% lift in lambing equates to about 480 extra lambs. At $90/lamb, that’s $43,000, which easily covers the cost of the feed. That makes sheep nuts look pretty good, especially when you take into account the better condition of the ewes.

If supplement is required again next season, Jon says they will look to reduce the cost by feeding maize.

Fiona says feeding sheep nuts helped lift morale during a very tough season.

“The ewes loved them and it made us

FARM FACTS: • Jon and Fiona Sherlock, North Waikato • Farming 950ha effective • Otorohaea, Waingaro - 575ha eff.

• Wintering (2020) 3200 ewes, 190 R1 heifers, 53 R2 heifers • Kerr Road, Naike – 375ha eff.

• Wintering 820 ewe replacements, 325 R2 Friesian bulls, 200 R1 Friesian bulls and 36 R3 Friesian bulls • Store and finishing operation • Targeting 137,000kg weaned lamb

feel good to know we were actively doing something for our stock.”

Grazing ewe hoggets “down country” on a liveweight gain basis is another option being considered by the Sherlocks to simplify the system at home and to spread their climatic risk.

Ewe hoggets are currently grazed on the Kerr Road farm but Jon says it’s difficult to achieve good growth rates consistently in the North Waikato, especially if it’s dry.

“If it works, we’d like to send about 850 ewe hoggets to an area where they will achieve good mating weights, then bring them back here after weaning their lamb.

Grazing ewe replacements off-farm also gives us the opportunity to increase ewe numbers on Otorohaea and bull numbers on the Kerr Road farm.”

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season: 2019-2020 UARD ZEMA CE FACIAL ECZEMA TOLE Test - SERV ICE Test season: 2019-2020 FACIA RANCE TEST RTIFIC FLOCK L ECZE Name Anyone ***** ING TEST:ING SERV AT SIL flock Name C: Anyone C MA CE SILrating: flock rating: ***** ICE HIST ORY FOR: RTIFIE. Flock : FLOCFlock 0 TEST Years tested: 37 37 K : ING HIST 0 SIL SIL Years tested: CA TE .

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EARLY LAMBING LIFTS SCANNING Shifting lambing date forward is another strategy designed to reduce the impacts of the drought.

In a normal season the Sherlock’s Romney-based flock lambs from late August, but this year the mixed-age ewes started three weeks earlier.

Jon says mixed-age ewes were mated from March 6 and the two-tooths from March 31.

“In 2018 we mated 400-500 of our older ewes a couple of weeks earlier and they scanned at 176% while the other later-mated ewes scanned at 150%, so we thought we’d push all the mixed-aged ewes forward if it looked like we were in for another dry season.”

This year the flock scanned at 165%, though the result was dragged down by the two-tooths, which scanned at 142%.

Jon says this year’s lambing result may determine whether an earlier mating becomes a permanent feature.

Fiona says lambing in early August may also be a better fit for the farm’s pasture growth curve, and should make it easier to hit the 29kg LW target for lambs by December if kinder winters are becoming the norm. Hitting this target has proved challenging over the last two years because of the dry conditions.

“Because we are mainly a store operation, weaned lamb weight is our key profit driver,” Jon says.

70

Otorohaea Sheep Performance 2015-2019 Year

Scanning %

Lambing %

Ave weaning weight

kg weaned lamb

2015

164

135%

27.4

98,387

2016

171

136%

27.6

111,338

2017

179

136%

26.2

106,922

2018

169

135%

27.0

120,015

2019

151

121%

28.1

101,493

Total average weaned lamb weight over the ten-year period prior to 2014 was about 85,000kg/year, but the Sherlocks want to lift this to 137,000kg.

Jon says getting lambs to 29kg by weaning would enable the sale of a higher percentage off mum “and that’s not easy to achieve on hard hillcountry”.

Average daily lamb growth currently sits at about 260grams from birth to weaning.

Otorohaea’s lighter stocking rate suits the contour and gives the ewes the opportunity to feed their lambs well.

Ewes are pregnancy scanned in June and set-stocked from mid-August.

“We try to keep things as simple as possible at this time,” Jon says.

“Normally before set stocking we’d rotationally graze the single-bearing and multiple-bearing ewes together, but if feed’s tight we can separate the twinners and give them priority.

“Usually we’d set stock the twinners at a rate of two head/ha lighter than the

singles. This year, because of our lighter stocking rate, everything is set stocked at the lower rate of 7-8/ha.”

A key aim is to get pasture covers to 1800-1900kg DM/ha by May 1 and 1500kg DM/ha by mid-August. Feed demand this July was about 10.5kg DM/ha/day.

Jon says a sample group of ewes is weighed at key times, including mating and weaning.

“But in future we will move towards a condition scoring system because it seems to offer more advantages as a management tool.”

The Sherlocks have tried experimenting with different brassica crops on the Kerr Road farm but the results have been variable in dry years.

“Last year we planted 15ha of leafy turnip as a summer crop, but we only got one and a half grazings out of it.”

In future they may try aerially oversowing legumes into pasture in tandem with a deferred grazing programme.

Country-Wide

October 2020

A 62kg mating weight is a key target for two-tooth ewes on Otorohaea.

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NZ Maternal Worth with Meat (MW+M)

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Jon Sherlock says the flock’s strong Romney base provides the hardiness to handle Otorohaea’s steep hills.

The flock also has some Finn and Coopworth genetics and, while the Sherlocks may consider crossbreeding in future, Romney will likely remain the predominant breed.

sheep in a mob of ewe hoggets showing suspect symptoms.

“Over the years the flock has built up a strong tolerance for FE, but we have to remember that tolerance is not the same thing as resistance, and we can’t be complacent.”

Viral pneumonia is another issue, again mostly in the younger sheep.

Jon says steep hills and often dusty conditions make it difficult to combat.

Fiona says they try to minimise stress on the sheep as much as possible.

“We don’t wean and shear at the same time, and we dampen down the yards before working in them.”

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 

ROMNEY GOOD MATCH FOR HILLS

Jon says sheep fertility has improved over the years and he is confident the 140% lambing target is achievable.

“We might not get much higher than that. A 150% lambing would probably be hard to achieve for this type of country without dropping stocking rate. It’s all about finding a balance between lambing percentage, stocking rate and pasture demand.”

Facial eczema (FE) is a major issue in the region and the Sherlocks source FE-tolerant rams from the Waimai Romney Stud, Te Akau.

But, Jon says, they still remain vigilant for signs of FE. Last year he noticed a dozen

 

Jon says other options for the steeper contour are also being considered, including planting trees for timber or carbon credits.



| @longdowns.nz

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PERFORMANCE INNOVATION CONNECTEDNESS SCALE

WWW.WR I G .CO.NZ

Jon and Fiona Sherlock took over Otorohaea in 2014.

LIGHTER HEIFERS FIT BILL After taking over Otorohaea, Jon and Fiona sold the breeding herd and switched to a heifer trading policy.

They initially ran older heifers but now they buy in about 125 R1-year heifers in autumn and aim to finish them after 1820 months on the farm. Most go before Christmas at about 240kg carcaseweight (CW).

Jon says the younger heifers are better for the hills than heavier stock, which can cause erosion damage.

But the Sherlocks aren’t committed to selling prime if feed gets short.

‘The theory behind the heifers was that they give us flexibility,” Fiona says.

“If it gets dry, they can go.”

SUCCESSION PLAN BRINGS SCOPE Taking over the family farm wasn’t always the number one goal for Jon Sherlock.

He and wife Fiona had successful careers off-farm before returning to Otorohaea.

But when the opportunity to buy the farm arose six years ago they decided it was what they wanted to do.

Fiona, who was raised on a Hawkes Bay orchard, met Jon at Massey University where they both studied agricultural science.

In 2004, after a long stint working overseas, the couple teamed up with farm consultant Peter Fraser to establish subscription-based livestock market

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information service iFarm, which was later sold to NZX Agri.

They returned to live on Otorohaea in 2009 and started farming it in 2012. In 2014 they set up a company with Jon’s brother Ric and sister Toni to buy the farm from Jon’s parents, Rory and Sue, who had run the farm since taking it over from Rory’s parents in the mid-1970s.

“Dad was ready to wind down a bit.

Fiona and I were keen to take over and we put a lot of thought into whether we were going to do it on our own account or not.”

Jon’s siblings both had off-farm careers – Ric is a geneticist at Livestock Improvement and Toni is an employment lawyer – and weren’t interested in physically running the farm themselves.

But, like Jon and his parents, they had strong emotional ties to the property and were keen to keep it as a base for family.

So the siblings set up the limited liability company Otorohaea Ltd, taking up equal shareholdings to buy the farm and finance future expansion.

“We run a fairly formal board structure, and we officially meet about four times a year,” Jon says.

“Everyone brings different skills to the business, so there is a real synergy there.”

Fiona says the Sherlocks are a close-knit family, which helps make the system work.

Rory Sherlock is a director of the company but not a shareholder. He and Sue live in a new house built on the farm and he still helps out.

Jon says it’s a real bonus being able to

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October 2020

call on his Dad’s advice when needed.

He says Otorohaea Ltd’s structure probably wouldn’t suit every farming family, but it does work for them.

“If Fiona and I had bought the farm on our own we would have been very restricted by debt. But this structure gives us the ability to expand and go for more scale.”

In spring 2016 the company bought another 450ha (375ha effective) hillcountry farm on Kerr Road, near Naike, a 25 minute drive from Otorohaea.

This takes the total effective area to 950ha.

The Kerr Road farm is mostly medium hill, with some steeper slopes. Its gentler contour is well-suited to finishing bulls and grazing ewe replacements.

“We’ve struggled to get ewe hoggets up to good weights on the steeper contour on Otorohaea, and they’ve often played second-class citizens to the older ewes. Now we have the ability to shift them over to Kerr Road and get them growing.”

The plan is to mate ewe hoggets at Naike if they reach target weights, then return them to Otorohaea at weaning.

This year the Kerr Road farm is wintering 820 ewe hoggets and about 600 R1 and R2 Friesian bulls. The Sherlocks are still refining cattle policy on the new block, but the present system is focused on finishing bulls at around 30-months in November or December, averaging about 330kg CW. Jon says rolling-medium contour on the Naike farm is split into 2-3ha paddocks, and further subdivision is planned.

He oversees the whole operation while also finding time for other commitments, including being a member of Beef + Lamb NZ’s farmer council.

Both he and Fiona also work parttime for Maui Milk, a large sheep dairy enterprise based in Taupo. Fiona is an executive officer for the business and Jon recently took on a general manager role, supervising two of Maui Milk’s farms.

Much of their work is conducted from home. They employ two managers to look after their farms – Graham Hayde on Otorohaea and Chris Kereopa on the Kerr Road block.

Graham has been on Otorohaea for over 15 years and Chris was hired last year.

Jon says their goal is to run a profitable

Fiona works off-farm for a Maui Milk, a large sheep dairy enterprise.

and sustainable farming business that “fits the land”.

The Sherlocks have three children – Taylor, 14, Kate, 13, and Hayden, 11.

Jon and Fiona are quite happy for their offspring to build careers and experience off-farm, but if one does decide to return to the farm eventually they would be happy to hand it over to the fourth generation.

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LIVESTOCK | ANIMAL HEALTH

FE tolerance tests break new ground

“Haven’tdrenched drenchedour ourmaternal maternal “Haven’t studewes ewesforfor1212years” years” stud Tobook book your To your ramsor orfind findouT ouT rams more,conTacT: conTacT: more, 74

can be secured, the next phase would be to look for this fingerprint in animals (sheep, cattle and deer) with FE. They will also look at herds known to be either resilient or susceptible to FE and compare fingerprints.

Heiser says while nothing is fast in science, he is hoping that by the end of next year they will have a good idea whether a blood or saliva test is going to work.

They will then work with a commercial partner to make a fast high-throughput test that is affordable and accessible to commercial breeders and farmers.

An easy and affordable test would make the testing of females feasible, significantly speeding up the breeding of FE resilient animals.

The need for this type of test was driven by farmers and researchers (the Facial

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A

pilot study investigating the potential of a groundbreaking facial eczema (FE) tolerance test is underway with initial results expected early next year.

The purpose of this pilot study, led by AgResearch’s Dr Axel Heiser and funded

by Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ), is to test the feasibility of a laboratory-based test to determine an animal’s tolerance to the toxin associated with FE. Heiser says the goal is to find a test for either blood or saliva, that would indicate an animal’s resistance or susceptibility to FE. This is based on the premise that as well as causing toxicity to the liver, sporidesmin, the toxin produced by the

pasture fungus Pithomyces chartarum, is also toxic to other cells in the body, such as those found in blood and saliva.

Heiser and his team have been carrying out a number of experiments with blood cells and now have shown toxicity on blood cells. They are beginning to do the same with cells prepared from saliva, which is a bit more technical, but saliva samples are a lot easier to take, as they are for the CARLA test.

“What we’re trying to see is what sporidesmin does to those cells.”

By carrying out a detailed analysis of treated and untreated cell cultures, they are hoping to find a fingerprint or profile of sporidesmin toxicity.

The discovery of that fingerprint, hopefully by the end of January, would mark the end of phase one of the study.

If phase one is successful and funding

2127493-13/2

BY: SANDRA TAYLOR

‘We’ve always focused on the way it behaves in the animal rather than the way it behaves in the pasture, and we may be looking at a simple solution for FE.’ Eczema Working Group) who have been providing industry leadership around this issue for a number of years.

At the other end of the equation, Heiser is working with B+LNZ to develop a research programme looking at why New Zealand has a problem with FE. While the toxin is found in other parts of the world, it only causes significant production-limiting disease in NZ – and no-one knows why.

“We’ve always focused on the way it behaves in the animal rather than the way it behaves in the pasture, and we may be looking at a simple solution for FE.” • Beef + Lamb New Zealand

An easy and affordable test would make the testing of females feasible, significantly speeding up the breeding of FE resilient animals.

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LIVESTOCK | WILTSHIRE SHEEP

Shepherd Steph Tweed with the Wiltshires. There is no crutching, dipping, flystrike or shearing which removes much of the traditional work over the summer months.

Away with wool With crossbred wool fetching ever-lower prices, farmers are switching to breeds that don’t require shearing. Sandra Taylor reports on the work of one Marlborough farmer. Photos by Lucy Hunter-Weston.

F

or a family whose love of wool extends to having a framed sample of the fibre hanging in their hallway, it could seem unusual that they would run a sheep breed that doesn’t require shearing.

But for Andrew Heard, running a commercial Wiltshire flock is the perfect fit for the low-input, organic farming system he runs on 1800 hectares of North Canterbury hill country.

Formerly fine-wool producers from Marlborough, Andrew and his wife Sara run the Mt Cass sheep and beef business in partnership with four other shareholders including long time organic producer Tim Chamberlain.

Andrew and Sara joined the partnership

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October 2020

because of the people and the opportunity it presented rather than any strong philosophical desire to farm organically and it was the partnership that bought Mt Cass, a former Landcorp property, with an eye to converting it to organic production.

Andrew’s initial challenge was shifting his mindset away from a reliance on agrichemicals and finding a resilient breed of sheep and management system that did not compromise production and enabled them to capture an organic premium.

“I was terrified thinking about how we were going to deal with fly and internal parasites,” says Andrew.

After exploring the options, Wiltshire were the best fit and 12 years ago, Mt Cass bought their first Wiltshire rams, to put

across the farm’s existing Corriedale and Lamb Supreme flocks, as well Wiltshire ewe lambs from Southland.

With 8300 ewes, they struggled to buy the quantity and type of rams they wanted and while the genetic pool is growing, the Mt Cass team have not ruled out exploring the importation of genetics from overseas.

But for Andrew, it has been a matter of working through the process of breeding and selecting and today their commercial ewe flock is an even line of Wiltshires.

They have also established a Wiltshire stud flock and will be hosting their first ram and surplus ewe lamb sale on the farm early next year to meet a growing demand for the breed, particularly in light of recent

›› More p78 77

With their inherent resilience, Wiltshires have proved a good fit for a low input system.

poor returns for crossbred wool.

Andrew says the progression to a noshear flock is quite rapid and in the first cross, the progeny typically has no wool on their belly – so no belly crutching.

“It’s not guaranteed but that’s pretty much what happens.”

NO MORE CRUTCHING, DIPPING OR FLYSTRIKE Within a couple of generations crutching, dipping and flystrike is eliminated and within three to four – so too is shearing.

Mt Cass still shears about 3000 older ewes and next year this will be reduced to 1500. With no belly, hindquarter wool and very limited fleece, shearing is quick and easy.

“The shearers love coming here, I used to shout the shearers a beer, now they shout me,” jokes Andrew.

He admits it has required a mind-set to be running sheep that don’t produce wool.

“I miss the wool but I don’t miss producing something that’s worth nothing and has a lot of associated costs, added stress and labour.”

For a large-scale operation such as Mt Cass, this eliminates much of the work typically associated with sheep over the summer months which block managers Will Pears and Steph Tweed admit can be difficult to get your head around.

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“They are more like running cattle.” exposed top country – which rises to 550m Being organic producers, the Heards – and then onto the irrigated flats. have an input framework which they Andrew and Sara describe this mix work within and this allows the ewe of terrain and micro-climates as a real lambs one drench and other classes can be strength. They have a good balance of drenched depending on faecal egg counts north and south facing country which and approval from Biogro, but only when means they have mix of warmer and absolutely necessary. colder, wetter and drier country.

“This was all quite alien to This allows them to operate me as a “chemical-dependant” a split lambing with the older fine-wool farmer,” Andrew says. terminal sire ewes lambing on The Wiltshires’ inherent August 1, the mixed-age ewes parasite resistance and on September 1 and hoggets on resilience, coupled with an October 1. aggressive pasture renewal Drought conditions over policy means internal parasites summer meant this year’s are not production-limiting. scanning was back by 10-12% to Andrew Heard.

When they took over the 156% across mixed-age ewes and former Landcorp farm, the two-tooths. owners identified new pastures, In drought, the ewes are flushed new genetics and fences as on organically grown barley their top priorities. and this year the station will be They immediately sowed growing its own crop to give more a legume-rich forage mix of control over availability and costs. lucerne, chicory, plantain, After mating, the ewes are prairie grass and clovers and wintered on grass and balage and Tim Chamberlain. after the scanning, the multiplethis mix has proved invaluable for growing out and finishing bearing ewes are run onto shortlambs. rotation ryegrass while the singles stay on Mt Cass spreads across three pasture. topographical and climatic zones, from Pre-lambing the ewes are given a five-inthe warmer coastal block, (they have 5km one vaccine and mineral drench, both of bordering the sea) to the higher, more which are acceptable in an organic system.

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Typically, the ewes are weaning 135%145% and Andrew says the higher percentages are in the later lambing ewes that have been put to the Wiltshire ram.

Tailing is again quick, as they are just tailing and marking lambs – nothing else.

“They literally get tailed and then we don’t see them again until weaning.”

About 40% of the lamb crop is sold prime at the pre-Christmas weaning draft at 16.5-17.5kg and Andrew says yields in the straight Wiltshire lambs are more akin to a maternal/terminal cross than a straight maternal breed lamb.

The lambs are sold to Alliance and the partnership receives around a 70c/kg premium for their organically-produced lamb.

With prices for crossbred wool hitting new lows, Andrew says he has been contacted by a number of farmers interested in the Wiltshires.

These include farmers in their 50s, 60s and 70s who no longer have the appetite for the work associated with wool production and from farmers whose woolsheds need upgrading.

The Mt Cass owners are considering alternative uses for their largely redundant woolshed.

But the breed also appeals to younger farmers who are coming into farming with no memory of ever seeing strong returns

Mt Cass benefits from a mix of terrain, micro-climates and lambing split over three months to make the most of this variation.

for crossbred wool and no improvement in prices looking likely in the future.

After 12 years of breeding, Andrew is very happy with the ewes although as with all flocks, it is a matter of continuous improvement.

“They are not magic sheep, they are just easy,” says Andrew.

Having been working with a limited gene pool, Tim Chamberlain believes there is potential for more genetic gain within the breed, particularly with fertility and they find this exciting. Within their own stud, fertility is a focus and any hogget that doesn’t rear a lamb is culled.

The ewes are run alongside 200 Stabiliser

breeding cows which play an important role in managing pasture quality and worm burdens as producing a calf every year. The cows winter amongst a 500ha forestry block which is part of the farm and are put to work managing pastures over spring, summer and autumn.

The business is audited by BioGro annually and can be subject to random audits at any time.

Compliance can be challenging from a practical point of view.

However, the rigor means stock have to produce within this regulatory framework and the Wiltshires are ticking the boxes on all counts.

Rethinking wool production BY: SANDRA TAYLOR Well-known production animal consultant Trevor Cook is urging farmers to think about the time and material-related costs associated with wool production.

Trevor says beyond the costs associated with shearing, there is a cost to the time taken yarding for wool-specific jobs, monitoring sheep for flystrike, the labour required for dagging, crutching, jetting and the materials and agri-chemicals associated with these jobs.

“These gobble up a good chunk of a labour unit.”

Trevor says a figure calculated some years ago estimated that the cost of wool production, not related to shearing expenses and insecticides, was about $9/ ewe.

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While he points out that these costs have always been there, they were diluted by reasonable returns for crossbred wool, which is no longer the case.

Even if a sheep grows less wool, there are still the associated management costs.

With prices for crossbred wool reaching new lows, Trevor thinks composite sheep, not selected for wool production may come back into favour, especially those that only require shearing once a year.

“There are a lot of Romneys still producing a good fleece of wool and have all the work associated with that.”

This also includes the grazing management sometimes required to prevent fleece contamination by weeds or burnt foliage, or getting trapped in blackberry.

Another option might be breeding

sheep that are not growing wool on the extremities so they don’t require dagging or crutching.” Some breeders have already made good progress in producing sheep like this.

“It does reduce the cost when you don’t have to dag, crutch or belly.”

Similarly, there may be an opportunity for the industry to select sheep resistant to flystrike.

“We know it is heritable but how do you put a selection programme in place?

“If you didn’t get flystrike it would remove a lot of the associated costs including time and materials.”

Trevor says all the farmers he has spoken to that have moved to woolless sheep overwhelmingly comment on how much easier sheep farming is without wool production.

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DO YOU KNOW YOUR LOCAL COOPWORTH BREEDER? ROMANI COOPWORTHS Ross & Ruth Richards Taumarunui (07)-895-7144 romani@farmside.co.nz

NIKAU COOPWORTHS ASHGROVE GENETICS TAUTARI COOPWORTHS Kate Broadbent Tuakau (09)-233-3230 broadbent.ka@gmail.com

James & Janine Parsons Dargaville (09)-434-6084 or 021-206-3208 james@ashgrovegenetics.co.nz

J A Mills Te Awamutu (07)-871-0706 pjmills1405@gmail.com

REDLEY PARK

Graeme Gleeson Pukeatua (07)-872 4856 or 027-727-3720 gbg.redley@xtra.co.nz

KIRIKAU COOPWORTHS Travis Carter & Julie Matthews Robert & Suzanne Carter Taumarunui 07-895-3348 or 07-896-7020 thepoplarsfarm@gmail.com

KAAHU GENETICS

Murray Sargent Whakamaru 027-392-7242 murraysargent@hotmail.com

WAIONE COOPWORTH

John Wilkie Wanganui (06)-342-6883 or 021-267-4425 coopworths@waione.co.nz

HINENUI GENETICS

Brett & Lucy Teutenberg, Deana & Phil Cook, Ryan & Claire Teutenberg Gisborne (06)-862-8768 or 021-610-664 admin@hinenuigenetics.co.nz

PINE PARK PARTNERSHIP Edward Sherriff Marton (06)-327-6591 or 021-704-778 pinepark@farmside.co.nz

MARLOW COOPWORTHS

Steve Wyn-Harris Waipukurau (06)-855-8265 or 027-222-3284 swyn@xtra.co.nz

DITTON FARM

James Falloon Masterton (06)-372-4882 or 0274-999-765 James.Falloon@xtra.co.nz

GRASSENDALE GENETICS

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ASHAIG FARM

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TE RAE GENETICS Chris Wilson Winton 027-444-7072 chris.terae@gmail.com

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Chris Logan Christchurch (03)-423-0670 or (027)-604-8450 Chris.Logan@lincoln.ac.nz

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Waimate (03)-689-3869 brucekathymcculloch@gmail.com J R & A G Lee Oamaru (03)-431-7819 allycatz@xtra.co.nz

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WHARETOA GENETICS Garth & Chris Shaw Balclutha (03)-415-9074 wharetoa@farmside.co.nz

@CoopworthGenetics

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The Carter family has been breeding Coopworth sheep since 1974.

Breeding on steep hill country we produce an easy care, high output flock to improve your genetic gain without compromising physical structure. Our focus started and continues to be breeding for FE tolerance and we are proud to be FE GOLD for the past 7 years.

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Romani Coopworths

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“For the last 5 years we have been using Grassendale Genetics and have been impressed with the results.

Grassendale Genetics have added real value to our business, through our consistently high scanning and survival rates. We pride ourselves on being the fifth generation to farm our Property and are aware that in order for the farm to be in a good position for the future we need to be continually developing and working with like-minded businesses. George and Luce at Grassendale Genetics are continually looking to evolve their genetics, are at the forefront of the industry, and are a great fit for our business.”

Richard and Abi Fairbrother farm Awatoitoi a 620ha sheep and beef farm East of Masterton, with 3000 breeding ewes and 120 beef cows. They are the 5th generation of their family to farm the property their children Luke 12, Josh 10, and Sasha 8

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LIVESTOCK | ONFARM

An aerial view of Glenside, home for Dayanne Almeida and Paul Crick.

A passion for numbers A former Taratahi leasehold farm is part of a Wairarapa hill country operation. Tony Leggett reports.

W

airarapa hill country farming partners Dayanne Almeida and Paul Crick are building a detailed profile of their maternal ewe flock to help them select their most productive replacements.

The couple lease two hill country properties, Glenside, and neighbouring deer farm, Arahura, east of Masterton. Both are summer-dry, winter-wet farms that receive between 900-1000mm each year.

Glenside was formerly leased and managed

by Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre where Paul was director of farms until its closure in late 2018.

They took over most of the stock with the leases, plus the 520-head Central

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October 2020

Progeny Test hill flock, which is one of four under the control of Beef + Lamb Genetics. This is managed alongside the couple’s own livestock.

Paul says his former role meant he was familiar with the stock on Glenside, which has been an advantage as they pursue their aim of finding the most productive animals to suit Wairarapa’s summer-dry conditions and their management.

Their preference is to use as much objectivity as possible, so they are great advocates of using electronic identification tags to record data against individual animals. But they concede the visual appearance is important to them too.

“We all like good-looking sheep, don’t we? That’s a key part of what we do, but

we need to understand what’s under the hood, what’s under the skin as well for us to maximise their value as well as to realise their genetic potential,” Paul says.

“We’re after a ewe that gets in lamb, ideally has twins and rears them through to weaning. We’re also looking within our flock for ewes that specifically have that ability to put body condition on.”

So, they are looking for ewes in their flock that can quickly rebuild condition after weaning, get back in lamb and hold condition over the winter, then release that stored energy into their lambs in the spring.

Dayanne’s experience includes a long stint with the Wairere ram breeding enterprise near their leased properties,

83

Andy Hill and Lavínia Evangelho with partners Dayanne Almeida and Paul Crick.

and her new role as Zoetis Genetics area manager and sheep technical lead. She is applying this to building a more detailed flock profile.

At key times through the year they are collecting data on liveweight, body condition score, tupping marks left by raddle on ram harnesses, pregnancy scanning, birth rank of ewe hoggets that have come back into their flock as replacements, and the age of the dam that

reared them. Ewe hoggets are scanned twice. The second scan is just before set stocking to see which ones have lost their lambs.

EID tagging makes data easier to collect but they both concede it is a passion for numbers and extra value that drives them.

Paul says ewe body condition score is a primary focus, rather than ewe liveweight.

He rejects the long-held goal of weaning ewes at their mating weight. “We know we can utilise the fat off a ewe’s back through that spring period so she puts it into her milk, she puts it into her lambs. And then she has that ability to bounce back and to put that condition back on.

“I’m sure a lot of farmers understand that approach. But what we’re finding is that it actually does stack up in terms of the data.

“Obviously we are mindful of the wellbeing of our animals, but if a ewe does drop to a two or a two and a half, our system is focused on giving her the opportunity to put that back on.”

CREATING AN ELITE EWE FLOCK They want to create a nucleus flock of elite ewes, mated to high quality rams to just provide sufficient ewe lambs for

replacements. Their aim is to lift the total number of ewes mated to terminal sires from 45% last mating to 60 to 65%. This demands a docking rate of 150% or better.

Just-released research suggests mating 65% of ewes to terminal sires could deliver up to $100/ha of extra profit compared with a full self-replacing mating system.

Most of the extra return is generated through higher weight gain in lambs resulting from hybrid vigour, but they warn that farmers also need to factor in higher energy (feed) demand and pasture growth profile to capitalise on that crossbreeding power.

“For us, we will have an increased energy demand post weaning in December, but this should be mostly compensated for by subsequent reductions in demand following weaning in January, which I’m confident we can handle,” Dayanne says.

“So the idea is to decrease the size of the maternal flock and then focus on really high-performing sheep. We don’t want to waste any time with anything that doesn’t have the genetic potential to generate our replacements,” she says.

To help identify high performing ewes they have added their own commercial maternal flock to the sheep evaluation

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October 2020

system Sheep Improvement Limited (SIL) so they can generate breeding values for each animal. They accept they cannot include matching lambs to their dam and sire because it’s cost prohibitive at present for a commercial flock on hill country.

“We know there’s a gap with parentage but we can derive a certain amount of information, and hopefully it will be enough to suss that out,” Paul says.

Another motivation for seeing what they can do with breeding values is that, when their lease ends, these ewes will potentially have a higher value on the open market. Their plan is to use the breeding values to rank the ewes on individual traits and create an overall index that is applied at culling times along with visual assessment.

“We don’t own the farms, we just lease them. Our livestock is the machine that’s generating the cash that comes out.

We’ve got a loan from the bank, so we need to be able to do everything we can to service that.”

Paul says they are aiming to “stack the deck” in their favour, both operationally on the farm and genetically through the sires they buy in for their ewes. He applauds the efforts of forward-thinking ram breeders like the Wairarapa Romney Improvement Group, who are thinking about future demands on the sector.

BCS ANALYSIS FOR EFFICIENCY The couple acknowledge rams are the biggest contributor to the genetic gain within their flock.

“As commercial farmers we’re prepared to make the investment in our genetics.

We’re prepared to pay for the privilege to pre-select the rams we want to view,” Paul says.

“We’re after the sire summaries of those rams. Has there been any use of genomics within the operation to fast-track the progress and also increase the accuracy of breeding values and of their parentage?

That’s really important to us,” Paul says.

Dayanne Almeida started her project on the impacts of body condition score on ewe efficiency at the end of 2014 while working at Derek Daniell’s Wairere ram breeding enterprise in Wairarapa.

At Wairere she recorded body condition score (BCS) and liveweights of the stud ewes at mating, scanning and weaning.

Each mixed-age ewe was scored at either above or below BCS 3 at mating. At weaning they were scored again as either above BCS 3, or at BCS 3 or below BCS 3.

To calculate ewe efficiency Dayanne

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October 2020

divided the total weight of lambs weaned by ewe liveweight. What she found was the ewes that started with a higher BCS at mating and weaned at a lower BCS were the most efficient lamb producers.

“Those ewes that started with high condition scores at mating, three or above, and ended up with condition scores at weaning below three, they were the ones with best production. They’re more productive.”

This group weaned 81% of their bodyweight. In comparison, the ones that started either below or above BCS 3, and gained condition to wean with a BCS above 3, weaned just 60% of their bodyweight.

“We did the same on the two-tooths and found similar patterns.”

Her analysis included removing any effect from birth rank, so she was comparing singles with singles, twins against twins and triplets against triplets, and also comparing within early, midand late-lambing periods.

A final phase in the analysis is to generate genetic parameters for ewe efficiency that is based on the body condition score variation. Dayanne says from the work published to date she is confident heritability will be sufficiently high to make progress on selecting for this trait.

She was also keen to understand the impact of sires on this linkage between ewe body condition score and efficient lamb production. Looking into the Wairere data she is confident the correlations will be strong enough to make progress for ram breeders.

Her Wairere data also showed up an interesting group of ewes that had a high BCS at mating and weaning, but also weaned their own bodyweight in lamb.

“That was a bit curious because they’re quite outliers. They are the ewes that you don’t have to put in the tail-end mob.

They’re good because they still weaned their bodyweight.”

When she investigated further she found that most of the ewes in that group shared two sires in common.

She and Paul are now starting the same BCS analysis in their maternal flock at Glenside, and this year will be calculating ewe efficiency scores by recording the kilograms of lambs each ewe weans.

“So the next thing for us would be to focus more on our sires and start to seek out sires with genomically enhanced breeding capability, with good accuracy.”

Oi`

Oi`

 Annual FE testing ü Annual FE testing (Ramguard 4 Star) (Ramguard 4 Star) ü Annual FE testing 2000 Certified Certified SIL SIL ü 2000 (Ramguard 4 Star) recorded ewes recorded ewes 2000 Certified SIL ü ü Taihape Hill country recorded Taihape Hill country sheep with FE tolerance ewes sheep with FE ü Taihape Hill country tolerance sheep with FE tolerance Mark, Lorraine & Kristina Illston Mark, Lorraine 06 388 7804 & Kristina Illston Mark, Lorraine & 06 388 7804 F.mindahillsgenetics Kristina Illston www.mindahills.co.nz

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NORTH ISLAND Brandon, Philip & Audrey – Otorohanga. P: 07 873 6313 Bryant, Maree – Urenui. P: 06 752 3701 Frank, Wayne – Waitara. P: 06 754 4311 Jury, Chris – Waitara. P: 06 754 6672 Langlands, Neil & Linda – Taumarunui. P: 07 896 8660 MacFarlane, James – Stratford. P: 06 762 5880 Proffit, Russell & Mavis – Mahoneui. P: 027 355 2927 Brosnahan, Sean – Ohope. P: 06 864 4468 Harding, Judy – Woodville. P: 06 376 4751 Otoi Farming Co – Wairoa. P: 06 838 7398 Longview – Maxwell, Graeme & Sue – Tutira. P: 06 839 7412 Gaskin, Rob & Heather – Levin. P: 06 368 0623 Henricksen, John & Carey – Pongaroa. P: 06 374 3888 D’Ath, Warren – Palmerston North. P: 06 354 8951 Robbie, Donald & Marlene – Eketahuna. P: 06 376 7250 Spellman, John – Te Awamutu. P: 07 870 1433 Te Awaiti Station – Martinborough. P: 022 607 5968 Timms, Gilbert – Shannon. P: 06 362 7829

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Te Kuiti North Island Ram Sale 1 PM, Te Kuiti Saleyards

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Gore South Island Ram Sale 10:30 AM, Gore Showgrounds

Anderson, Tim, Sue & Edward – Cheviot. P:03 319 2730 de Vos, Cor & Belia – Wakefield. P: 03 522 4280 Elliott, Ken – Akaroa. P: 021 221 4185 Evans, Ivan & Julie – Oxford. P: 03 312 1585 Jebson, John & Melissa – Darfield. P: 03 318 3796 Gallagher, Blair – Ashburton. P: 03 303 9819 James, Warrick – Coalgate. P: 03 318 2352 Oldfield, Philip – Geraldine. P: 03 693 9877 Tripp/Veronese, Annabel & Roy – Darfield. P: 03 318 6939 Awakiki Ridges Ltd – Balclutha. P: 03 418 0645 France, Richard & Kerry – Tapanui. P:03 204 8339 Gardyne, Robert – Oturehua. P: 03 444 5032 McElrea, Mike – Tapanui. P: 027 242 9376 Newhaven Farms – Oamaru. P: 03 432 4154 Mitchell Hillcrest – Clinton. P: 03 415 7187 Richardson, Allan – Tapanui. P: 03 204 2134 Ayers, Warren – Wyndham. P: 027 226 4290 Christie Wilson P/s – Gore. P: 03 208 1789 Diamond Peak – Gore. P: 03 208 1030 McKelvie Ltd – Wyndham. P: 027 249 6905 Mackie, Andrew & Karen – Otautau. P: 021 210 3381 Mitchell, Philip & Christine – Tokanui.P:03 246 8881 Slee, Hayden & Kate – Te Anau. P: 03 249 9097 Wilson, Pip – Gore. P: 027 207 2882

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Do you want Production Performance from your Perendales?

“HAUTERE PERENDALES”

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27th Annual

NI Perendale Ram Sale

To ensure genetic gain in both the Hautere flock and also Ram Clients flocks, only 2th ewes and rams with a “NZ Maternal Worth plus Meat Index” above 2000 on the “SIL NZGE Across Flock Analysis” are retained or offered for sale.

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Born in the tussocks, not on a spreadsheet At Newhaven, we pride ourselves on being a family-run operation. Like you, we are out there in the dust, snow, sun or mud 365 days of the year.

We pick our bloodlines, not some shiny boffin in a corner office.

 Newhaven Perendales

For us, it is this simple - we have the responsibility to produce high performing, robust rams for your breeding flock - backed by 50 years of Newhaven genetic gains.

 Newhaven Romdales  Newhaven Perendale Texels

This is at the heart of every decision we make, while out there getting our hands dirty.

Blair and Jane Smith EST. 1972

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(03) 432 4154 (027) 432 4154 genetics@newhavenperendales.co.nz

Web: www.newhavenperendales.co.nz @newhavengenetics

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LIVESTOCK | ONFARM

Ewes and lambs on lucerne once they are boxed for rotational grazing.

Pathway to ownership A Romney flock and the country’s oldest Dorset Down flock are features of the Newports’ Tasman farm. Anne Hardie reports.

F

or the past four years, Daniel and Tarsh Newport have averaged 190% scanning in their ewes by being prepared to take on new challenges and adopt innovative practices early.

They also have learned from their peers and adapted those learnings to their own business and farm system.

The couple farm at Korere, south of Nelson, on farmland Daniel’s forbears carved out of the bush way back in 1869. Today it spreads over 364 hectares (300ha effective) and four years ago they bought the property from family at market rate after leasing it for several years. They renamed the property Dewes Farm, which represents the initials of five generations

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of Newports farming the land for 151 years.

It has been a stepped pathway to farm ownership, which began with a partnership arrangement with Daniel’s parents, Edwin and Erica, then leasing it while still benefiting from Edwin’s wealth of experience. The process gave them the chance to build up equity in stock before taking the plunge and buying the farm.

Leasing the property also gave them time to learn the seasonal aspects of the business on that particular farm, and time to prove themselves to lending institutions before they took on a hefty mortgage. The bank, accountant and advisers help to make up a “trusted team”,

which they have found essential.

Today they run 3000 stock units on the home farm and graze a further 120ha on a hill block nearby. As well as 1800 Romney breeding ewes they run the oldest existing Dorset Down flock in the country – registered as number 13 – with 80 stud ewes producing terminal rams for the business plus stud rams for sale.

BENCHMARKING THE BUSINESS The couple are passionate about farming and improving their business, prompting them to benchmark it via the Beef + Lamb New Zealand economic survey, which they say has been a “brilliant” tool.

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FARM FACTS: • 300 effective hectares plus 120ha grazing • 1800 Romney breeding ewes and 80 Dorset Down stud ewes • Scanning averaging 190% • 100 Hereford breeding cows • Goliath rape for flushing ewes, lucerne for summer dry and autumn

Daniel and Tarsh Newport on their Tasman farm.

They are also involved with the wider industry, sharing their own experiences to help others achieve. Tarsh has been a strong advocate for the rural community, ensuring different sectors work together, leading to a role as a B+LNZ farmer councillor.

Though wanting to share experiences, they say it is important farmers do not compare their farming operation with their neighbours because no two farms are exactly the same and every business has different objectives.

For them, drought is the one of the biggest battles. They’re typical on the Korere landscape, along with colder winters that delay spring growth. To overcome both those challenges, they have worked out how to use crops and legumes to their advantage as well as tweaking their lambing and weaning dates.

In the past decade or so, lambing percentages on the farm have risen dramatically. They attribute that to using Goliath rape at mating, lucerne through the summer and autumn dry, growing the hoggets out and lambing them as twotooths, plus moving the lambing date further out to September 12 to match growth. Tarsh says the later lambing achieves the same result as lambing earlier because there’s more feed when the

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October 2020

lambing ewes need it.

Trying to get lambs up to weight for the pre-Christmas market has always been a challenge because of the late start to spring, and their earliest lambs coincide with Christmas work closures, shearing, and sowing paddocks. So they don’t even target that market now. Instead they focus on achieving a high lambing percentage, feeding the lambs through summer and keeping condition on the ewes so they can sell culls well, plus take breeding ewes through to tupping in good condition.

BENEFITS OF GOLIATH RAPE AND SAVED PASTURE Daniel and Tarsh are now big advocates of Goliath rape after stumbling on it a few years ago when their traditional swede crop was wiped out by accidental spray residue. They sowed the rape as a back-up for winter feed that year and eventually used it for flushing the ewes.

Their lambing percentage lifted by nearly 30% that year, so they planted 15ha of the rape the next year. They now grow 20ha, which gives 1800 ewes about 30 days of good feed from the time the rams go out on April 14.

The crop is planted at the end of December or early January at a rate of

5-6kg/ha and they say that density is important to produce optimum plant foliage for the sheep to graze. Moisture permitting, the crop is ready for stock 70 days later, though without irrigation there are always risks.

“You can grow 10t/ha, but if you don’t get any moisture you’re talking half that amount,” Daniel says. “It’s a fine line to get that paddock back into grass, so we direct sow into that crop with an annual and when that finishes it goes back into permanent pasture.”

“On the flip side of cropping,” Tarsh says, “having a crop in autumn means you’re growing all that feed on the rest of the farm for winter.”

That means no winter crops, which is an advantage environmentally as regulations toughen. Five years ago they were growing 5-10ha of winter crops but that has been replaced by autumn crops and saved pasture for winter.

“It’s the old saying – it takes grass to grow grass,” Daniel says.

Saved pasture will get the pregnant ewes through to lambing with differing management depending on grass and mobs. In the past four years their scanning averaged 190% including Dorset Down, compared with 160% for the previous four years. The lift in scanning results coincides with the time they have been flushing the ewes on rape. The survival rate for lambs last year was about 150% and they think they can lift that by 10-15%.

Teaser rams used for three cycles prior mating consolidates lambing so that 80% occurs from the first cycle. Lambing has been a labour-intensive period in the past with their previous management practices, along with the added task of recording and EID tagging the Dorset Down lambs.

They believe a lambing beat is essential for cast ewes and lambing issues because

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every animal matters, and also because it is a social responsibility. Lambs that are struggling are picked up as well as mis-mothered lambs, which are mothered onto other ewes if possible. Last year they realised they could manoeuvre through the lambing mobs with less disruption if they left it later in the day.

“We worked out that if we left them alone in the morning and came back later, they were enjoying the sunshine and we could move around easily without interrupting them,” Tarsh says. “So we generally go around when the day warms up a bit. It made it less stressful for us, and the dogs and sheep seemed more settled.”

STOCKING RATE CRITICAL They are working on minimising lamb losses and Tarsh says getting the stocking rate right is critical so that the ewe has enough feed and there’s ample feed for the lambs when they begin eating grass.

“Because as soon as mum hasn’t got enough feed she will start dropping off lambs. Lamb wastage isn’t right for your business so you want every lamb to make it.”

The triplet mob of 400 ewes is given the paddocks where the survival rate has been highest. Shelter belts are fenced off so they still provide shelter but don’t create bedlam in bad weather when many ewes

The oldest existing Dorset Downs flock in the country.

are lambing close together. It’s also why they have learnt “less is better” in the triplet mobs. So far they are achieving a triplet survival rate of up to 226%.

All ewes are given CampyVax, Toxovax and Covexin 10 for protection, and get a pre-tupping mineral drench of LSD with another drench before lambing most years. Shearing takes place mid-pregnancy in July, and legume pastures have helped with overall animal health.

Last year they successfully trialled leaving the tails on the terminal mob, which meant less work for Daniel and Tarsh and there was no check in the lambs’ growth. They think some lambs get arthritis after tailing also, so tails will stay on that mob again this year.

All up, that will be about 1000 Dorset Down cross lambs with tails that will be grazed on the lucerne paddocks. Lambs produce fewer dags on the lucerne and

P PE ER RE EN ND DA AL LE ES S for ING TEST ECZEMA AL .46 FACI ance at r e l To

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Flock 489 SIL Recorded

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that was part of the decision to leave the tails on.

Lucerne growth is kicking off about the same time lambing gets under way.

Lucerne texts and updates from B+LNZ show the farm is generally about a month behind Marlborough, though this year’s early spring warmth was “one out of the box”.

An old irrigation system consisting of sprinklers and pipes is used to irrigate 10ha of the lucerne, and they have plans to upgrade and develop the system further.

The farm has been growing lucerne for about 40 years now, beginning with 9ha that was used to set stock the ewes. Now they have 35ha planted and intend to push it out to 50ha to feed ewes with lambs as well as the weaned terminal lambs.

“If you can put weight on those ewes as wel, you get more bang for your buck.”

After four weeks of lambing they box the mob and begin moving them from paddock to paddock of lucerne to enable regrowth behind them. Last year they were shifting 500 ewes with lambs on the lucerne and Tarsh says it didn’t take long

Pregnant Romney ewes.

before the mob began settling quickly after a shift.

Before they move to the lucerne the ewes are set stocked, with single-lamb ewes stocked at 10su/ha, while those with twins are stocked at 8su/ha and triplets 6su/ha. Stocking rates are increased once they move to rotational grazing on the lucerne.

Having moved the lambing date back a couple of weeks they are now going to bring weaning forward this year. In the past they have weaned at 90 to 100 days and this year they plan to wean the terminal lambs at 70 to 80 days. That means they can quit 400 to 500 ewes earlier, which is in effect a new market for them, and keep the lambs on the lucerne

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October 2020

while the remaining ewes can benefit from earlier weaning.

“If we can get rid of 400 to 500 ewes earlier and not have them on the farm over Christmas, that’s feed for other stock.”

A small number of lambs are sent to the works off mum, with the weaned terminal lambs grazed on the lucerne until they reach slaughter weights about 17-18.5kg. All lambs are gone by winter.

The Dorset Down Romney cross lambs generally yield between 53% and 58%, while the Romneys yield between 48-53%.

It depends on the season, and the Dorset Down lambs hold on well through dry seasons.

They’re not averse to selling lambs as stores if that’s the way the season goes, or buying in store lambs “if the season is a cracker” and as long as there are good margins in doing that.

They have remained loyal to straight Romneys as a base for the flock and say the breed has been a good performer without adding any other genetics. In the past two years, which have been the

driest seasons in years, the Romney flock has scanned 189% and the highest it has scanned with them was 196%.

“We can scan well, lamb well and get the lamb weights,” Tarsh says. “Wool isn’t getting the money it’s worth but we are not going to do anything detrimental to the wool, so we have quite nice wool and we definitely believe wool can come back, and should do.

“This is the first year shearing has been a cost more than the revenue we receive from our wool, but it is an animal health necessity with benefits to stock.”

The Hereford herd averages 95% calving.

PADDOCKS GRAZED ON 30-DAY ROTATION On the lucerne paddocks, Daniel and Tarsh aim for a 30-day rotation with each paddock grazed no more than five to seven days at a time. That allows it to come away again behind the stock and ensure good growth. If there’s any surplus it is cut for silage, while more supplements can be made from the grass that is saved

because the sheep are on lucerne.

“If you can run more stock on higher quality feed you can turn the other pastures into supplements,” Daniel says.

“We generally like a pit of silage, which is a bit less plastic, but do balage as well.”

Because there are only the two of them on the farm their time is precious and it makes more sense to bring in contractors

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View from the hills across Newport’s flats.

for silage and balage. Other work such as spraying and direct drilling is also done by contractors, and sometimes ground work if they are struggling for time themselves.

As well as lucerne, they are increasing the diversity of legumes in their paddocks, including sub clovers, partly for nitrogen fixing and also as a self-seeding legume that can be grazed later in summer. To get that under way they plan to direct-drill red clover into the older lucerne stands as

a trial to see how it goes.

One of the greatest benefits of both lucerne and rape is that they can keep better condition scores on the sheep throughout the year, and they say that helps everything from tupping to lambing and recovery.

They have 180ha of flats to plant rape, lucerne and cut supplements, with a further 120ha covering medium hill country to the east, which is made up of

just nine paddocks, and 60ha of gorse covered ridges. Though their Hereford cattle work well cleaning up tag on the hills, further subdivision is planned and sub clover will be encouraged, to make the hills more productive in a natural way.

To date they calve 100 cows on the flat country and sell all the weaners at the end of March, which is welcome money in the bank. The herd scans 95-100% and on average will calve about 95%.They aim to

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KIKITANGEO ROMNEY STUD Established 1922

31st Annual Ram Sale Wednesday, 2nd December 2020 110 Top Romney Rams 8 Suffolk Rams 25 Beltex x Suffolk and SD Ewes Sadly this will be the last sale at Kikitangeo, the Romney Stud will be sold in February 2021.

Mustering the hill country.

increase numbers to 120 cows and use them more on the rougher pasture once the hills have more subdivision.

With subdivision, as well as environmental regulations to fence waterways, comes the need for an improved water system to replace the streams and springs that have provided water until now.

“It’s a little daunting because the cost is huge,” Daniel says. “Fencing waterways and water systems will probably be about a quarter of a million. That’s on contract prices.”

While fencing waterways has environmental benefits, they point out it will also create other problems in some areas, such as fire hazards. Long dry grass and weeds is not a good mix with drought-prone regions always wary of fire.

Transforming the gorse block at the top of the farm into productive land is a goal for the future. It’s part of the equation to realise the farm’s full potential, which to date is limited only by capital and legislation.

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After 34 years of breeding for an enhanced immune system that can control and overcome worm challenges has largely been achieved. It is now a matter of consolidating these advances.

A high percentage of sale rams have never been drenched while having high exposure to the lethal Barbers Pole worm. These rams will pass on to their progeny 50% of their immune responses.

As principal of the Stud, I sincerely thank past and present clients who have given me loyal support and encouragement for the breeding programme that I believed was the future of the sheep industry. At this time I would also acknowledge the huge contribution made by leading scientists from Ruakura, Lincoln and Invermay that resulted in the achievement of my goals.

Kikitangeo Land Company Gordon Levet | Tel 09 423 7034 Patrece Ward | Tel 021 08 644 724 Email glevet5192@gmail.com Website www.kikitangeo.co.nz PGGW – Grant Palliser 027 590 2201 or 09 425 0431 Bernie McGahan 027 590 2210 Cam Higgie 027 501 8182

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LIVESTOCK | FEEDING

Selecting for body condition score BY: VICTORIA O’SULLIVAN

I

s it worthwhile having body condition score (BCS) as one of your selection objectives when chasing efficiency in your ewe flock?

That’s the question that provided the basis for Massey University student Isabel Vialoux’s PhD thesis, which saw her analyse pedigree-recorded sheep BCS datasets captured by stud flock breeders since 2008.

“We wanted to know whether it was possible to select for BCS in sheep,” says Isabel. “If a ewe is a certain BCS, will she pass that on to her offspring, and will those ewes be a similar BCS? And is it beneficial to go to a ram breeder that records BCS or not?”

Optimal BCS is considered to be 3-3.5

with anything outside this range generally considered inefficient. Isabel found BCS was passed on and showed similar heritability regardless of the time of year it was measured.

“It doesn’t matter if you measure it prior to mating or at weaning, there are similar genes in effect at all those different time points,” she says.

She looked at different sheep profiles and how the BCS changed through the year, and found the relationship backed up what is visually recognized on many sheep farms – the ewes that had the ability to lose more body condition could use this energy to produce milk to feed their lambs, whereas the ones that held on to condition were more likely to wean singles.

She says triplets continue to be a huge issue for many farmers so it’s important

Isabel Vialoux: ‘The weaning weight of the lamb is what the farmers are interested in.’

to have triplet ewes at a BCS 3.5 mating through to scanning. Isabel suggests using BCS at mating to ensure ewes have enough condition to carry them through winter and to feed the lambs up until weaning.

At weaning use BCS to draft out the lower

TURANGANUI ROMNEYS Survival, one of the few traits you will never get too much of

At Turanganui we have always paid attention to Lamb survival, demonstrated above where the red line denotes Turanganui’s progress, the blue line is the average of 1199 SIL flocks.

Left to right: Nico Butler, Keiren Brown, Holmes Warren, Guy Warren, Mike Warren, William Warren.

CONTACT 027 446 5312 06 307 7841

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300 RAMS

Thursday November 26th On-Farm, Fairlie and

Online at www.meadowslea.co.nz through the Yourbid platform.

David Giddings 027 2299760 George Giddings 027 656 3323 giddingsfamily@xtra.co.nz

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At weaning use BCS to draft out the lower condition ewes for preferential feeding as these are likely to have been the multiple-rearing ewes.

condition ewes for preferential feeding as these are likely to have been the multiplerearing ewes.

“As you get through the year and the foetus mass is pushing on their stomachs, they can’t make that up in late pregnancy, so it is super important to have that condition from the get-go.”

This also backs up the importance of measuring BCS and drafting into different management mobs based on BCS and pregnancy scanning results. A study conducted in New Zealand in 2016 by Corner-Thomas found only about 50% farmers actually knew the liveweight of their ewes in autumn, so were unable to make management decisions such as removing light ewes from the mob.

Many feed budgeting techniques are based on 'gut feel' or on outdated recommendations for feed requirements, not taking into account the increases in mature ewe size.

She anaylsed the genetic parameters of the relationships between the BCS and the production traits like number of lambs scanned, weaned and the weaning weight of the lamb.

“The weaning weight of the lamb is

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October 2020

what the farmers are interested in, so we tried to work out on a genetic level whether BCS is helpful to that, detrimental or has no effect at all.

She says it became evident that it is more beneficial for farmers to measure BCS on farm to influence production rather than using the genetics of BCS for selection.

“The genetics of BCS isn’t going to help in terms of increasing production”. But measuring BCS onfarm can be used to influence your production - so feeding sheep to start off with a higher BCS at mating will then have more condition to be able to lose so that they can feed their lambs, to result in heavier lambs at weaning.

A Massey research paper from 2015 looked at the tools farmers use onfarm and found less than half of farmers used BCS. For those new to BCS, she suggests taking advantage of industry workshops. Being a subjective measure, this type of learning can give farmers something to calibrate against.

“The majority of sheep probably are between 2-4 BCS, and while one step in BCS isn’t a large difference, if you’ve never

done it before and you just run your hand over the back of a sheep you could be out by 1 BCS.” She acknowledges that using BCS on sheep is a lot of extra work on top of shearing and drenching, since it can’t be done visually, but it can definitely help in terms of estimating efficiency.

“Those sheep who start with a higher BCS and have twins or triplets can actually earn you more because its higher income per ewe mated, and the highest cost is the maintenance cost to feed the ewe across the whole year.”

The flocks she worked with were Focus Genetics Romney and NZ Merino. She said due to the Romney basis of the New Zealand flock, they didn’t observe the same level of BCS variation in sheep as is typically seen in beef and dairy cattle.

From her PhD studies, Isabel recommends that there would be a benefit to using a ram breeder that records BCS and the best time for them to record BCS for genetic selection was mating to increase BCS, however it is unlikely to influence production. Measuring BCS onfarm is a valuable tool to be able to feed ewes based on BCS to lift production.

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LIVESTOCK | DISEASES

Beware threat of BVD in sheep BY: ANDREW SWALLOW

N

ew evidence Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) is present in New Zealand sheep flocks has prompted vets to warn farmers attempting eradication in cattle to be “mindful” sheep can be infected too.

Tests on 270 ewe hoggets across 18 sheep and beef farms, 15 from each farm, found 17 animals with antibodies to pestiviruses, indicating probable* exposure to BVD. All came from two farms that were among nine selected for the study because they were known or highly suspected to have BVD in their cattle herds. The other nine farms were selected for being considered BVD-free.

“These findings highlight that farmers who are trying to eradicate BVD from their

cattle should be mindful that the infection may also be circulating in sheep, and both populations should be considered a possible risk to each other for generating transient and persistent [BVD] infections,” concludes the New Zealand Veterinary Journal report by Massey University Associate Professor Carolyn Gates and colleagues.

Speaking to Country-Wide about the study, Gates warned BVD in sheep causes “many of the same problems with reproductive performance and poor growth rates” as in cattle. Consequently, it could be causing even greater losses than the $150 million/year currently estimated, making eradication from New Zealand even more cost-effective than economic models have predicted.

The disease’s presence in sheep shouldn’t make much difference to how hard it will

be to eradicate either, as it generally doesn’t persist in sheep.

“Outbreaks in sheep flocks are expected to burn out much faster because the virus isn’t as well adapted to that species,” she explained.

“There is much more risk of cattle spreading BVD to sheep than the other way around.”

Like calves, lambs infected with BVD in the womb can become persistently infected (PI) and shed large amounts of the virus for life. However, unlike PI calves which often survive several years, most PI lambs die within weeks or at most a few months so don’t have as many opportunities to infect other animals.

Besides the loss of those PI lambs, ewes which become infected (transient infection) may have reduced fertility, abort, or produce lambs with birth defects.

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October 2020

Older lambs that are transiently infected may have reduced growth rates and increased susceptibility to other diseases.

“We don’t really know how much damage BVD is causing the sheep industry right now because not many sheep-and-beef farmers are currently testing their beef cattle for BVD let alone their sheep. However, based on what we do know about how the disease works, controlling BVD in the cattle populations should be enough to eradicate it from sheep too.”

The sheep study was conducted as part of the three year Sustainable Farming Fund project, BVD Free New Zealand, which now concludes at the end of December, following a six month extension due to Covid-19. The associated website, www.bvdfree.org.nz was due to be relaunched as Country-Wide went to press. *A complicating factor in testing for BVD in sheep is hairy-shaker disease, caused by the Border disease virus (BDV). BDV is also a pestivirus, like BVD, and antibody tests available in New Zealand at the time of the study could not distinguish between the two.

However, for technical reasons, BVD was the most likely stimulus for the antibodies found the report authors believe.

Outbreaks in sheep flocks are expected to burn out much faster.

FAST GROWTH, HIGH YIELD, LESS DRENCHING, GUARANTEED PERFORMANCE

DO YOU WANT LESS WORK? Orari Gorge Romney and RomTex actively select for

FEWER DAGS AND GREATER RESISTANCE AND RESILIENCE TO WORMS. Still the ONLY STUD IN THE COUNTRY to do this on SIL.

“Over 500mm of rain over ten weeks between ram lambs’ first and second drench. Many ram lambs still growing faster than the control mob that was drenched every three weeks.”

Breeding MORE PROFITABLE & MORE SUSTAINABLE sheep in the HILL COUNTRY for the HILL COUNTRY. “Home of the Beef + Lamb Genetics Low Input Progeny Test”

NOW ALSO SELLING TERMINAL RAMS Please contact us any time for more information or to arrange a visit.

ORARI GORGE STATION Robert & Alex Peacock |

03 692 2893 |

robert@orarigorge.co.nz

Orari Gorge Station, RD 21, Geraldine, South Canterbury, New Zealand

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LIVESTOCK | BREEDING

Questions for your ram breeder BY: JAMES HOBAN

WHAT IS BEING RECORDED, HOW AND WHY?

am breeders are notorious for having diverse opinions and philosophies. It is common industry advice that selecting a ram breeder is a more important decision than choosing the right rams. There is a big range in approaches, knowledge and interest shown by ram clients. The following are areas that are worth considering when dealing with ram breeders.

There is massive variation in how breeders approach performance recording. This ranges from breeders selling rams without any figures and, at times, a firm belief that Sheep Improvement Ltd (SIL) can ruin good flocks, right through to people who push indexes as the most important consideration when selecting rams.

The key is balance. If the right ram breeder has been selected then their recording will align with the priorities of the client. If a client wants indexes and a particular range of estimated breeding values they can always go to a ram breeder who provides them. If they don’t want that level of information and they are happy with the breeder’s rationale, the ram’s performance and past experience, then it is ignorant to say they are wrong.

SIL is one of the most debated topics among ram breeders. Industry promotion of ram selection through NZ maternal worth and NZ terminal worth indexes has appeared to simplify what breeders would argue is a science and an art. This has suited index focused breeders and breeds

R

BREEDING OBJECTIVES Has the breeder got robust objectives for their flock? Can they articulate these clearly? The most important thing is that those objectives are aligned with the commercial farmer’s own plans. If the breeder is moving in a different direction then that needs to be considered. Various traits can be counterproductive to each other, so it is important to know the priorities for a commercial system and work with a ram breeder who is focused on the same things. These will vary between individuals, properties and farm systems.

102

at the expense of, often, more traditional breeders and breeds who might not have indexes or high indexes but might very well have good sheep. Indexes are most relevant for an inter-flock comparison when those flocks are well linked genetically.

When presented with ram rankings it is important to look at what index they are based on and whether it is a withinflock or across-flock evaluation. Breeders use and present a range of reports and figures. Breeds with strong linkage between breeders can make better comparison across flocks than those where breeders are not well linked. Also, it seems that breeds with relatively poor linkage struggle to present rams with huge indexes. This is a challenge for smaller breeds and breed groups where achieving strong linkage through reciprocal ram use is not always straightforward to achieve.

ADVICE SELECTING RAMS Breeders know the sheep they have available and are used to looking closely at rams. While some people are reluctant to ask for help making selections it is a good

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October 2020

way to get feedback from someone who knows the differences in the sheep.

Some clients are more experienced and capable of selecting the best rams than others.

VIEWING EWES Some clients take time to look at a breeder’s ewe flock and quiz them on ewe performance and management. The level of challenge to ewes varies widely among breeders and is something for the client to consider. Do the ewes run in similar conditions to the commercial flock the rams will be working with?

PECKING ORDER When buying rams privately, only one client can be at the front of the queue.

This is inevitable but what is, at times, a grey area is working out whereabouts in the queue the client is. It is reasonable to know how many rams the breeder has sold already or is holding back from viewing. There is nothing wrong with being further back in the queue and it doesn’t mean those sheep are not worth buying, but it is important to know so that comparison can be made with other breeders or purchasing options.

Some breeders are more transparent about their client pecking order than others.

CULLING What percentage of rams born are making it into the sale team? This varies among breeders. A high culling percentage is reassuring that only quality rams are making the grade to be presented to clients. Some clients rely heavily on breeders to eliminate sheep with structural faults such as low pasterns. Breeders with tougher culling policies are less likely to present rams with unacceptable faults.

Above: Selecting a ram breeder is a more important decision than choosing the right rams.

Beltex x and Beltex Cross Rams Belte First Annual

TWO TOOTH SALE

19 November 2020

Viewing from 11am, Sale starts 1.30pm ‘Rangiatea’, 571 Upper Downs Rd, Mt Somers, Mid Canterbury

DRENCH RESISTANCE STATUS There are breeders in New Zealand with triple drench resistance. Buying a ram without knowing this and appropriately quarantine drenching is a risk to the client’s drench resistance status.

Ram breeders who know their status and have sensible policies in place to manage this part of their business are more likely to engender confidence.

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Callum Dunnett

027 587 0131

Simon Eddington

0275 908 612

Blair Gallagher 021 022 31522

John Tavendale 027 432 1296

Hamish Gallagher 027 550 7906

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High performance with...

IN CONJUNCTION WITH

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2 TOOTH RAMS TERMINAL GENETICS USED FROM CPT PROVEN SIRES • Muscling genetics • High yield • Terminal/maternal • Worm tolerance • High bulk wool • Sire reference benchmarking MATERNAL GENETICS USED from CPT PROVEN SIRES

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ENQUIRIES WELCOME Rams priced on SIL index from $800

PREMIER & GRASMERE YOUR BEST INVESTMENT Contact: Rob Forsyth Roger Weber Email: robandkath@farmside.co.nz

Ph/Fax 06 858 4383 Ph/Fax 06 374 5229 Mobile 027 604 0044

“Breeding quality high yielding, multi-trait sires” 40 Sidey Rd, RD 24 St Andrews getatexel@gmail.com

Hamish Cottle 0210 232 0627 Peter Irvine 0274 315 553

@highgroundsfarming

TERMINAL SIRE EWE PRODUCTION

Use Registered Texel Rams and Harness the Power Find a Breeder near you

www.nzsheep.co.nz/texel

X-FACTOR LAMBS EASYCARE TRAITS LIFT IN MEAT YIELD 104

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             CONFORMATION CONFORMATION 

Balanced multi-trait Sires Balanced multi-trait Sires Easy fleshing, highyielding yieldinglambs lambs Easy fleshing, high Balanced multi-trait Sires SIL SIL Recorded Recorded Easy fleshing, EMA EMA Scanned Scanned high yielding lambs SIL Recorded Clear Microphthalmia Clear Microphthalmia EMA Scanned UK available UK Genetics Genetics available Microphthalmia Clear  CARCASS  CONSTITUTION CONSTITUTION  Genetics CARCASS  UK available

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BrentBusby Busby027 0276815241 6815241 // 03 03 230 4562 Brent 4562 Email EmailCromartytexels@gmail.com Cromartytexels@gmail.com

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WAIRARAPA TEXEL DEVELOPMENTS Tenderness & Taste Exceptional Constitution Xtra Muscling (Myomax™ Gene Naturally) Excellent Feed Conversion Efficiency Lambs That Thrive & Survive Superior Carcass Yield We offer you the opportunity to harness the power of some of the most proven Texel genetics, from one of New Zealand’s largest oldest fully SIL recorded Texel Stud flocks.

For efficient, cost effective lamb production.

Tried, tested, proven and matched perfectly to New Zealand conditions.

WAIRARAPA TEXEL DEVELOPMENTS THE TERMINATOR - PACKING MEAT

“Meating the market” Limited numbers of fully SIL recorded Suftex 2th Rams will be offered for sale in 2021 in conjunction with Texel 2th Rams.

FLOCK No 10 SIL No 2960 Stud sires are:

- Microphthlmia clear - DNA footrot scored - DNA cold tolerance scored - Myomax™ Gold only - Brucellosis accredited

With over 100 Rams for sale 2020

Plus 100-110 Ram Hoggets available for 2021 Ewe Hogget mating

Inspection and enquiry are always welcome, or visit our Facebook page wairarapa texel development Andy 027 238 4961 halfy490@gmail.com Stew 063722770 texels4u@gmail.com

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105

KALLARA TEXELS High Yielding Lambs Use Kallara Texel Rams Paul Gardner

Growth EMA & CT Scanning used Survivability and fertility SIL recorded Kallara sired lambs consistently yield 60% or better. They have won the Canterbury Mint Lamb competition three times.

Dual purpose and terminal sire rams available.

027 495 6451 or 03 302 4888

kallara@xtra.co.nz

BLACKDALE TEXELS Rams available with exceptional growth rate and muscling from 3 top British sires.

Also 200% + fertility from incorporating GDF9 fecundity gene Hogget sons of 3 top British sires

Enquiries: Peter Black Ph: 03 224 6059 Email: matblackdale@gmail.com

HEMINGFORD CHAROLAIS • ROMTEX • SUFTEX • TEXEL

COMMERCIALLY FARMED TOUGH HILL COUNTRY GENETICS Romtex – Fertile Modern Maternal Suftex – Identifiable Terminal Texel – Multi-trait Dual Purpose 1950 Fully SIL recorded Stud Ewes • 250 Texel Ewes • 750 Stabilised Suftex Ewes • 950 Stabilised Romtex Ewes • Plus 750 mated Hoggets

RAMS SOLD PRIVATELY ON FARM IN DECEMBER

CONTACT: Sam Holland

HEMINGFORD LTD Culverden, North Canterbury 021 181 4868 • 03 315 8689 E: vikiholland@amuri.net hemingfordgenetics

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LIVESTOCK | NAIT FOR SHEEP

Time to centralise sheep traceability?

BY: ANDREW SWALLOW

I

f an exotic disease outbreak occurred in New Zealand’s sheep industry tomorrow it could take weeks, maybe months, to track movements to and from affected flocks as officials work through a paperchain of animal status declarations (ASDs) supported by farmers’ diaries, stock agents’ records, saleyard catalogues, truckies’ dockets, meatworks’ receipts. Many time consuming and costly visits to farms and other premises would be required.

Meanwhile, depending on the nature of the disease and extent of the outbreak, stock movements would be restricted or at a standstill, with all the financial,

logistical, emotional and, potentially, animal welfare problems such measures impose – just ask any farmer caught by Mycoplasma bovis.

Questions would be asked why a country where sheep production is so important to the economy appeared so ill-prepared, especially one that likes to think itself a leader in most aspects of agriculture.

One person who’s long been working to address the issue is Beef + Lamb New Zealand senior policy manager Chris Houston. He says the sector has already done a lot to improve preparedness but extending electronic ASD (eASD) capability to include farmto-farm, and farm-to-saleyard (and vice

versa) movements is a vital further improvement.

“It’s been our position for years that we need better information about the location of sheep farms and traceability of sheep movements, largely for biosecurity reasons but also for traceability in the event of any future residue contamination incident, and because there’s potential to deliver extra value through product provenance assurances in the market.”

Feedback on eASD use for farm to meatworks movements has been “really positive” since its pilot in 2017 so he’s hopeful OSPRI’s planned extension of eASD capability to include farm-to-farm movements next year will be similarly

›› More p108

On Farm Auction - Friday December 18, 2020

Open Day: Friday November 27, 2020 For Sale: 320 fully recorded two-tooth rams

Proven by Performance Proven Breeder of Fast Growth Rate and High Meat Yielding Maternal and Terminal Sires

Garth Shaw 03 415 9074 • wharetoa@farmside.co.nz

www.wharetoagenetics.co.nz Country-Wide

October 2020

94851

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successful, and saleyard movements can soon follow. B+LNZ farmer consultation suggests there’s strong support for such moves, he adds.

“Covid-19 and M. bovis have done a lot to focus attention on how important traceability is.”

To ensure all movements can be checked remotely in the event of a disease outbreak, eASDs would probably have to become mandatory in due course, with provisions made to allow farms with limited electronic communications to participate.

That might be by recording the movement on an app in a phone such that when the phone next receives signal it would automatically download, or possibly by enabling agents or transports to record the movement in such situations.

Similarly, the movement might be recorded through a meat company portal, or secure area of a stock agents’ website, in much the same way as dairy farmers use MINDA to record their stock movements for NAIT. Houston says it would be logical if development of eASDs and integration of sheep into the NAIT database went hand-

in-hand. However, he stresses sheep should not require ear tagging like cattle and deer: simply that a register of farms with sheep on them is needed for biosecurity purposes.

“For highly infectious diseases that affect sheep, most notably foot and mouth, identification of the individual animal is not required, as it is movements of groups of animals between farms that must be investigated.”

Another key factor in the design of a sheep traceability scheme is that they are less frequently traded than cattle, with about 80% of lambs going direct to slaughter. That means there’s little to be gained from making some form of property identifier – most likely a tag, electronic or visual – mandatory, and many farms use some form of identifier on ewes anyway.

Most sheep farms also already have NAIT accounts for cattle or deer, so few would need to create new accounts if a sheep register was added to the NAIT database.

All that would be needed would be for the NAIT account to link to eASD records so movements on/off properties could be traced. That way there would be no need for farmers to update their sheep register

whenever a movement is made: an annual declaration of stock numbers present would suffice.

NAIT’s head of traceability, Kevin Forward, says it would be preferable for tracing if traded sheep (as opposed to direct to slaughter) did have some form of farmspecific identification, but other than that he echoes Houston’s view that eASDs and a comprehensive register of sheep farms is all that’s needed.

“The problem with the current ASD system is it is paper, not electronic. That means in the event of an outbreak you have to go to each farm to look at the paper records.”

However, to make eASDs mandatory will require new legislation so how fast a system capable of rapidly tracking all sheep movements can be put in place will come down to industry and political will.

“The timeline will really depend on the Government of the day.”

In the meantime, he urges any farms not already using eASDs for movements to meatworks to start doing so, and to adopt eASDs for farm-to-farm and farm-to-

›› More p110

GLENGARRY POLL DORSET GLENGARRY POLL DORSET DORSET 51ST ANNUAL SALE GLENGARRY POLL GLENGARRY POLL DORSET ST

51 ANNUAL SALE 54thANNUAL ANNUAL SALE 51 SALE 51 ANNUAL SALE

Monday, ST December 4th, 2017 – 1pm ST FeildingMonday, Saleyards, Manchester Street, December 4th, 2017 – 1pmFeilding December 7th 2020 - 1pm Monday, December 4th, 2017 – 1pm

Feilding Saleyards, Manchester Street, Feilding Monday, December – 1pm Feilding Saleyards, Manchester Street, Feilding 130 Rams up 4th, for2017 Auction Feilding Saleyards, Manchester Street, Feilding 130 Rams up for Auction 130 Rams up for Auction Why you should buy a 130 Rams up for Why Auction you should Glengarry ram:buy a Why you should Glengarry ram: buy a • 41 years performance Why you ram: should buy arecording Glengarry •Glengarry 41 years performance recording ram: onrecording Major growth, survival years performance • •41 44 yearsemphasis performance recording

• Major emphasis on growth, survival andyears muscling 41 performance recording • • Major Major emphasis growth, emphasis onon growth, survival and muscling survival and muscling muscling Major emphasis on growth, Allsires sires DNA tested for survival footrot •••and All DNA tested for footrot and and • All All sires DNA testedfor forfootrot footrotand and muscling sires DNA tested muscling genes muscling genes and muscling genes genes All DNA tested for Sire footrot and No.1sires 1ranked ranked Terminal •••muscling No. Terminal Sire 2004,2004, • No. No. ranked Terminal Sire muscling genes 11ranked Terminal 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010 & 2017 (SIL ACE 2005, 2009, 2010 &Sire 2017 (SIL ACE 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010Sire & 2017 2010 & 2017 (SIL ACE • 2005, No. ranked Terminal 2004, list) list)12009, (SILACE list)2010 2005, 2009, & 2017 (SIL ACE ••list) 550 stud ewes means onlyonly the best 550 stud ewes means the best • 550 550 stud ewesmeans means only only thethe best list)stud rams are ewes sold rams are sold best rams are sold are sold 550 stud ewes means onlySILthe best •• rams Four Rams in Top 10 2017 Four Rams in Top 10 2017 • •Four Four Rams 20, Rams inTop Top 10 2020 2017 SIL SIL rams are sold Terminal Growth SIL Terminal Growth Terminal Growth •• Terminal Finalist inGrowth two categories at 2017 Four Rams inLamb Top 10 2017 SIL • •Finalist 1st Ranked Ram 2020 SIL in two categories at 2017 Finalist inGrowth two categories at 2017 Sheep Industry awards.

Terminal Terminal Sire Lamb Growth Sheep Industry awards.

Sheep Industry awards.

• Finalist in two categories at 2017

Sheep Industry For ram and semen enquiries contact Ross & Ben Prattawards. today: semen enquiries contact Ross & Ben Pratt today: Ross 06 323 3827 • RD 5, Feilding For For ramram andand semen enquiries contact Ross & Ben Pratt today: Ross 06 323 3827 • RD 5, Feilding For ram enquiries contact Ross & Ben Pratt today: Benand 027semen 2356 577 • RD 3827 2, Kimbolton benpratt@xtra.co.nz Ross577 06 323 • RD ••5, Feilding Ben 027 2356 Kimbolton Ross 06• RD 3232,3827 • RD 5,benpratt@xtra.co.nz Feilding

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108

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Poor quality milk replacers, oror those not made Poor quality milk replacers, those not made specifically for lambs, often cause problems like specifically for lambs, often cause problems like abomasal bloat and nutritional scours. abomasal bloat and nutritional scours.

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Canterbury-based Texel sheep stud owner Canterbury-based Texel sheep stud owner Elizabeth McEwan says that once she reared Elizabeth McEwan says that once she reared lambs onon Sprayfo, she never looked back. lambs Sprayfo, she never looked back.

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Before wewe got onto this milk love Sprayfo!

Before got onto this milk replacer, we lost multiple lambs to abomasal replacer, we lost multiple lambs to abomasal bloat.

It It was heart breaking” she says.

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Southlander Therase Scott has had a similar Southlander Therase Scott has had a similar experience.

Pre-Sprayfo, Therase hand-reared experience.

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The product is subsequently dried through a The product is subsequently dried through a high-tech spray drying process to form small high-tech spray drying process to form small particles of fat encapsulated with protein. It is particles of fat encapsulated with protein. It is easily digestible for the lambs and the most easily digestible for the lambs and the most important ingredient for the animals’ growth important ingredient for the animals’ growth (protein) is (protein) isavailable availablefirst firstand andabsorbed absorbedfaster. faster.

“This “Thisis isour ourfourth fourthseason seasonwith withSprayfo Sprayfoand andI I wouldn’t change a thing” says Therase.

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Spray Spraydrying dryingensures ensuresthat thatsolubility solubilityisisoptimal optimalatat 40ºC. Sprayfo Primo Lamb mixes without 40ºC. Sprayfo Primo Lamb mixes withoutforming forming any anysmall smalllumps lumpsand andisisused usedextensively extensivelyinin automatic automaticfeeding feedingmachines machinesbecause becauseit itdoes doesnot not drop out of suspension, plus there is no fat drop out of suspension, plus there is no fatbuild build upupininhoses hosesand andlines. lines.

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SUFTEX SUFTEX - – A NEW ERA RAMS AIN NEWTERMINAL ERA IN TERMINAL RAMS

GRUNT

Fast growth, high meat yields, excellent survival and tough hardy rams saleyard movements as soon as they are

GRUNT

enabled, which should be in 2021.

PERFORMANCE Federated Farmers’ Meat & Wool Fast growth, high meat yields, Industry Group chair, William Beetham, meat quality, excellent survival says bringing sheep into NAIT or a similar and tough hardy rams scheme is “a very fraught space” largely due to difficulties farmers have had with NAIT for cattle and deer, but doing so would be quite sensible, he believes.

RUNT “The key will be making sure there’s NZ Standard Terminal Worth (NZTW) confidence in the system’s ease of use for st growth, high meat yields, excellent survival and tough 1600 1600 rdy rams 1400 Premier Suftex participants. That’s really important. It 1400

SUFTEX – A NEW ERA IN TERMINAL PERFORMANCE RAMS 1200

ERFORMANCE 1000

Industry Average

won’t work if we don’t have buy-in from farmers.”

But implementing an electronic system for sheep traceability “should be a priority” nonetheless, he says, and it needs to be done with adequate support so all farms are capable of using the system, including the computer illiterate or those without adequate connectivity.

“The lead on this needs to be taken

by Government and MPI, working with industry bodies.”

1200 1000

800

800

…..AND THE BREEDERS NORTH TO600SOUTH 600

Sheep traceability overseas

400 Raupuha King Country 400 07 877 8977 200 200 Kelso Hawkes Bay 0800 453 576 0 0 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 Pahiwi Hawkes Bay 06with 855 a4943 In line European Union directive Paki-iti Manawatu 06 328 nations 5772 with more than for member Hemingford North Canterbury 03 3158 689 600,000 sheep, the United Kingdom Punchbowl North Otago 03 439 5693 implemented a tag and paper passport system of sheep over nine Castledent Otago 03for 485movement 9535 months old in the mid-2000s following Nithdale Gore 03 205 3566 the 2001 foot5902 and mouth disease outbreak.

Twin Farm Gore 03 208 07 877 8977 King Country Raupuha About 10 million Greeline Wyndham 03 246 9697 sheep, cattle and pigs ..AND THE Kelso BREEDERS NORTH 0800 453 576 HawkesTO Bay SOUTH were 03 slaughtered Mount Linton Otautau 225 4689 during the outbreak and 06 855 494307 877 8977 Hawkes Bay Pahiwi upuha King Country stock movements Crossieberg Invercargill 027 230 4052 were halted, nationally, 06 328 5772 Manawatu Paki-iti lso Hawkes Bay 0800 453 576 for months.

NthBay Canterbury 03 3158 68906 855 4943 HemingfordHawkes hiwi A sheep sale at Longtown, Cumbria, 03 439 569306 328 5772 North Punchbowl ki-iti Manawatu Otago was found to have been pivotal in the 03 485 916103 3158 689 emingford LongdownsNorthOtago Canterbury outbreak’s national spread and undetected PremierSuftexNZ 0800 648 432 Gore Nithdale nchbowl North Otago 03 439 5693 infections in flocks acted as a reservoir of 03 208 5904 Gore Twin Farm Otago stledent 03 485 9535 disease, prolonging the outbreak.

027 201 7312 Strathallan Run Wyndham thdale Gore 03 205 3566England and Wales are now developing 021 779 485 Ohai Mount Linton in Farm Gore 03 208 5902 an electronic, all species “Livestock 027 230 4052 Invercargill Crossieberg Information Service” designed to: eeline Wyndham 03 246 9697 enable quick and effective exotic disease ount Linton Otautau 03 225 4689 response; improve productivity, animal ossieberg Invercargill 027 230 4052 health and welfare; and provide a competitive trade advantage.

In Australia, since January 2009, all PremierSuftexNZ sheep leaving a property must have a

AND THE BREEDERS NORTH TO SOUTH

PREMIER SUFTEX

PREMIERSUFTEX SUFTEX PREMIER 110

National Livestock Identification Scheme approved tag, and since July 2010, movements must be recorded on the NLIS database.

States have the option of implementing individual animal identification. To date only Victoria has taken this approach with sheep, making individual EID or visual tags mandatory from January 2017.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand’s Chris Houston (see main story) says with the exception of the United States, New Zealand is now one of the only countries in the developed world that doesn’t require livestock farms to register on a national database for biosecurity purposes.

This is not a problem for cattle and deer farms, which are in NAIT, but it could be for other species including sheep and pigs.

“The situation is particularly challenging for biosecurity responders seeking to identify and visit lifestyle blocks and para-commercial farms that are under-represented in existing databases here.”

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October 2020

LIVESTOCK | RESEARCH

Hogget mums show promise BY: SANDRA TAYLOR

P

reliminary results from a Massey University trial looking at the lifetime performance of lambs retained from hoggets and mated as hoggets is showing possible efficiency advantages.

Professor Hugh Blair says the five-year trial, funded by B+LNZ, began in 2017 and is following the lifetime performance of single and twin ewe lambs retained from a hogget lambing. These animals are being compared with a control group of twin ewe lambs retained from mixed-age ewes.

In the first year of the trial, drought meant it was a struggle to get the twin lambs born from the hoggets to a 40kg mating weight, but for those that were mated, there was no difference in the

number of lambs born/ewe pregnant to the other two cohorts (single lambs from one-year-old ewes and twin lambs from mixed-age ewes).

These animals are now lambing as three-year-olds and the big difference the researchers are now seeing is in mature ewe weight. The ewes, born as singles or twins from hoggets, are about 5kg lighter than the ewes born as twins from mixed-age ewes, but their reproductive performance is the same.

“While they are lighter, they are still getting pregnant at the same rate and have the same fecundity.”

On an efficiency basis, comparing kilograms of lambs weaned per kilogram of mature liveweight, these animals are showing an advantage.

Blair stresses that while significant,

GOLDSTREAM

these are just preliminary results and the researchers will be particularly interested in the lifetime performance of these sheep, whether early reproductive performance will be penalised with reduced longevity.

While there is a genetic benefit to retaining lambs born as hoggets as replacements, Blair says this benefit is small compared to the possibility of greater ewe efficiency.

“The biggest seller is efficiency in terms of kilograms of lambs weaned per kilogram of maternal bodyweight.”

The trial is set to run until 2022 and having the ability to follow these sheep through their lifetime is critical to understand whether there are economic benefits to retaining lambs from hoggets as replacement ewes.

FINAL

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F A R M

36

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Goldstream Poll Dorset The sires of this years’s sale Rams have indexes of NZTW 2070 and NZTW 1661. These 2019 born rams on offer have Growth and Meat figures average NZTW 1600. with a top of NZTW 2111 Goldstream Crossbreds: Suffolk x Poll Dorset Equal genetic worth to Suffolk & Poll Dorset

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ENQUIRIES CONTACT

October 2020

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FOL UF K

NC A

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PERFOR

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Bruce & Thelma Rapley Phone: 07 873 2818 RD 2, Otorohanga Warwick & Rebecca Rapley Phone: 07 870 1714 Email: info@goldstreamfarm.com

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LIVESTOCK | UPDATE

Beltex living up to its billing BY: ANDREW SWALLOW

A

s a third crop of commercial Beltex-cross lambs hit the ground this spring most farmers using the novel double-muscled breed say it’s delivering everything promised, and more in some cases. An occasional foot problem seems the only downside, and that will be bred out soon enough, they believe.

“They’re a tough little lamb,” Brian Falconer, from Moa Flat in West Otago told Country-Wide. “We had one of our worst lambings last year with the weather completely against us and they did just as well as the [purebred] Coopworths.”

His 4900 Coopworth ewes are a particularly tough, thick-skinned, smallerframe type out of the North Island, chosen to cope with the climate of a farm running

112

from 580 metres to 780m above sea-level, he adds. Ewes aren’t shepherded at lambing either.

“The whole farm is survival of the fittest.”

Over the past three years he’s bought 18 Beltex or Beltex-cross rams and only one has let him down, which was last year due to scald which developed into footrot. It was one of two which needed treatment but the other came good in time for mating. The one that didn’t wasn’t culled: it wintered on swedes with the rest of the rams and Falconer expects to use it as part of the team this autumn.

“I’m using them strictly as a terminal,” he points out.

He says the best indicator of the Beltex’s performance he’s had was with two lines from his first draft of lambs last year. The Coopworth-Beltex cross lambs

averaged 1.5kg liveweight more than the Coopworths.

“It’s a pity we’ve not been getting any yield data on them.”

That is where the breed is reputed to excel, and nobody Country-Wide spoke to had been disappointed, including Alliance drafter Rob Maitland who runs a flock of 150 mostly Texel ewes besides his day job.

“My lambs usually yield 56-57% but the first lot of Beltex-cross were 58.99%.”

He’s also quite happy with growth rates having had all last year’s lambs, including those from his 50-odd hoggets, killed by the end of February. “I can’t fault that at all, and last year was a really tough year down here.”

At Wyndham, Brent Robinson’s just completed his third lambing with Beltexcross lambs, having bought a couple of purebred rams each year for the past three

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October 2020

years, putting them to Texel, Poll Dorset, South Suffolk and Suffolk stud ewes to produce first-cross terminal sire rams. Last autumn he put some of his Tex-Beltex and Poll Dorset-Beltex ram lambs to 1000 cull for age Romney/RomTex ewes from his commercial flock, and to 500 of the “B Mob”.

“It’s the first year we’ve had a decent number of lambs with a decent percentage of Beltex in them… we’ve found them to be very hardy, the best terminal we’ve had.”

Growth rates of the cross-breds have been as good as any other cross and the extra yield, which even with a small % of Beltex could add $9-10/head at a $6/ kg schedule, “comes in on top of that,” he notes.

He’s not noticed any more dystocia than with other terminal-crosses, probably because the double-muscling doesn’t become apparent until a week to ten days after birth, he says.

“Only with the [Beltex-] Texel-cross we found you’ve just got to watch the odd bigger single. You probably need to keep

them a bit tighter on feed.”

That’s echoed by Ross Mitchell at Clinton. He has two Beltex rams and has been gradually weaving their genetics into his 1000-head commercial Coopworth flock, as well as using them to produce crossbred rams to sell from Coopworth and Suffolk stud flocks.

This lambing he said he assisted an occasional Coopworth-Beltex ewe with a single, but he puts that down to having more grass than usual rather than the breed. “The feed got away on us a bit and we struggled to restrict the singles.”

His quarter and 50% Beltex/Coopworth ewes haven’t shown any sign of reduced fertility compared to his purebred Coopworths either, he says, collectively scanning 202% this year. Being a slightly smaller ewe, they also seem to have a lower maintenance requirement.

“They hold their condition really well.

Most look like wee barrels.”

Once he’s more confident of the crossbred ewes’ mothering and milking ability he says he might take his commercial ewe flock to one-third Beltex/

Wiltshires

2th Rams for sale Wiltshires Martin & Mary Taylor 1019 Mangaorapa 2th Rams RdforPorangahau sale Wiltshires October / November

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Mary Taylor /Ph: 06 855 5322 October November 1019 www.glenbraestud.co.nz Mangaorapa Rd Porangahau Emma and Andy Martin Ph: 06 855 5348 Martin Mary Taylor Ph:& 068555322 1019 Mangaorapa Rd Email: taylors@glenbraestud.co.nz 1019 Mangaorapa Rd Porangahau Porangahau Ph: 068555322 www.glenbraestud.co.nz Email: taylors@glenbraestud.co.nz Email: taylors@glenbraestud.co.nz Emmawww.glenbraestud.co.nz and Andy Martin Ph: 06 855 5348 www.glenbraestud.co.nz

On Farm Sale 11th Feb. 2020 at 12pm.

Approximately 750 ewe Lambs 200 cast for age ewes On Farm Sale 11th Feb. at 12pm.

60 2th ewes 202020 ram lambs On-farm sale 9 February 2021 Approximately 750 ewe Lambs 200 cast for age ewes 60 2th ewes 20 ram lambs

Simon Smith, Genetics Specialist - 027 444 0733 Simon Smith, Genetics Specialist - 027 444 0733 Callum Stewart, National Manager - 027 Callum Stewart, National Genetics Genetics Manager - 027 280 280 26882688 SamSam Wright, Livestock Representative -444 027 247 Wright, Livestock Representative - 027 247 90359035 Simon Smith, Genetics Specialist - 027 0733

Quarter Beltex lambs at a week to 10days out of Brent Robinson’s commercial Romney ewes, Wyndham.

two-third Coopworth, but a point to watch will be the back legs of the Beltex sires used, he suggests.

“Some of them turn inwards… but at 25% [Beltex] that’s not been an issue.”

Like Robinson, he’s found growth-rates on par with comparable crossbreds and says the extra yield of Beltex-crosses is what “makes the difference”. Compared to his Coopworth lambs’ typical yield of 43-44%, Coop-Beltex have hung up at about 47% and Suffolk-Beltex about 48%, with the best nudging 50% yield, he says.

A

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113

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ONLINE BIDDING AVAILABLE For further information please contact PGG Wrightsons CONTACT DETAILS: Ian McDougall • Email: ian@farmgene.com WhatsApp: +44 781 301 0386 Scott Linklater • Email: linkfarms@gmail.com Mobile: 027 548 3578 Find us on Facebook www.facebook.com/elitecharollais

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114

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We combine EBVs with visual assessment to breed the best sheep we can. We are proud of the performance we are now achieving across the breeds.

Merino & Poll Merino • The 12,000 ewes in the commercial merino flock weaned 134% in 2019, and clipped 6.5kg of 17.9 micron.

• The stud clipped 6.8kg in 2020. Wools fit for Branded Contracts.

Quarterbred • We have recently started producing quarterbred ewes and rams.

• Mating ewes as hoggets. Two-tooth ewes scanned 175% and clipped 6.5kg of 21 micron wool. Hoggets testing in at 20 micron.

Halfbred • The 5000 commercial halfbred ewes are joined to terminal rams and consistently wean 165%. In 2019, 83% of lambs drafted at weaning.

• Ewes are clipping 6kg of 25.5 micron wool.

• Halfbred Hoggets produced 22.5 micron and scanned 120% in 2020.

Top percentile Foot Resistance, EBVS available on Sale Rams Merino, poll merino, quarterbred and halfbred rams available by private selection Bill Sutherland: 027 451 0342, billsutherland.benmore@farmside.co.nz Andrew Sutherland: 027 243 8577, deidre.andrew@farmside.co.nz

www.benmorestation.co.nz Country-Wide

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115

WOOL | PLANNING

Where to for crossbred wool breeding?

Kerry Dwyer explores some options for farmers trying to make sense of low wool prices.

I

n July we saw another flurry of talk about crossbred wool, driven by pitifully low prices for the product.

Leaving that aside for the moment, sheep farmers have some thinking ahead before buying rams over the next six to nine months.

Many, if not most, crossbred sheep farmers are facing a deficit between selling wool and paying for wool harvesting costs.

Where do you aim to breed your sheep to handle this in the next few years? I am not advocating any particular option, but I am advocating having a plan.

Let’s look at the three basic options available: 1. Grow no wool or breed a sheep that doesn’t need shearing; 2. Put less emphasis on wool and suck it up about the shearing costs; 3. Aim to grow more and/or better wool.

NO WOOL There are sheep out there which have been bred to have either no wool, or they shed their wool on an annual basis. They are certainly a viable option for sheep farming, requiring no or little shearing or crutching, and their breeders have made big steps in the past 30 years to produce a sheep with improved lambing, survival and growth attributes.

The minus on this pathway is that it is difficult to backtrack in the event of a sudden boom in crossbred wool prices.

Also, it raises the question that if you are producing solely meat, is sheep or beef the most productive and/or profitable option?

While thinking about this article, I was reminded that about 20 years ago there was a vaccine being commercialised, to cause wool shedding in sheep. I saw it in Australia about 2005, under the trademark of “Bioclip”.

The process was to inject the sheep and

116

put a net on them, then remove the net and the fleece together a few weeks later.

The system wasn’t a commercial success, and it did have some limitations as regards timing, but it certainly did get the fleece off the sheep. In Australia it was pushed as using a natural chemical, was better for animal welfare and more acceptable to the fringe (PETA) than conventional shearing.

LESS EMPHASIS ON WOOL In breeding terms, fewer traits selected for the faster gain can be made in any individual trait. It’s damn tough to breed a sheep that can produce three lambs that wean at 40kg, that clips 6kg of wool and can win the Melbourne Cup. Reduce the ambition and it gets easier to achieve gains.

When buying crossbred type rams, look at the Dual Purpose Maternal Worth Index.

While the heading is that the ram you are buying is “dual purpose” what exactly does that mean?

The index is built by predicting the genetic merit of the individual ram, and is based about 50% on lamb growth traits, 28% reproductive traits, 13% survival traits and 7% wool traits (on 2017 figures from SIL). This is the economic importance given to the various areas, based on their

current importance to New Zealand crossbred sheep farmers. So, consider that the ram you are buying is dual purpose for reproduction and lamb growth, with a little bit of wool selection.

The relative weighting of these traits is different in the finer wool selection index.

The next step in less emphasis on wool might be to follow many other sheep farmers around the world, to have some of the meat breed sheep in the ewe flock.

Certainly having halfbred Dorsets or Southdowns or Suffolks will give faster growing lambs in many environments.

MORE OR BETTER WOOL I have farmer clients who have their flocks producing very high levels of crossbred wool. When I look at their profit after shearing it doesn’t look much better than those who haven’t put much effort into that area. I get the feeling this might have been a blind road in the evolution of sheep farming. Having an animal that grows more fibre means you have to spend more in getting it off.

Or you can harvest a better quality of crossbred wool. I am not condemning the effort but do question whether you get adequately paid for it? There are plenty

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October 2020

of pundits in the wool industry calling for better quality control from farm to factory, unfortunately that does not necessarily make you richer.

Or you can fine the micron, since finer wool is historically more valuable.

Maybe you need to farm Merinos to be a serious sheep farmer. The adaptability of finer-woolled sheep to wetter environments is still being sorted out, but that may be the future of wool growing.

15,000

Figure 1: Wool export prices Base: June 1925 year (=1000)

Index

10,000

5000

0 25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

DID YOU KNOW? Statistics list sheep numbers per country as: China 187m

India 75m

Australia 68m

Sudan 52m

Iran 49m

Nigeria 43m

UK 33m

Turkey 33m

Ethiopia 32m

Chad 31m

South Africa 29m

New Zealand 27m

Pakistan 24m

Argentina 16m

Peru 15m

Mexico 5m

85

90

95

00

05

10

2000

05

10

Figure 2: Wool export prices relative to total export prices Base: June 1925 year (=1000)

Index

1500 1000 500 0 25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

00

Year to June

USA 5m

Note that wool production is probably not that important for many of these sheep-producing countries.

Total world fibre production looks like: • Oil based synthetic fibres: 67m t/yr • Cotton: 25m t • Cellulose-based synthetic fibres: 7m t • Wool: 2m t (greasy)

2500

Figure 3: Wool export volumes Base: June 1954 year (=1000)

Index

2000 1500 1000 500 0

54

59

64

69

74

79

84

Year to June

Figure 1 shows the well known Korean War blip in wool prices which kept a generation of sheep farmers enthused. I benefited from the late 1980s surge in wool prices, which ended with Tiananmen Square and the breakup of the Soviet Union. The last 10 years are not shown but the trend has not been upwards.

Figure 2 puts an inflation adjusted value on wool prices. Farmers of my generation have seen this in real terms with crossbred wool falling from over half their income to below 10%. The national flock peaked at somewhere over 70m sheep in the early 1980s and now sits about 27m. That has been the natural consequence of the decline in the real price of wool, and is reflected in

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Year to June

October 2020

89

94

99

04

09

Source: Statistics New Zealand

the volume produced, shown in Figure 3.

In 1991 I heard Professor Don Ross speak at Lincoln University, after a lifetime devoted to wool he predicted that crossbred wool would reach zero real value in the next 20 years. Maybe his time frame was wrong but I keep thinking his sentiment was correct.

As I said earlier, I am not pushing any particular barrow. I admire the enthusiasm of the new generation striving to improve wool returns, but as individual farmers you make the decisions on what you invest in and what you produce.

• Kerry Dwyer is a North Otago farm consultant and farmer.

117

WOOL | PLANNING farmers. But having been offered 30c/kg for Suffolk fleece wool I am thinking it might have more value as fertiliser and have put some on the garden since it is cheaper than straw.

Note the shearing cost listed is the shearing and crutching bill for the year divided by kilos of wool produced per farm as per industry figures. This will be higher for fine wool sheep but we are concentrating on crossbreds.

NO WOOL

Having been offered 30c/kg for fleece wool Kerry Dwyer is thinking it might have more value as fertiliser.

Better options for wool BY: KERRY DWYER

N

ew Zealand sheep farmers have been part of a major structural change to their industry over the past 30 years as wool use and prices plummet. Wool has declined in relative importance and sheep meat has gained prominence. Sheep numbers have dropped while lambing percentage and lamb weights have increased.

Table 1 shows a comparison of prices, importance, and shearing costs at four points over the past 30 years. I have sourced August pricing for each year where possible. Note that there have always been

fluctuations within and between years and variation in different areas of the country.

Overall, the trends are very clear.

Wool prices are below the cost of production, which is not sitting well with many sheep farmers. Our expectation is that we should be able to grow and harvest wool at a profit although that may not be the case for many (or most) sheep farmers around the world. The relativity between wool prices and harvesting costs is out of kilter, and by no means am I saying shearing is too expensive. I have shorn enough sheep not to begrudge the workers their pay. On our farm I make sense of the equation by shearing the sheep myself, which is not a viable option for most

Table 1: Comparative figures for August of each year, 1990-2020 1990

2000

2010

2020

Crossbred Wool price ($/kg greasy)

$4

$4

$3.50

$1.20

Lamb price ($/kg carcase)

$1.60

$3.50

$5.60

$7.00

Wool (as % sheep income)

50%

31%

17%

7%

Sheep sales (as % of sheep income)

50%

69%

83%

93%

Shearing cost ($/kg wool shorn)

$0.60

$0.80

$1.50

$2.20

Not adjusted for inflation.

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Most crossbred sheep farmers will be losing money on wool production to the extent of the difference between shearing costs and wool price. From Table 1 that looks to be about $1/kg, which means over $15,000 per year for the average sheep flock. If you have sheep which do not need shearing then it could be argued you will be better off by $15,000 or more.

Which begs the questions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; what is the cost of production, and what is a price required for sustainable production?

The cost of production needs to cover shearing, animal health, breeding and feeding costs. Given shearing at $2.20/kg wool; add maybe a quarter of the animal health bill (25c/kg wool); add some cost for wool genetics (15c/kg wool); and maybe a feeding cost to cover a percentage of real cost ($5/sheep/year or $1/kg wool). That totals to a cost of production of $3.60/kg wool.

Therefore an average sheep farm may then be better off by $54,000 by having sheep with no wool, being without the cost of 15,000kg of wool at $3.60/kg. The main assumption for that is energy put into wool production would be channeled into meat production, which will depend on genetics and management.

Wool production has not been sustainable in New Zealand over the past 30 years as evidenced by the 55% decline in total production. We need to add a profit margin of 40% to the cost of production to get a figure that may encourage sustainable production. Based on the premise that farm costs sitting at 60% of income allows sufficient margin for a normal farm system, so $6/kg is required.

Inability to reach an adequate return has seen many woolsheds used for other purposes in the past 30 years.

I have mentioned Bioclip before, which was an injection promoted to cause wool shedding about 15 years ago. While not a

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October 2020

commercial success, the injection cost of about 80c/sheep at the time looks to be attractive at about 10% of today’s shearing costs. Many activists abhor physical shearing of sheep, so don’t jump to the conclusion that an injection would not be acceptable management in the 21st Century.

LESS EMPHASIS ON WOOL Most sheep farmers around the world appear to accept that shearing is an animal welfare issue for sheep. They get it done and don’t begrudge the shearer, or maybe they do it themselves (with a pair of scissors).

Sheep Improvement Limited’s (SIL) dual purpose maternal index puts about 7% emphasis on wool production. If you are selecting your maternal rams on that index then you have agreed to less emphasis on wool and more on lamb production.

If you put all selection pressure on lamb production then the ultimate is a meat breed sheep. Looking at the Central Progeny Test results from Beef + Lamb NZ genetics it would appear that the best terminal sires are more than a $1/head better at meat and growth than the dual purpose sires. Extended over the average sheep farm that could mean an extra dollar per lamb per year owing to genetics.

The range of genetics within breeds and breed groups is likely to have an even greater benefit. For example, an average 50g/day improvement in preweaning lamb growth is likely to have an immediate benefit of $15/head at weaning, or greater than $20,000 on our average sheep farm.

MORE AND BETTER WOOL Growing and preparing better wool has a cost, and readers should calculate whether they get adequately rewarded for the effort.

Refer to the estimated cost of production and required sustainable price I gave above. Having the best product to sell at a loss doesn’t make long-term sense.

There are farmers who have moved to half-breds or Merinos to get a better value fleece.

Thirty years ago the emphasis of crossbred wool production was on fleece weight. I can remember being mocked in the 1980s for using a Corriedale ram over Romney ewes to get a finer stylish fleece.

I have recently heard this being suggested along with a general move to fine up the

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October 2020

Table 2: Beef + Lamb NZ statistics, provisional figures for 2019/20 Class

Lamb price

Ewe price

Lambing %

Wool sold kg/hd

Wool price c/kg

SI High Country

$110.50

$124.35

108

4.27

958

SI Hill Country

$111. 45

$135.45

124

4.30

501

NI Hard Hill Country

$107.15

$134.80

122

4.61

195

NI Hill Country

$109.00

$145.80

129

4.80

186

NI Intensive Finishing

$114.85

$137.70

145

4.70

193

SI Finishing Breeding

$113.15

$151.85

135

4.83

218

SI Intensive Finishing

$113.85

$150.30

137

4.90

189

SI Mixed Finishing

$129.95

$145.90

151

2.10

245

Table 3: Using Beef + Lamb NZ statistics, allowing retention of 25% replacements and sale of 20% of ewes annually Group

Lamb price

Ewe price

Lambing %

Wool sold kg/hd

Wool price c/kg

Gross income $/ewe

Fine Wool

$110

$124

108

4.2

1487

$178

Mid-micron

$111

$135

124

4.3

725

$168

Strong Wool

$115

$145

136

4.8

247

$168

I have clients shearing Merino hoggets with over half the wool cheque required to pay harvesting costs, while two years ago the relativity was closer to 20% for harvesting costs.

and, with more breeding selection, we may see a move to finer-woolled sheep.

Referring to Table 1 above, the trends for finer wool have been similar to crossbred wool in terms of reducing importance to overall sheep income. I have clients shearing Merino hoggets with over half the wool cheque required to pay harvesting costs, while two years ago the relativity was closer to 20% for harvesting costs.

clip to give more potential end uses.

Analysis of the economics of a breed change (see Tables 2 & 3) generally shows there is not much benefit when an increased wool income is countered with a loss of lamb production. The key is to get the best out of the finer-wooled sheep rather than relying on just the fine wool.

Merinos have not been bred to count that well, so some genetic push is going into breeding a fine wool ewe that can do better in lambing and lamb growth.

Breeding has made huge leaps in giving us a fine-wooled sheep with a fleece capable of handling wetter climates. Animal health has been a weak point for such sheep in wetter areas, which is why they were displaced about 150 years ago to the drier ends of New Zealand. I am seeing great results from Footvax to mitigate footrot

SUMMARY There are onfarm options for every sheep farmer. You make the decisions on your investments of time, effort and capital.

Much of the discussion relates to off-farm options for wool in the face of a rapid devaluation of the product.

Farmer involvement in off-farm wool matters has generally been politicised rather than commercialised, and farmers have shown a reluctance to invest offfarm. By comparison, many farmers have considerable investment in the meat or milk processing and marketing industries – to reach a similar commitment might require wool growers to invest between one and five years of wool income.

• Kerry Dwyer is a North Otago farm consultant and farmer.

119

WOOL | COARSE WOOL

Coarse wool farmers have failed to take action.

Still looking for answers to low wool prices Over the past decade more than $80 million has been poured into action plans to raise the value of NZ’s coarse wool. Robert Pattison asks who has benefited.

T

wenty years on and sheep farmers are still searching for a silver bullet to restore the onfarm value of New Zealand’s coarse wool.

That’s not surprising as the FOB export value of the wool clip has dropped from $715 million in 2010-11 to $535m for 2018-19 – that’s a fall of $180m, $7/sheep, or 25%.

That’s despite more than $80m being spent on wool research, product

120

development and marketing programmes in the past 10 years. That doesn’t include grants from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) or NZ Trade and Enterprises (NZTE).

All the research applications for coarse wool have claimed they will add thousands of dollars in value, but the onfarm value of NZ wool continues to fall – the coarse wool indicator was $1.89 on August 27 this year (that’s less than $10/sheep). Sheepfarmers are asking why.

Perhaps they should be doing some navel-gazing and looking at past decisionmaking inside their own farm gates. For more than a decade Romcross sheep farmers have individually chosen not to collectively invest in wool harvesting, coarse wool research and product development.

In July 2018, Minister of Agriculture Damian O’Connor agreed to form and fund another group of farmers and wool industry representatives, named the Wool

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October 2020

Industry Working Group (WWG), to search for ways to halt the declining farm value of the coarse wool clip.

Since then, however, despite finding highly intelligent, innovative people to come up with ideas and recommendations not much has happened.

There have been a few press releases and rhetoric from farmer politicians and Federated Farmers claiming the industry is united and willing to work together to produce an action plan that will benefit farmers and industry players. In the meantime wool prices continue their downward trend.

From the group’s initial meeting in July 2018, a “Project Action Group” (PAG) representing farmers, wool and textile industry representatives has been selected. An independent chairman, John Rodwell, has been appointed. Rodwell has a background in corporate finance, investment banking and agribusiness.

Rodwell says terms of reference were drawn up and a draft annual plan prepared and sent to the Minister of Agriculture.

The outcome to date is a 32-page report, the “Vision and Action for New Zealand’s Wool Sector”, has been released. The report was to be published in December 2019,but didn’t make it until July 2020. Six months late. Not a good start for an action group.

Rodwell said the Minister had been busy since the Covid-19 virus pandemic struck, causing the delay.

To be fair, Rodwell asked for this story to be delayed for another week to allow for an announcement on new initiatives and progress to date. Unfortunately this writer has waited since July for an interview and couldn’t delay any further because of the magazine deadline.

This latest report, for which we don’t have the terms of reference, is in addition to the report “Restoring Profitability to the Strong Wool Sector”, released in February 2010.

The recommendations in this 28page report, commissioned by the Wool Industry Task Force set up by the National Government’s Minister of Agriculture David Carter in July 2009, apparently wasn’t what this latest wool industry think tank wanted.

It seems Carter’s report is collecting dust on a shelf in the Beehive and it seems no effort or actions have been taken to implement any of the recommendations.

Commissioning another report is history

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Cost of shearing outstrips wool prices Fine wool prices up, coarse wool prices down – but total sheep revenue up Changes in wool revenue 2010 to 2020 2010-2011 Class 1 South Island High Country Wool income Wool c/kg

2019-2020

8665ha

8162ha

$279,128.00

$413,500.00

Change +/-

$134,372.00

up

48%

$8.43

$9.42

$0.99

up

12%

$55,832.00

$92,654.00

$36,822.00

up

66%

Revenue/ha wool

$32.21

$50.66

$18.45

up

57%

Revenue sheep

$35.08

$84.65

$49.57

up

141%

Class 5 North Island Intensive finishing

270ha

283ha

$22,803.00

$13,500.00

-$9,303.00

down

-41%

$3.54

$2.22

-$1.32

down

-37%

$8,811.00

$11,467.00

$2,656.00

Shearing cost

Wool income Wool c/kg greasy Shearing cost Revenue/ha wool Revenue sheep Class 6 South Island Finishing and breeding Wool income Wool c/kg greasy Shearing cost

up

30%

$84.46

$47.70

-$36.76

down

$402.62

$600.00

$197.38

up

49%

507ha

493ha

55,265.00

$30,800.00

-$24,465.00

down

-44%

$3.75

$2.37

-$1.38

down

-37%

$18,534.00

$22,573.00

$4,039.00

Revenue/ha wool

$109.00

$62.47

-$46.53

down

Revenue sheep

$561.97

$720.89

$158.92

up

Class 7 South Island Intensive finishing

-44%

up

22% -43% 28%

250ha

239ha

49,215.00

$23,400.00

-$25,815.00

down

-52%

$3.65

$2.04

-$1.61

down

-44%

$17,276.00

$21,000.00

$3,724.00

Revenue/ha wool $196.86 $94.98 Source: Beef & Lamb Economic Service farm survey data.

-$101.88

Wool income Wool c/kg greasy Shearing cost

Revenue sheep

$1,035.86

repeating itself. At least 30 reports have been commissioned over the past 30 years.

And coarse wool farmers have failed to take action or adopt any of them. The common theme with all of them has been recommendations to increase wool prices and on farm profitability.

The following statement is from the Wool Industry Network’s “Model for Change” report, produced in 2007.

“Co-operation between growers, industry and the market is the surest way for each to benefit. None can act in isolation of the others. The advantage of market-led initiatives is; consumer understanding, ready-buyers, and an opportunity to plan wisely for the future.”

While it is good to see a younger generation of farmers and industry

$1,266.11

$230.25

up

22%

down up

-52% 22%

representatives working in the wool supply chain and textile industry showing interest, they will have to be more motivated to invest and innovate to capture a greater share of the consumer product value. History clearly shows that if farmers and the supply pipeline continue to trade individually, and focus on increasing wool price in isolation from consumer products made from NZ coarse wool, they will fail.

The key finding in both the “Wool Task Force” and the “Vision and Action” reports is that the central challenge to improving wool prices and profitability for NZ’s coarse wool clip and textile industries in NZ is to increase international demand for textile

›› More p123 121

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products made from NZ coarse wool. That’s an ill-considered assumption: history has clearly proven otherwise.

While there is no quick fix for increasing the onfarm price per kilogram for coarse wool, there is a desperate need for a collective commitment from sheep farmers and the wider wool industry to develop a new approach to trading and marketing NZ’s coarse wool. But that is not the only solution.

The report recommends three key actions – these are copied from the report, so please accept our apology for the jargon, buzz words and meaningless phrases.

THE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE: 1. Develop a market-focused investment case and strategic roadmap for the strong (coarse) wool sector.

Partner with a group of global experts capable of providing an “outsidein” market perspective to identify opportunities for the New Zealand strong wool sector and an investment case for players within the sector to take advantage of these opportunities. By putting consumers and end users at the heart of what we do and understanding their needs, we will be able to position New Zealand strong wool as the high-value natural fibre of choice. This will increase demand for strong wool and lift profitability for all parts of the sector.

2. Establish the capability necessary to get the sector match fit and ready for the opportunities ahead.

New Zealand’s strong wool sector needs to rebuild its capability to do the work that keeps the sector functional, agile and responsive to new opportunities. An executive officer should be appointed and supported by existing expertise in the wool sector and government agencies to undertake immediate actions in the following areas: • Skills training and capability development • Research and development • Accreditation and standards • Sector data and statistics • Sector connection and coordination.

3. Establish a governance and coordination capability.

To transform the strong wool sector, we need a strong, collaborative governance, coordination and leadership group that

›› More p125

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Above: Shed work: There is a desperate need for a collective commitment from sheep farmers and the wider wool industry to develop a new approach to trading and marketing NZ’s coarse wool.

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represents the sector, builds on the PAG and brings together strong market perspectives with government. This group will be responsible for overseeing development of the investment case and strategic roadmap, providing governance for the executive officer, restoring the sector’s core capabilities and informing actions and investment by government agencies and sector participants to support the sector’s development.

The report says the recommendations are based on historical information and reviewing previous attempts at structural reform over the past 20 years. None of the past reforms have been initiated, so we trust this committee of experts has learnt not to allow history to repeat itself.

The report also says the perilous state

of the coarse wool sector is placing sheep farming at risk. It isn’t. Farmers will continue to farm sheep and complain about low wool prices and costs of production and harvesting. They always have, even when the coarse wool market indicator was $6.80/kg in 1989.

Other publicly funded sheep and wool reports and projects are being delivered and managed by the NZ Merino Company, which have been funded by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) and the Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) as well as invisible industry funding.

The MPI website is littered with Wool Unleashed (W3) and NZ Sheep Industry Transformation programme (NZSTX) progress reports. These reports make unsubstantiated claims of exceeding targets

and adding value, increasing wool prices and onfarm profitability. They are written in a language that is subjective and vague.

Graphs are exaggerated images without factual data, making them meaningless.

The W3 project aims to deliver Fit for Market (FFM) thinking to the coarse wool sector.

There is also the NZSTX programme.

This project is a partnership between the NZ Merino Company Ltd (NZM) and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) with the objective to transform the NZ Sheep Industry. It is jointly funded by the Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) and was initially a five-year programme that started in September 2010. The programme was

›› More p126

Genetics that drive commercial profitability • • • •

Strong focus on structure and constitution Productive quality wools that suit the New Zealand environment Selection for maternal traits and rearing ability Large amount of objective measurements collected to generate Merino Select ASBVs Visit our website for more information.

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www.armidalemerinos.co.nz

armidalemerinos

125

The FOB export value of the wool clip has dropped from $715 million in 2010-11 to $535m for 2018-19 – that’s a fall of $180m, $7/sheep, or 25%. extended for a further two years from July 2015 to enable unfinished work to be completed in the Production Science work stream.

Total funding is $33.5m ($1.20/sheep), of which the Government is funding up to $16.8m.

It says the aspiration of the programme is that by 2029, NZSTX will transition half of the NZ coarse wool growers into production systems whereby they produce FFM meat and wool products from true FFM sheep. The report also says NZM’s aspirational objective is to add two billion dollars per annum to the NZ sheep industry by 2029.

MPI’s website states that the estimated potential economic benefits to NZ will be a conservative $250m a year in economic benefits by 2025.

There are three projects; 1. Transforming demand for FFM fibre (completed) 2. Transforming demand for FFM meat and co-products (completed) 3. Growing NZ’s FFM base through production science (genetics, forage and animal health) and farmer uptake.

In 2015 this project was extended and funded for another two years to 2017.

(Should now be completed).

However, despite all this funding and applied research, wool prices have continued their downward trend – in March 2017 the coarse wool indicator

was NZ$3.92; at the end of August 2020 it was $1.89. MPI’s projected added value of $250m a year and earning an extra two billion dollars by 2029 looks like a pipe dream.

The United Nations declared 2009 as the “International Year of Natural Fibres”. The aim was to raise awareness and stimulate consumer demand for natural fibres and products, as well as encourage Governments to develop policies supporting industries using natural fibres.

A search on the internet shows the Government has poured more than $80m into coarse wool research and product development since 2011. All the research projects have promised increased wool prices.

But for the past decade coarse wool sheep farmers have chosen to work as individuals. They have chosen not to invest in harvesting, research, product innovation or market development for the types of wool they produce.

So if it’s not coarse wool sheep farmers benefiting from all this Government funding, who is?

It seems commercial enterprises such as NZ Merino Company, New Zealand Wool Services International (now an overseas owned company), AgResearch, Lincoln Agritech and Otago and Massey Universities, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and Wool Industry Research Ltd are the main beneficiaries.

Making a SWAG of progress BY: ROBERT PATTISON

A

griculture Minister Damian O’Connor’s wool working group and project action group have now morphed into a strong wool action group (SWAG).

SWAG members include farmer and Silver Fern Farms chairman Rob Hewett.

Hewett says the group has been selected for their collective expertise, knowledge and skills. They are people from across the primary sector with marketing and innovation expertise. Their focus will be on the challenges facing New Zealand’s coarse wool. “We will add more expertise as needed in the future” says Hewett.

SWAG’s funding will initially come from four NZ meat companies: Silver Fern Farms, ANZCO, Ovation, and Alliance Group. Each company has committed $50,000 industry funding, which is being matched by $200,000 from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

Hewett says the red meat sector saw this as an opportunity to provide stimulus to the value of the fifth quarter, which includes wool and non-meat products such as pelts, pharmaceuticals, and casings. “We will provide scale and impetus to ensure we get meaningful change in NZ’s coarse

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Silver Fern Farms chairman Rob Hewett: An opportunity to provide stimulus.

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Kiwitahi Genetic Trend Kiwitahi Genetic Trend Breeding Value in kg Breeding Value in kg

3.5 3.5

Liveweight 8mths Liveweight 8mths LW8 LW8

Kiwitahi Romneys are farmed under commercial conditions in a TOUGH environment to PERFORM in 0.0 today’s demanding economic environment.

20 00 20 00

20 19 20 19

0.0

4 Worm Resistance — Survival —Pedigree Objectively links & performance data recorded at Kiwitahi (1988-2019) used in within-flock SIL analysis #37713.

Genetic gain since 2000 presented.

Selection through NIL Pedigree links & performance data recorded at Kiwitahi (1988-2019) selected for low reproductive used in within-flock SIL analysis #37713. Genetic gain since 2000 presented. drenching Genetic Trends derived from SIL BV’s. wastage and superior © 2020 The derived New Zealand Animal Genetic Trends from SIL BV’s. Breeding Trust Wool Type — Medium survival BV’s © 2020 The 4 New Zealand Animal Breeding Trust micron, high bulk, colour & Fertility — Stud ewes length. Stud flock average average lifetime lamb drop 7.5 kg/ssu 190%. Replacement ewes 4 Guaranteed lambed as hoggets — SILrecorded — High selection rates Growth Rate — Lamb av.

— Rams from top 35% only 31kg at 90 day weaning.

— Structurally sound — Lambs finished from — TRY before you BUY 17-26kg CW Kiwitahi Genetic Trend scheme available Kiwitahi Genetic Trend

4

4

4

Kiwitahi Genetic Trend

0

00 20

0.0 0.0

2000 2000

4.7 4.7

BV SURVIVAL %

lambs born born Overall lambs Production Index

BV SURVIVAL %

13.4 13.4 BV NLB % BV NLB %

2200

Index in cents

lamb survival lamb survival

0.0 2019 0.0 2019 9 2000 2019 1 20 Pedigree links & performance data 2000 recorded at Kiwitahi (1988-2019)2019

Pedigree links & performance data recorded at Kiwitahi (1988-2019) Pedigree links & performance data recorded at Kiwitahi (1988-2019) used in within-flock SIL analysis #37713.

Genetic gain since 2000 presented. in within-flock SIL analysis #37713. Genetic gain since 2000 presented. used in within-flock SIL analysisused #37713.

Genetic gain since 2000 presented.

Genetic Trends derived from SIL BV’s.

Trends from SIL BV’s. Breeding Trust Genetic Trends derived from SIL Genetic BV’s. © 2020 The derived New Zealand Animal 2020 The New Zealand Animal Breeding Trust © 2020 The New Zealand Animal©Breeding Trust

KIWITAHI ROMNEYS — “They’re active, intelligent sheep, that shift well and produce fast growing lambs that “survive and thrive” anywhere. They’re bred to make you money.”

94783

wool sector,” Hewett says.

SWAG will work on three key areas identified in the Wool Industry Project Action Group Report over the coming months to develop a plan of action for the sector.

“We will re-establish some important industry good capability, bring in international consumer focused thinking from outside the sector, and identify opportunities for investment that will create value.

“Since the loss of coarse wool levies we have not had the structures or rigour around improving capability within the sector. This includes data capture and analysis so we can move beyond anecdotal evidence and identify sound opportunities for investment,” he says.

“We will look for commercial opportunities that are value creating, which industry players can invest in. We expect to be able to identify consumerled opportunities and support individual players in accessing the MPI funding pools.”

Hewett says collaboration and alignment with a wider vision for the food and fibre sector will be central to the group’s success.

He says the approach aligns with the Primary Sector Council’s vision for the sector, where they are seeking market game-changers to tell the New Zealand story in a valuable way.

The group also includes John Rodwell, (Chairman, Wool INdustry Working Group); Kate Acland, farmer, Mount Somers Station: Paul Alston, Cavalier Wools; Tony Balfour, formerly Icebreaker; David Ferrier, NZ Woolscouring; Craig Hickson, Progressive Meats; Andrew Morrison, Chairman Beef + Lamb NZ; Tom O’Sullivan, chairman, Campaign for Wool; Nadine Tunley, Honey & Pipfruit Industries; Peter Whiteman, Segard Masurel NZ; Steve Williamson, NZ Merino Co.

Contact: PADDY LOWRY 0274 472 339 kiwitahi09@gmail.com Kiwitahi Genetic Trend

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WOOL | UNITED KINGDOM

A burden on farmers’ back BY: CHRIS MCCULLOUGH

W

ool has become a major casualty of the Covid-19 era rendering it a virtually worthless commodity since global markets closed down.

Thousands of tonnes of the once high in demand product have been stockpiled around the world in the hope of better future markets.

Some farmers have tried in vain to find alternative markets for their wool, such as insulation in the construction industry and for mulching in gardening. Others gave up hope of finding an outlet and simply left it to rot or burned it.

Sheep farmers know their animals must be shorn for welfare reasons but when the cost of shearing is over four times the value of the wool then it becomes a huge financial burden.

The cost of shearing sheep in the United Kingdom varies from £1.50 (NZ$3) to £2.50 (NZ$5) per ewe depending on the numbers presented in the flock to the shearer.

For the past three years Jayne Harkness Bones has been the joint depot manager at the Ulster Wool Group in Northern Ireland. Jayne is no stranger to New Zealand as she has been involved in many wool handling competitions here over the years.

Bones recognises the global demand for wool has fallen and hopes next year

witnesses a recovery in the market.

“The world faces the most severe recession in its history due to the Covid-19 epidemic.”

She says the global market for wool shut in February this year and has only started to open up again since June. February to May is normally the busiest selling period of the year with 44% of the annual clip sold during this period last year.

As a result the parent company, the Wool Board, who sells the wool on behalf of Ulster Wool producers, has about 4.5 million kilogrammes of unsold stock out of a total 2019/2020 clip of 27 million kilogrammes.

About 50% of the wool produced in Northern Ireland is sold in the UK, 25% to China and the remainder to Europe and

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October 2020

Above: Jayne Harkness Bones: “The global market for wool shut in February this year and has only started to open up again since June.” Left: Thousands of tonnes of wool are stockpiled around the world in the hope of better markets.

Japan. Although prices have dropped up to 50% in some cases, farmers continue to send their wool to the Ulster Wool Group as there are few alternative options.

“In order to calculate the wool values for 2019/2020 payable to producers we had to place a value on the unsold stock which was at a significant discount to the last prices sold.”

She says as a result the average price paid to producers for the 2019/2020 clip will be 32p/kg (NZ$0.64/kg). Balances are being paid as normal upon receipt of this season’s wool. It is important to remember this is an average price for all wool grades, with some mountain wools achieving 15p/kg (NZ$0.30/kg) and some finer white wools more than 70p/kg (NZ$1.41/kg).

Bones says due to the huge and unprecedented valuation uncertainty in the wool market place, the group is offering an advance against the 2020/21 clip.

The types qualifying for the advance will be the medium and fine types of grades 200 and 300. The advances for each grade of wool have been set at a level which takes into account selling prices and, on average, the advance will be 20p/ kg (NZ$0.40/kg).

She says this is higher than the prices

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October 2020

the direct from farm buyers are offering for the full value of this year’s wool. The full value for these grades will be paid to producers as always as a balance from May 2021 onwards when producers send in their wool.

For all other grades the group will make full payment for 2020/2021 clips from May 2021 onwards once it has sold the clip and has valuation certainty.

She says should the market happen to improve in the next 12 months, the final price returned for 2020/2021 clip wool would see the benefit of this improvement.

WOOL USE The Ulster Wool Group is always looking at new outlets and applications for wool and is involved in research with some universities looking at new uses.

Bones says about 50% of group wool goes into residential and contract carpets for use in hotels, casinos, cruise ships and airports. Other products include bedding, apparel, insulation and the craft sector.

“We are also working with two universities on blue sky new product development projects looking at new uses for wool. These are very much in their early stages and are long term projects

that will take time to develop.”

Some sheep farmers in England actually put a match to their piles of wool to get rid of it, while others buried the material deeming it unworthy to sell.

“These seem to be isolated incidents in England,” said Jayne. “Our intake and feedback from producers in Northern Ireland, and in other areas, suggests that producers, although disappointed on prices, understand the unprecedented situation the sector finds itself in and believes in the principle of Ulster Wool.

“As a result of Covid-19, we adapted our auctions to remote online auctions.

This enabled us to continue selling our wool when other countries stopped their auctions as a result of the pandemic.

“However, the market closed in February and although has started to reopen, the market is not functioning anywhere near where it would normally be at this time of year.

“In order to manage the carryover of stock, we will be holding a remote auction fortnightly between now and December. This enables us to provide a steady and frequent supply of wool onto the global market once this starts to function properly again and slowly starts to recover,” added Jayne.

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ANIMAL HEALTH | WEANING

Autumn issues with drench BY: RACHAEL FOUHY

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s weaning fast approaches it is a good chance to review the animal health challenges from the previous years and make a plan for this season.

Each year there are a handful of animal health issues that raise their head on a regular basis and affect lamb growth rates.

Have you checked your drench is working? It seems like a simple question but each year I’m blown away by the number of farmers who have not checked this. It’s really simple and each farm should be doing this at least once a season.

Issues with drench continue to rear their head each autumn. Don’t wait until April when your lambs are wasting away and dying, by then the horse has bolted. Best make a plan to check the drench each summer, simply take 10 faecal samples 7-10 days after drenching, they should all be 0. They don’t have to go into the clinic the same day, simply pop them in the fridge and drop them off the next day. If you change drenches during the season, make sure you check this as well.

Keep to your regular drenching interval, especially during the January-April period. Once lambs get a significant worm burden the damage to their intestines is irreversible. This means that as a result even if you get back on track with your drenching or change to a more effective drench the damage is done and the lamb’s growth potential is compromised.

We see this as slow growth, as the lamb has a reduced ability to absorb nutrients and convert them to muscle.

In summary – be proactive monitoring your drench effectiveness, get a full FECRT done. Make sure this involves single active drenches as well as any combinations you may wish to test.

Testing combinations only, only gives you a fraction of the info you need. Drench resistance is real and it’s everywhere – you don’t want it.

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Make sure you have an effective quarantine drench, this needs to be a BZ/Lev combination + either Startect or Zolvix. I’d also strongly recommend that everyone attends a Wormwise workshop, if they haven’t already. Worm management is about so much more that which drench you use.

Pneumonia can be a challenge on many properties and dry summers don’t help with this. Key things to consider include the main culprits, dust and heat. Next you are in the yards working with lambs, get down to the lamb’s height - it can be very dusty. To minimise the incidence of pneumonia – avoid shearing at weaning, avoid moving animals during the middle or heat of the day, set up as system to wet down the yards prior to bringing lambs in and aim to avoid situations where lambs are open mouth breathing.

Pneumonia can be a challenge on many properties and dry summers don’t help with this. Key things to consider include the main culprits, dust and heat.

Trace elements – what do you need?

Do you need any? Every farm and every district is different. A simple way to check your needs is to get lamb livers sampled when you send the first line to the works.

You only need to sample five, and this will give you information on B12 and Se status and allow you to plan for the months ahead. This can be arranged with your local vet.

Vaccinations – all lambs should be on a 5in1 programme, clostridial deaths are cheap and easy to prevent. The timing of this from docking onwards is necessary if

Hemoata Kopa drenching mixed age ewes on Tautane Station.

you are feeding high octane crops or new grasses.

Have a look at your kill sheets from last season, is there any mention of inoculation lesions? Inoculation lesions are a common cause of carcase down-gradings. Lesions are more likely to occur if animals are wet when they are vaccinated or dirty needles are used. Get into a habit of changing your needle on a regular basis, eg: every 100 animals. The animals and your hand will thank you.

Other causes for downgrading are using the wrong needle size, therefore damaging the muscle as opposed to the vaccine going under the skin, and vaccinating in the wrong site – try and go as close to the ear as possible.

I encourage everyone to make a lamb sales plan prior to weaning and not get stuck in the trap of holding a lot of lambs into the autumn. Make sure you condition score your ewes at weaning to help guide you in these decisions.

It can be very challenging to put weight on ewes from February onwards, so if your ewes are light at weaning, sell more lambs so that feed can preferentially go into ewes in order to secure next season’s production.

I often see people keep too many lambs for too long and as a result their ewe condition isn’t as good as it should be at mating and scanning isn’t as good as it could be.

• Rachael Fouhy is a production animal veterinarian at Tararua Veterinary Services.

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ANIMAL HEALTH | STOCK CHECK

Efficient: The extra feed required for a ewe with triplets is very small compared to one that weans two lambs.

Moving to low-input and efficient sheep BY: TREVOR COOK

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fficiency is a loosely used term to basically mean getting more from less. Or maybe making the best use of something. The sheep and beef industry has been doing this for decades.

It began with reducing costs and over the last 20 years it has been through increasing lambing percentages. More lambs from fewer ewes. But it also captures higher pasture utilisation, lamb and calf growth rate and in today’s environment producing more meat with less methane produced.

The latest breed direction of selecting for low-input sheep is about efficiency.

Low-input sheep as a breed direction is complicated in the same way that many other traits are because management and environment have so much impact on the expression of the trait.

The expression of having a low input need is influenced by feed, terrain, stock mix, climate and grazing systems for example. A very simple policy difference that could make a huge difference in the extra support that a ewe needs is where the lambs go at weaning.

If lambs totally leave the lambing platform at weaning and don’t come back there is a massive drop in the level of worm larval contamination on that platform.

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For most ewes being fed enough at critical times grazing contaminated pastures would not impact on them. But if the feed supply gets short at these times some ewes would struggle without help. Selection for needing less inputs must be done in a challenging environment.

Lamb survival is a component of efficiency. Selection for lamb survival suffers from the same interaction with other factors. The above factors as well as shelter, pregnancy status, body condition score and late pregnancy feeding all have a huge impact on the outcome regardless of the genetic status of the dam. Comparing and ranking sheep of different genetic backgrounds in a single environment can only be valid in that environment. How can that be standardised for lamb survival?

Selecting for worm resistance has the same complication. Sheep that have been selected for having a lower faecal egg output and being less impacted on by worm challenges no doubt bring that ability to a farm. The management and policy on that farm then has a large impact on how much of that trait is expressed.

If all lambs leave at weaning as above, if all lambs go on to summer crops, if there is integration of lambs and cattle or lambs and ewes for example will all influence the level of accumulation of pasture worm larval contamination. And therefore how

much the resistance status comes into play, or is needed. This if nothing else just highlights the value in having defined breeding objectives and selecting sires that best serve those.

A ewe that weans three lambs is very efficient. The extra feed required to do that is very small compared to one that weans two lambs. It is a very efficient use of feed, it has a low methane output per kilogram of lamb weaned and can be a low-input sheep.

The most successful ewes giving birth to and weaning three lambs are very often ones that are not given much extra priority. I see many ewes carrying three lambs that are overfed because they have been prioritised since scanning. This sets them up for metabolic issues at lambing with high ewe death rates and/or high lamb deaths. This outcome also is likely if that ewe is underfed or thin.

Triplet ewes do not need much more than twining ones, but they cannot tolerate being underfed. The value in having them out on their own is to be more sure that they do not get underfed.

The quote that many farmers have heard from me is “if a lamb stands and suckles within 20 minutes of being born it has a 95% chance of still being alive 90 days later”. This is the conclusion from a large investigation into lamb survival.

We know that body condition score at lambing and energy status coming into lambing have a huge influence on lamb vigour at birth. For triplet ewes it is harder to get these spot on. As we get asked to lower our farm methane outputs, more ewes with triplets is one of the tools to achieve this but keep lamb production up.

I know that most sheep farmers would rather not have ewes with triplets. But I see enough embracing them and getting good results that helping farmers put a “best practice” plan around them is worthwhile.

Results are varied but almost always improve as the bits of that best practice that are most important on that farm get embedded.

As I have discussed before, we need to be very careful about bringing the concept of efficiency into communication. It is more than speaking and listening which is what virtual communication largely is. Nothing will replace group meetings that create the atmosphere and forum for effective transfer of ideas and exploration.

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ANIMAL HEALTH | EFFICIENCY

The risk of the disease is therefore relatively high and we all know the costs associated with an abortion outbreak can be significant. The vaccine however is very ‘efficient’, with only one shot being required to protect the majority (no vaccine is perfect) of ewes for life. Compare this with other vaccines, these often require booster shots every year and the risk of disease may not be as high.

The ‘efficiency’ of animal health products is also affected by the status of the farm. Take for example BVD vaccination, a farm with very good biosecurity and no circulating PIs, will (by the definitions above) have a much less ‘efficient’ vaccination programme. Not because the vaccine is any less effective, but simply because it is an extra expense that may not Much like car insurance, we use drench products as protection against the worst possible actually be necessary. outcome.

The same could be said for mineral supplementation, a farmer regularly giving B12 to lambs that aren’t actually deficient is doing so at the cost of extra time, labour and expense with limited benefit (very ‘inefficient’!).

Pointing out these ‘inefficiencies’ is something myself and my colleagues at NSVets take great pride in. There is much more satisfaction in talking to a client about a product and explaining why they Because many of the products we use don’t actually need it, than there is in BY: ANDREW COCHRANE onfarm are also used as a preventative, selling one irrespective of the need. Of fficiency can be described as we don’t always know that these products course these are just two examples, there getting the desired result using will be needed when administering are many other products (tape drench as few resources (material, time, them. Instead, much like car insurance, etc) that are often ‘inefficient’ and equally labour, effort) as possible. An we use them as protection against the there are farms that do benefit from alternative view of efficiency worst possible outcome.

BVD vaccination and B12 could be achieving maximum productivity So while we may get the supplementation!

Toxoplamsa with minimum wasted expense, so how desired outcome (i.e. no So, for those of you that I abortion is a great have confused, what is the do these definitions apply to efficiency in abortions), we can’t be sure example. This is take home message? The animal health? this was due to vaccination Animal health products can be difficult or if the disease simply important thing is to take spread by wild to classify when it comes to efficiency, wasn’t present. the time to sit down and cats which are as when dealing with biological systems When considering the construct a robust animal prevalent (often health plan with your there can be considerable variability which ‘efficiency’ of an animal quickly complicates matters. health product, farmers in high numbers) vet, in order to improve Take drench for example. A triple should consider the risk ‘efficiency’ of animal on most, if not all, the combination drench on a farm with and potential costs of health treatments on sheep farms. widespread resistance is much less a disease outbreak, and your farm. This will help ‘efficient’ (by the definitions above) balance this with the to maximise the health than the same drench on a farm with no effectiveness and costs associated with the and productivity of your stock whilst resistance. The incidence of disease can product aimed at preventing the disease. minimising unnecessary costs – a win for also vary markedly from season-to-season Toxoplasma abortion is a great example. farm profitability! and farm-to-farm, therefore the ‘efficiency’ This is spread by wild cats which are of the products designed to protect stock prevalent (often in high numbers) on • Andrew Cochrane is a veterinarian with from these diseases can also vary. most, if not all, sheep farms.

Northern Southland Vets.

Efficiency in animal health

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ANIMAL HEALTH | CLOSTRIDIAL DISEASE

A cost of lamb efficiency BY: ANDREW ROE

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fficiency is the theme running through this special issue of Country-Wide. Anyone looking for an example of an industry that has made monumental improvements in efficiency need look no further than our own sheep meat industry.

In the last 30 years the country’s sheep flock has shrunk by more than 50%, dropping from just under 60 million in 1990 to around 27 million now. Yet the amount of lamb meat we produce has fallen by less than 10% over this period.

An amazing performance that our sheep farmers should be immensely proud of.

As with most productivity gains, there are costs. One cost of the huge jump in kilograms of meat sold per ewe mated, is the increased risk of clostridial disease.

The improved efficiency around lamb production is largely built around the improved fertility in our ewe flock (resulting in more lambs born) and improved nutrition, of both ewes and lambs, which has led to better survival and growth of these lambs. Both of these factors, while undeniably beneficial, increase the risk of lambs dying from diseases such as pulpy kidney.

Protection of young lambs against clostridial diseases is dependent on them receiving adequate amounts of good colostrum from their mothers. The “5 in 1” vaccine that we give ewes before lambing will only work if their lambs get enough colostrum.

With high levels of ewe fecundity these days, where triplets are commonplace, it is possible that some lambs don’t get their fair share. Also, if the nutritional demands of carrying multiple lambs are not met, the

amount and quality of a ewe’s colostrum will be reduced.

An interesting study carried out in Wairarapa recently found that 13% of lambs born did not receive enough colostrum. The consequences can be severe, with young lambs at risk of blood poisoning and tetanus. And even for those lambs that do get plenty of colostrum, the protection against pulpy kidney will be worn off before weaning, the time when many farmers typically give the lambs their vaccine.

Consequently some farmers have brought their clostridial disease vaccination programme forward to tailing time with good results. With “5-in-1” being a fairly cheap vaccine, and lambs being more valuable in recent years, you don’t need to save many to make the exercise worthwhile.

As long as the lambs are at least four

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One cost of the huge jump in kilograms of meat sold per ewe mated, is the increased risk of clostridial disease. weeks old vaccination at tailing will work well.

A booster at weaning or when they are yarded for a pre-weaning drench will ensure that your works lambs are protected until they leave the farm, and your ewe lamb replacements will be covered until the following autumn.

As mentioned earlier, the other factor in the risk of clostridial disease, especially pulpy kidney in lambs after weaning, is the quality of the feed they are on.

Higher energy diets, especially the “specialist” lamb finishing forages such as red and white clover, and lucerne, are associated with higher losses. Clostridial bacteria are soil organisms and most animals pick up a few spores as they graze. However for these bacteria to multiply and produce their fatal toxins they require soluble carbohydrates; the higher the quality of the feed, the more toxins will be produced.

There are plenty of farmers in my area who, historically, did not see the need to vaccinate their works lambs at all. But, as the quality Above: With of their lamb forage has increased, so have high levels of the sudden deaths, prompting a need to start ewe fecundity, where triplets vaccinating. are commonAnother change in recent times is the ® place, it is availability of a range of other clostridial possible some Dock your lambs the easy way with the VETMARKER lambs don’t vaccines which offer protection against get their bacteria not covered in the standard “5-in-1” fair share of • Lambs are released products. These organisms include Clostridium colostrum. onto their feet sordelli as well as access Clostridium perfringens • Easy Types A, B and C, all of which are known to • Quick to set up Vaccination, • Less stress on lambs exist in New Zealand and may cause losses earmarking • Easy to transport occasionally.

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135

ANIMAL HEALTH | PERFORMANCE

Body condition scoring sheep BY: REBECCA SMITH

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lobally we are going through challenging times and with the barrage coming at us from multiple fronts we need to hunker down, look within and come at the daily challenges from a place of strength to get through this.

The most important part of facing uncertainty is understanding what parts of the system are within our sphere of control or influence and focusing our efforts in these directions. We need to look at ways in which we can create improved efficiencies onfarm to ensure better productivity off the same, or less resources.

An example of improved efficiency in sheep farming is using Body Condition Scoring of ewes to identify opportunities for better feed management, especially over the summer dry period. Split-mob management of ewes post-weaning based on body condition score allows light ewes (BCS score less than 3) to be preferentially fed to gain body condition prior to mating, and ewes BCS 3 and above to be held at maintenance feed levels over the summer period.

Splitting the ewe mob is a much more efficient use of summer feed; if you run ewes in one mob, the fat ewes just get fatter (which does not correlate to the

equivalent increase in productivity that we see when light ewes increase condition to a BCS 3), and the light ewes will struggle to compete and may even get lighter.

WHY BODY CONDITION SCORE AND NOT MEASURE LIVEWEIGHT? Liveweight is a function of ewe frame size and body condition, imagine two 60kg ewes, one might be short and BCS 3, the other might be a taller, rangy ewe who is only a BCS 2. If drafting on liveweight alone they would both be in the same mob; however, to improve efficiency

on farm these ewes should be managed separately.

Body condition score is an objective measure of tissue cover over a set point on the animal which is unaffected by breed, liveweight, frame, gutfill and stage of pregnancy.

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October 2020

Cross section view of the backbone of a ewe at range of condition scores.

Grey shading is meat/fat cover.

BCS 1

BCS 2

BCS 3

BCS 4

BCS 5

An example of improved efficiency in sheep farming is using Body Condition Scoring of ewes to identify opportunities for better feed management, especially over the summer dry period.

• Your hands should be working hard with your index finger running parallel to the last rib, your thumb rolling over the top of the spine and your fingertips pressing into the ends of the short ribs.

• If you can get your fingertips in between the short ribs at all, then she will not be a condition score 3 (she will be less than a 3).

• To be classed as a score 4 (or greater) your thumb must not drop downwards off the top of the spine.

• This gives you a clear line in the sand for a BCS 3 ewe (no divet between the short ribs, but a slight drop off the top of the spine) so now you can rule out those who achieve this and above and draft out the rest.

Body Condition is scored on a 1-5 scale, with the aim being to have every ewe at BCS 3, every day of the year. The particulars over whether a ewe is a 2.2 or a 2.5 is not important, the importance is recognizing whether or not she is below or above a BCS 3 – so don’t sweat the small stuff, is she good enough? Or does she need a few pies?!

As a practical management tool you can use this system without recording to draft lights out; up the race hands go on ALL the ewes and those below BCS 3 are marked, drafted and managed as a separate mob with preferential feeding.

This can be done at multiple times throughout the year.

However, if you are interested in more, there are programmes available like StockCare, which use recorded

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October 2020

body condition scoring of ewes at key times in the year as a measure to track performance, identify opportunities and plan ahead for the upcoming season to increase productivity on farm.

IMPORTANCE OF BCS 3 BY MATING The importance of body condition score pre-mating cannot be underestimated, your biggest scanning percentage lift will come from reducing the number of ewes below condition score 3 at mating and then feeding all the ewes on a gentle rising plane of nutrition throughout mating.

Why is this so?

Studies have shown that improving ewe BCS at pre-mating has a positive effect on multiple factors which impact the scanning percentage of the flock including the individual ewe’s ovulation rate, conception rate and embryo survival. The biggest impacts are seen lifting the lighter ewes(below BCS 3) to a BCS 3, compared with lifting the condition of already BCS 3 ewes.

As mentioned above it is important that to allow this benefit to be expressed we need all ewes to be on a positive weight gain during mating, so it is crucial we have conserved some feed for this, this is why strategic feeding pre-mating to ewes in which we will see the best response will ensure improved efficiency on farm.

Just remember, no matter how tough the external farming, political and human health environment gets, Keep Calm and Carry on Condition Scoring.

Top: Callum and Dayna Paterson body condition score ewes on Ida Valley Station.

Above: John Scandrett demonstrates where to place your hand behind the last rib when body condition scoring.

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ANIMAL HEALTH | DRENCHING

Planning ahead for internal parasites BY: SANDRA TAYLOR

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s this season’s lamb crop hits the ground, farmers are being urged to make an internal parasite management plan for the coming season.

Dannevirke-based vet and Wormwise national spokesperson Simon Marshall, says if farmers are considering drenching ewes at docking, they should carry out Faecal Egg Counts (FECs) on a sample of ewes first.

The results of the FECs, in combination with Body Condition Scores and pasture cover assessments, will help determine whether ewes need a drench at that time.

But lambs are the focus in spring and farmers should be working with their vet or animal health provider now to put

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together a drench plan for this season.

This means deciding what drench to use and if using drench leftover from last season, whether it is still within the expiry date and has been stored correctly. Drench guns should be checked and correctly calibrated. At every drenching, a sample of animals should always be weighed to ensure stock are being given the correct dose.

Simon says the decision about which drench family or families to use should be based on a FEC reduction test carried out in conjunction with a vet, in summer or autumn.

This test shows which drench families are effective and highlights any drench resistance issues.

“Plan to do one this coming season and talk to your vet about getting a test done.

It needs to be planned well in advance.”

Looking at the preventative lamb drenching programme, consideration should be given to a pre-weaning drench.

“Look at factors such as milk production, pasture covers and weather and consider the likelihood of parasite burdens building up between docking and weaning.”

Simon says some farmers carry out a pre-weaning lamb drench as a matter of course, while others give lambs their first drench at weaning. This depends on the weaning dates, but many farmers are weaning earlier, so should discuss their options with their vet or advisor.

After weaning, it is important farmers stick to the 28-30-day drenching routine and look at using refugia. This means planning how they are going to achieve

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‘Look at factors such as milk production, pasture covers and weather and consider the likelihood of parasite burdens building up between docking and weaning.’ it, ensuring everyone on the farm team knows how it works and how it is being implemented.

FECs taken seven to 10 days after the first or second lamb drench – from lambs known to have been drenched correctly – will show the efficacy of the drench being used.

If lambs are being grown out on clean, high quality forage crops such as red clover, plantain or lucerne, drenching may be able to be delayed, but FECs should be carried out 25 days after their previous drench to determine whether worm burdens are building.

Simon explains that over summer, a parasite cycle is around 21 days, so a test at 25 days will indicate a worm problem.

“If you don’t need to drench when

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lambs are on these crops, then carry out FECs to monitor the lambs’ worm status and inform drench decisions.”

Simon says the most effective parasite management strategy is either finishing lambs quickly or selling lambs as stores.

“Lambs are the best multipliers of parasites so when the lambs are off the farm, they are not multiplying parasites and they are out of the system.”

Going into autumn, FECs carried out well before mating will indicate whether two-tooth and mixed-age ewes need a drench before the ram goes out.

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ANIMAL HEALTH | MANAGEMENT

The triplet conundrum Careful management of triplet-bearing ewes is essential if they and their lambs are to survive. Ben Allott tells you how.

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n many high performing crossbred flocks large numbers of triplets are becoming the unwanted symptom of reproductive success. Large losses of ewes and lambs are frustrating and there is often significant opportunity to improve performance.

What do we know about triplet bearing ewes and their lambs?

THE EWE At birth, the weight of the pregnant uterus, placenta, fluids and lambs is a huge 2022kg!! The space the uterus takes up means that in the last two weeks of pregnancy, feed intake in triplet ewes declines. Despite higher energy requirements, under trial conditions it has been shown that triplet-

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bearing ewes cannot take in more feed than twin-bearing ewes. In late pregnancy triplet-bearing ewes have lower blood sugar levels and higher ketone levels than twinbearing ewes. They are burning through more energy than they consume. They are running right on the edge of metabolic disease (sleepy sickness/milk fever).

Triplet-bearing ewes suffer higher mortality rates than twins. More are lost to sleepy sickness, to milk fever, to becoming cast, and to bearings.

THE LAMBS Triplet lambs are born small, on average 65% the weight of a single. As a result, within the first few hours of birth triplet lambs have lower body temperatures, which are closely correlated with poorer

survival. A triplet lamb is about twice as likely to die as a twin with the biggest killer of triplet-born lambs being a combination of starvation and exposure. When separated from the ewe by just 10m only 70% of triplet sets, compared with 91% of twins and 100% of singles, reunite within five minutes. Separated triplets do not find mum well.

SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT? Pre-lamb treatments â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I am convinced that the stress induced by late pregnancy pre-lamb treatments is a large problem on many farms. Ewes are walked long distances, held on tight rations, yarded for long periods, placed under huge mob stress, then injected with vaccines that will induce an inflammatory response

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before again being walked long distances on empty stomachs. Do not do this in the last two weeks of pregnancy for any ewe!

I would prefer you avoid doing this in the last four weeks of pregnancy. Get pre-lamb out of the way early, especially in triplets.

Talk to your vet about suitable pre-lamb options. These ewes can then go back into a winter system with no yarding required before set-stocking.

Body condition score (BCS) – Mate ewes at BCS 3.0-3.5. Maintain this level and do not allow ewes to become overfat through the autumn or to lose BCS through the winter. Lamb ewes at BCS 3.03.5. Ewes that lose weight in pregnancy are a problem group. Ewes that are excessively conditioned are equally problematic.

Maintaining BCS requires you to know, budget for and allocate the true feed demand of the ewe.

I am convinced that the stress induced by late pregnancy pre-lamb treatments is a large problem on many farms.

Feed allocation – You cannot get the triplet ewe to eat enough feed to fully meet her requirements but you can ensure that your management does not restrict her feed intake further. Remember that triplets are right on a knife edge and the smallest restriction may tip them off. From scanning until a month before lambing do not graze triplets below 1000kgDM/ ha. Following this, triplet ewes in late pregnancy should never graze below 1200kgDM/ha (4cm), preferably higher. Do not for any reason restrict feed availability to triplet ewes in the last four weeks of pregnancy.

Shearing – Triplet ewes in heavy fleece get cast. Ewes in heavy fleece in late pregnancy get more bearings. Ewes in heavy fleece eat less feed in late pregnancy. In high performing cross bred flocks I personally advocate shearing ewes in mid-pregnancy (d50-d90) leading into scanning. Avoid pre-lamb shearing of multiple bearing ewes.

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Diet changes – Triplet ewes are vulnerable to the consequences that diet changes may have on feed intake. I would encourage you to plan winter feeding to allow triplets to spend the last four weeks of pregnancy on a consistent diet that is similar to their set-stocking pasture type. This doesn’t mean you should set stock this early, but avoid changing their diet dramatically several weeks out from lambing.

Feeding supplements? Grain or pellets can be useful in managing the increased feed demand of pregnant ewes. However, supplement feeding does not change the basic rule around grazing residuals. If you are feeding supplements to build covers and keep residuals in late pregnancy above 4cm then I am convinced of the benefit.

If pasture is of good quality and residuals are above 4-5cm I am not convinced supplements will be of significant benefit to you. In many situations the practicalities of supplement feeding introduce mob pressures, mob stressors and significant disturbance that I am convinced is often detrimental to multiple bearing ewes.

Herb and clover stands? Higher feed quality, improved protein supply, increased mineral supply, and improved feed harvesting characteristics are commonly mentioned as reasons we should lamb triplets onto herb and clover stands.

These factors are all potentially beneficial but I am also often concerned by these crop paddocks having poor shelter, often being located in high disturbance/traffic locations, and the fact that high stocking rates are often required to keep on top of the rapidly growing feed.

Disturbance – A mis-mothered triplet is likely a dead lamb. Lamb triplets at low stocking rates – 5/ha – and lamb them in paddocks where there is minimal disturbance from the sound and sight of dogs, motorbikes and traffic and they are out of sight of other stock movements. Any stimulus that will cause the ewe to move away from her lambs, even temporarily, will have a high cost.

Shelter – One of the biggest killers of triplet lambs is exposure. Lamb triplets in paddocks with natural shelter distributed throughout the paddock. The shelter types available should allow ewes to find isolated

shelter spots away from other ewes while they lamb. A single shelter belt that all ewes cram under is a recipe for mastitis, navel ill, and high rates of lamb and ewe wastage.

Slope – Triplet ewes on slopes get bearings, and steeper slopes are associated with higher mis-mothering losses in multiple lambs. In saying this, triplet ewes on flats do seem to love getting cast. I would go for low stocking rates on sheltered rolling to moderate hill country over higher stocking rates on exposed flats any day.

I have seen both intensive and hands-off systems work very well with triplet ewes. In every case though the key principles have been the same. Maintain BCS of 3.0-3.5, maintain sufficient grazing residuals to ensure ewes harvest enough feed, reduce all causes of stress in late pregnancy, and minimize the disturbance experienced by ewes through lambing.

• Ben Allott is a North Canterbury veterinarian.

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GENETICS | BREEDING

Significant breakthroughs A breeders’ group has achieved significant improvements in sheep production and profitability writes animal breeding and genetics professor, Dorian Garrick.

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oday’s rams produce much more productive and profitable offspring for production circumstances than the offspring of rams that have been available to farmers over the last 50 years. The implementation of effective sheep selection programmes has fuelled this ongoing improvement of successive crops of rams.

The programmes are the result of an ongoing series of global innovations in animal breeding and genetics that were

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developed by collaborative activities of scientists and ram breeders.

No group of ram breeders has had a bigger impact on New Zealand sheep improvement than the members of the Wairarapa Romney Improvement Group (WRIG). They recently celebrated their first 50 years of partnership aimed at improving and disseminating rams that will increase the profits of their ram-buying clients.

Some of the innovations for which WRIG was an early adopter are considered below.

Selection index is a strategy for

simultaneously selecting for multiple traits. Most of the work to develop the concept was done at Iowa State University in the 1930s. Before using the selection index breeders either used minimum thresholds for each of the traits of interest or alternated between selection for one characteristic and selection for another.

The logic of a selection index is to weight the gain in any trait by its economic value – the amount of profit that might be expected for a unit increase in the trait.

Professor Rae introduced the concept to

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the NZ sheep industry more than 50 years ago and it was rapidly adopted by WRIG breeders. They undertook selection that would combine the value of wool with the value of an extra lamb, rewarding the value of heavier lambs.

The same concept is now promoted by Sheep Improvement Ltd (SIL) and used by many ram breeders and ram buyers in NZ, for example in the form of NZ Maternal Worth.

The optimal industry structure to ensure ongoing improvement in livestock has been at the forefront of scientific considerations for more than a century.

More than100 years ago Sewall Wright from Chicago showed that the best use of resources would involve partitioning the industry into a commercial sector, which benefited from year-on-year access to improved sires, and a small nucleus or ram breeding sector that generated lines of rams produced by the simultaneous acts of selection and inbreeding.

The inbred lines themselves would not be expected to be particularly productive but would be used to cross with other unrelated inbred lines to produce first-cross animals. The productivity of the industry would benefit greatly from using sires that were the first cross between two lines mated to dams that were the first cross to two different lines.

FOUR-WAY CROSSES The resulting commercial offspring would be four-way crosses. That strategy is more or less the basis of genetic improvement in broiler and laying chickens, in pigs and in maize but somewhat surprisingly has never found favour with ram or bull breeders.

Some 50 years ago Maurice Bichard from the Pig Improvement Company in the United Kingdom demonstrated that an optimal industry structure would involve the partitioning of the sire breeding sector into “nucleus” and “multiplier” sectors.

Nucleus sires would be used by multipliers, and sires bred by multipliers would be used in the commercial sector.

Bichard showed that the annual rate of gain in the commercial sector would be identical to the annual rate of gain in the nucleus sector without the need for pedigree or performance recording in the multiplier or commercial sectors.

The animals produced in the multiplier or commercial sectors would lag in merit

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Matt Watson drenching Romney rams at Wairere Station, Wairarapa.

behind the animals born in the sector that provided the sires by the amount of gain made in two generations of selection.

In the sheep context this means that a ram buyer purchasing average rams from the same ram breeder year after year will produce offspring about 10 years “behind” the merit of the offspring born in the ram breeders flock. So commercial lambs born in your flock in 2020 will be like the animals that were born in your ram breeder’s flock in 2010. If you purchase above-average rams the lag will be even less. Some of the WRIG breeders were early adopters of the multiplier concept.

Many astute farmers recognised that there were a few exceptional animals in their commercial flocks. In traditional pedigree-based sire breeding, only pedigreeregistered animals could be used in the nucleus. The concept of an open-nucleus breeding programme was developed in

which elite commercial ewes could become dams in the ram breeding flock. It can result in a quantum leap in the merit of the ram breeding flock when screening of elite ewes first begins, and then it provides a modest improvement in the annual rate of gain thereafter.

It was particularly effective when applied to improving reproductive performance in sheep. Although it was not until the mid-1970s when John James, a scientist at the University of New South Wales, developed the theory to optimise opennucleus breeding programmes, some WRIG breeders had already effectively adopted the practice and some continue it today.

Farmers had sometimes been disappointed that the offspring of supposedly superior sires did not perform well in their commercial environments.

Research had shown that the

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No group of ram breeders has had a bigger impact on NZ sheep improvement than the members of the Wairarapa Romney Improvement Group.

their replacements on each half were managed for their entire lives at different stocking rates, but the same sires generated replacement offspring in both halves.

CHALLENGE OF COMMERCIAL CONDITIONS

phenomenon of genotype-environment interaction, which comprised the reranking of sires, was common when environments differed in respect to some form of stress.

The most common stressors were climatic, nutritional, or disease related.

Overseas research had shown that animals selected in harder environments could have offspring that performed well in easier environments, whereas animals selected in easy environments often did not achieve good offspring performance when managed in a harder environment.

In the 1960s Professor Rae at Massey University designed an experiment, which ran for many years, where a farm was divided in half and the ewes and

The WRIG members followed the findings of this study and adopted recommendations to avoid problems due to genotype-environment interactions by ensuring their ram breeding flocks were challenged under commercial conditions, often managed within their own larger commercial flocks operating at higher stocking rates than were normal for ram breeders.

Ram buyers were encouraged to purchase rams from breeders whose environments for challenging and selecting rams were similar or harder than their own environments.

The methods for ranking sheep that were adopted in the national evaluation systems prior to SIL were not capable of comparing animals across different cohorts.

The first step in analysing performance

records was to deviate them from the cohort average, and this meant that it was not possible to compare rams across cohorts from different years or cohorts from different flocks.

It was therefore not possible to estimate genetic trend from national performance data. Dr Henderson from Cornell University in upstate New York invented an improved method for ranking animals during his PhD at Iowa State University in the 1950s, but algorithms that made it practical to implement his approach were not available until the late 1970s.

During a visit to NZ in 1980 Henderson suggested his method could be used to compare animals across flocks or years and to estimate genetic trend. Dr Blair from Massey University published the research that demonstrated this was the case, and one of my first jobs at Massey from 1982 was to apply those approaches to pedigree and performance records collected in both our pig breeding and sheep breeding industries.

The records from WRIG breeders were among the first I used to demonstrate

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genetic progress from every flock in the national sheep improvement scheme.

The opportunity to extend these findings to compare animals across flocks was immediately apparent to WRIG members and they formed a core component of the Eastern Romney Sire Reference scheme to test this approach.

Each participant used at least one twotooth ram and at least one older ram from the ram teams that were being used by every other participant in the scheme.

As many as 10% total matings were to reference sires. The prototype acrossflock rankings we ran for WRIG members for many years stimulated the rollout of across-flock rankings for connected flocks in SIL. The reference sire concept was adopted by Beef + Lamb NZ for their central progeny testing programme, which provided the links or connections for across-flock analyses that are now widely used by many SIL breeders.

Having established prolific flocks of sheep under commercial conditions as a result of many years of selection on objective sire performance, the WRIG

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members shifted their attention to consider terminal sire performance of dual-purpose Romneys. New traits were of interest to commercial farmers, such as dressing-out percentage and yield of valuable cuts.

At their own expense WRIG formed a commercial progeny test to directly compare the growth, carcase and meat performance of their dual-purpose animals. Whereas some other breeders were considering ultrasound scanning or CAT scanning to assess carcase attributes, the ability to use ram lambs as sires and to harvest the resulting progeny prior to the next breeding season made a direct measure of terminal performance appealing. The results demonstrated substantial variation in the economic performance of offspring of different sires.

Such variation forms the foundation for WRIG breeders to implement effective selection.

Over the last 50 years WRIG members, some of whom are now the third generation of active participants in the group, have experienced the shift in

farming from a focus on profit alone to a triple bottom line including welfare of the environment and welfare of all the human and animal lives that comprise or interact with family farms.

Attributes sustainable sheep farming systems will need in the future will be different from what they were in the past.

Meeting those needs will not simply be about adopting new tools and technologies but will involve first imagining the future and then implementing technologies both old and new to realise the breeding objectives that accommodate that vision.

I wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be around in 50 years to enjoy the 100th anniversary of the Wairarapa Romney Improvement Group but the future I imagine involves continued innovation based on collaboration between farmers and scientists, with a suitable business model for funding sheep breeding programmes on family farms. â&#x20AC;˘ Professor Garrick is chief Scientist and director of the Al Rae Centre, Ruakura and in recent years worked at Iowa State University, US.

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GENETICS | LARGE SCALE

Perendale genetics continue to demonstrate impressive gains.

Science, scale and collaboration BY: JANE SMITH

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eam work, hard graft, data collation and collaboration have led to consistently impressive genetic gains in the Perendale sheep breed. These have been especially amplified over the past decade with the assistance of largescale monitoring and technology.

“We have the ability to utilise our strength as a unified group with large numbers of breeding ewes and a wealth of monitoring data, unpinned by SIL analysis, and are making impressive inroads on all dual-purpose traits,” King Country Perendale breeder Russell Proffit says.

The Perendale breed has a strong

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history following its initial development

by Sir Geoffrey Peren in 1956 at Massey University.

It is a breed built on science and continues to utilise technology to keep at the front of the pack, and the collaboration these registered Perendale NZ breeders are taking part in is something Sir Geoffrey would indeed be extremely proud of. With about 2.4 million lambs born each year using genetics sourced from Perendale NZ stud breeders, this is a role Perendale stud owners take very seriously.

The old saying “the best way to predict the future is to create it” is exactly what this large team of dedicated Perendale breeders are doing by ensuring they are breeding a fit-for-purpose sheep that

survives and thrives in all types of climatic conditions.

With more than 25,000 screened ewes (ewes that are scrutinised and registered as stud quality) within Perendale NZ, the traction Perendale breeders are making is impressive to say the least.

“We have two major advantages that we can pass on to commercial sheep flocks – firstly, we have one unified breeding group, Perendale NZ and second but importantly, we have always stuck to our guns of only allowing 100% pure Perendale genetics to be registered, not allowing any percentage of breed deviation within our breed,” West Otago Perendale breeder Mike McElrea says.

In 2011, Perendale NZ embarked on one

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of the largest and most comprehensive progeny trials in the country – in a quest to increase the level of scrutiny of an already well linked genetic analysis – “a progeny trial of this scale is like putting genetic gains and monitoring on steroids – the level of information you can harvest from the data is mind blowing,” says David Ruddenklau of North Otago, one of the founders of the initial Perendale NZ Progeny Trial.

The merits in the results of this sizeable trial, which commenced initially in South Island hill country and then expanded to a North Island trial site (and included facial eczema testing) at Smedley Station in the Hawke’s Bay - lie not just in the scale, but in the number of traits that have been analysed and the tough conditions that parallel those throughout the country, ranging from extreme cold, wet conditions at high altitude in the South Island trial, to a massive drought in the 2019/2020 year at the North Island trial site.

SIL Dual Purpose Lamb Growth

PERENDALE NZ FLOCKS

The green line indicates the Perendale NZ breeders - sitting well above all other Dual Purpose Flocks in Lamb Growth

SIL Dual Purpose Survival

“We have the ability to utilise our strength as a unified group with large numbers of breeding ewes and a wealth of monitoring data, unpinned by SIL analysis.”

PERENDALE NZ FLOCKS

A MAJOR ANALYSIS COMPONENT These have been no cruisy laboratory trials – with the natural synchronisation of ewes, a very concentrated tupping period of only six to eight days and a one-hit slaughter date in order to provide very accurate carcase data – including eating quality analysis of all lambs, including pH, fat colour, marbling, shelf life and tenderness.

Maternal traits, a key cornerstone of dual purpose sheep have also been a major analysis component – with the female progeny followed through to weaning weights, tupping weights, condition scores, lamb survival, culling ratio and the ever important longevity of which the Perendale is renowned for.

Four years of scanning data for each cohort of ewes (born as ewe lambs during

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A cornerstone trait of the Perendale breed is survival with impressive genetic gains, as seen by the green line above other dual purpose breeds.

the trial and DNA tested) is followed through. Lamb yields of over 63% have been recorded, giving terminal breeds more than a run for their money.

With a large base of stud breeding ewes throughout some of the toughest topography in the country, it is no wonder that commercial ram buyers continue to actively seek Perendale genetics from

registered breeders, with demand higher than ever for these tough, resilient sheep.

This is proven by the independently scrutinised genetic gains the breed is making – underpinned by the SIL database (which is often described as one of, if not the best ovine genetic analysis matrix in the world).

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“Breeding the best sheep possible through encompassing new technology and measuring more traits with the greatest accuracy” has become a key tenet for this breed.

The genetic ‘linkage’ that their large scale Perendale NZ progeny trials gives them is something that money can’t buy as this essentially allows a genuine test of each bloodline through analysing how they perform under numerous environmental conditions and challenges.

“This is not some fancy marketing strategy, this is putting all of our genetics under pressure in real conditions, in real time, using real analysis,” points out Warren Ayers, a Perendale breeder from Southland.

“It would be hard to find another breed that is collaborating on this scale, and at the same time being ruthless in all areas of genetic analysis, for the betterment of the dualpurpose sheep industry.”

One theme that is obvious when talking to Perendale NZ breeders is the ethos and passion that comes with running family owned, commercial scale stud operations. This is a group of people with a common goal who

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genuinely want the sheep industry to be as efficient as possible, and not be pushed out by a monoculture of pinus radiata plantations, or be marketing the ‘latest and greatest sheep breed fad’, to be gone again in five years’ time as they have seen with a myriad of composite genetics.

“The family values of our stud operators run deep within our breed society, Perendale NZ. We are not paint-by-numbers corporate stud businesses that are run by an urban geneticist with a myriad of staff doing the monitoring,” Proffit says.

“We are the ones that are out there in the paddocks and hill country blocks with the stock, we know what works and what type of sheep our clients around the country are after.

I am proud to be associated as a Perendale NZ breeder and believe the time, investment and effort that our breeders put into ensuring our genetic gains are expedited, is coming to fruition in Perendale flocks all around the country”.

• Jane Smith is a North Otago farmer and co-owner of Newhaven Perendale genetics.

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GENETICS | TEXEL

The Woodhouses with Harriet (20 months) and baby Dougal.

Genetics for low-fuss performance BY: VICTORIA O'SULLIVAN

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etween raising bull beef, a small Hereford stud, ag contracting and their own young family, Canterbury foothills farmers Alex (Woody) and Felicity Woodhouse have their hands full. So when it comes to running their sheep flock, it’s little surprise they have gone for a breed that can perform efficiently with very little fuss.

“Sheep are no longer a huge part of our business so we try to keep things fairly simple,” Woody says. “But in terms of what the Texels bring – they’re a robust sheep. We give them a bit of a flush-up to bring up their conception rate, but on the whole they stay in pretty good condition year-round.”

The Woodhouses’ run 850 RomneyTexel ewes and 350 hoggets alongside bulls and beef cows on Kinsale, the 400-hectare Glentunnel property Woody grew up on. They have moved from a straight Romney-based flock, first using

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composite rams to improve fertility and milking ability.

As their farm system has developed and they’ve moved away from sheep into raising more bull beef, the natural progression has been to move towards Texel genetics to increase hardiness and yield. The flow-on effect has meant more of their lambs are killed earlier and, as Woody puts it – they get “good productivity without pampering”.

“At times when it gets dry or the going is hard, it’s important with a stock class like ewes to be able to shut them down a bit so we can conserve feed for the finishing stock,” he says.

Along with their capability to hold on to body weight, he’s also found them to be dedicated mothers with good milking ability. Furthermore, their fast growth rates mean they get up to good weights for lambing as hoggets, a factor Woody says ‘definitely adds value’. A Southdown ram is used across the hoggets to aid with ease of lambing.

Felicity’s parents Paul and Kay Gardner

run Texel and Romney Studs, Kallara and Rosehope, near Ashburton, where the couple buy their Texel rams. Paul has had success with his Texel lambs in the Mint Lamb Competition at the New Zealand Agricultural Show (formerly the Canterbury A & P Show), and has won the competition three times.

“He’s won with a straight Texel, and in other years it’s been pretty common for it to be Texel cross of some description,” Felicity says. “They yield well and they taste good.”

Lambing percentages are about 150%.

Woody describes the lambs as little nuggets – not only do they hold on well when the conditions are not at their best, but when the conditions are going well, they ‘absolutely fly’.

“For us, they’re a tool for cleaning up during different times of the year, but we still get really good production out of them. Because we’re not having to stick really good grass down their throats, it means they are quite profitable ewes,” he says.

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GENETICS | EDUCATION

Mark Ferguson and Will Gibson, neXtgen agri, pictured classing ewes at Middlehurst Station, are offering coaching and support for farmers navigating sheep selection.

Coaching farmers in genetics BY: JOANNA GRIGG

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ypically, over a farming career, there are 30 chances to introduce new genetics via the breeding season.

Mark Ferguson, neXtgen agri, likes to point this out to encourage farmers to put time and effort into genetic selection. NeXtgen agri is a genetics consultancy business that runs courses and one-on-one advice (mix of free and subscription) to help farmers choose the right genetics for their flock.

During the Covid-19 lockdown months, their online sheep breeding course was attended by 70 farmers. Ferguson said this focused on Australian breeding values and was attended by Australian and New Zealand fine wool stud and commercial growers.

Crossbreed and strong wool growers are next on Ferguson’s list of farmers to deliver his genetic insights to. In spring, neXtgen agri will be rolling out another on-line sheep breeding course,

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this time with a focus on the NZ Sheep Improvement Limited (SIL) database.

It will be aimed at strong wool commercial farmers and cover breeding values and eye appraisal of sheep.

The repeat sessions build a rapport among the group, he said.

“We will cover different decision support tools and how to navigate the complexities of buying the best rams for your farm and retaining the best ewes on the farm.”

Some of the ‘teaser’ insights include revelations about the impact of a sheep being born a twin.

“It is more than you think.

“Farmers are selecting against twins in many cases, by the way they select replacements.

“It is quite a complex situation and we can help farmers navigate this.”

NeXtgen Agri started a podcast for farmers during the lockdown. Known as Head Shepherd, the most popular episodes have had more than 600 views from around the world.

“Our subscription fortnightly zoom calls with industry experts have been growing in popularity, - some people watch them live, others watch the recorded versions.”

“We had online Friday night drinks and learning sessions for our members during lockdown, which were very popular.”

FERG’S TOP TEASERS ON GENETICS, NEXTGEN AGRI Your breeding objectives are not right or wrong. They are personal. It is applying the principles and tools that you need to get right.

• The tools determine the pace your flock advances.

• Error is the enemy of genetic gain.

Removing error in your decision making improves your rate of gain.

• Using breeding values to select your rams reduces the error.

• Breed for balance: be careful to not only select for the traits that make you money. Also think about traits that save

›› More p153 151

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Left: What’s in a Breeding Value?

you money, save you time and delight a customer.

• In fine wool flocks, twins wean lighter, have lower fleece weight, lower staple length and less secondary fibre development. Be careful when you are culling young ewes, otherwise the twins will be the first to go.

• If you are going to feed a sheep, make it a good one.

• Phenotype is what we see and measure. Genetics + environment = Phenotype. Breeding values take out the environmental factors (ewe age, twin, climate, season, feeding) so that is what makes them useful.

• Heritability differs. Fibre diameter is about 55-65% heritable. Reproduction traits are about 5% heritable. You can still make good gain on lowly heritable traits but you will need to use all the right tools to do so.

Below: Twin born lambs are less appealing in the classing race.

Identify twins, even in commercial flocks so you can select for reproduction and take into account the environmental effects on phenotype.

Courtesy: NeXtgen agri.

• Will Gibson, neXtgen agri, will feature in the NZ Merino Review, outlining his genetic coaching role at Glenmore Station.

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October 2020

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CROP & FORAGE | HELICROPPING

Preservation of soils under a hill country winter cropping regime is the focus of a Farming Fund project in Waikato.

Sandra Taylor reports on progress on Geoffrey and Joanna Fitzgerald’s farm.

H Helicropping

successes In the September issue we described a sustainable farming fund project aimed at fine-tuning the technology of helicropping for different hill country situations. Flying sprays, seeds, fertiliser and pesticides on to hill areas using a helicopter is safer, saves time and avoids cultivation.

Comparing crops established using a helicopter to those established through traditional cultivation showed clearly there is no soil loss under an aerial cropping regime, whereas with cultivation soil is lost, particularly in wet weather.

The project is focusing on

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establishment and grazing management of winter crops of brassicas, sometimes combined with plantain as a companion, and subsequent sowing in pasture.

The September article looked at the advantages of helicropping and some of the species, establishment and grazing techniques being used.

This month we feature two hill country farmers who have been using helicropping successfully as a means of providing winter and early spring feed and as part of their pasture renovation programme.

elicropping has proved transformative on Geoffrey and Joanna Fitzgerald’s 430ha mixed terrain sheep and beef farm at Wharepuhunga, east of Otorohanga.

By helicropping about 10% of their farm every year, the couple have been able to move drymatter surpluses to times when they really need the feed, and have improved both profitability and environmental outcomes.

“We wish we had cottoned onto it 20 years ago.”

While they used to establish forage crops through traditional cultivation methods they found this compromised the soil structure and new grasses struggled to establish and thrive.

They started playing around with “spray and pray” with variable success and have now tweaked the process so that they are growing reliable forage crops and new permanent pastures.

Geoffrey says they do a single spray on 30-40ha in early to mid-October using 4l/ ha of glyphosate 490 and, most critically, an insecticide targeting springtails. They also include a wetting agent to stop drift – although they always choose a still day – and to get better coverage of the plants.

“We find we get a more consistent result with the wetting agent and, relative to the cost of the other products, it’s very small.”

They are also very particular about ensuring there is 2000-2200kg DM/ha cover on the paddocks before spraying because the desiccated and dying pasture makes an ideal mulch for the emerging crop.

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ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS As well as the advantages of not cultivating soil, no more sediment is lost from the cropped area than is lost from permanent pasture as sediment traps placed in gullies surrounding the helicropped area over two years have shown.

“It can be done, it’s all about management,” Geoffrey says.

Top and centre: A rape crop followed by perennial pasture, the end result of a hill country cropping regime. Above: Geoff and Joanne Fitzgerald wish they had adopted the hill country cropping technology 20 years ago.

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Just two hours after spraying, the seed, slug bait and fertiliser are flown on.

The couple grow rape, which they find an ideal multi-graze crop for their system.

Geoffrey says they graze the crop every 45-60 days and it yields around 6t at each grazing.

The first grazing, in December, is used for finishing weaned lambs, and then in March it is grazed by cattle. Geoffrey says the cattle will defoliate the crop and at that stage the permanent pasture seed is flown on.

The rape comes away and is lightly block grazed over June and July by R2 cattle shifted every three to four days, depending on weather, so there is no pressure on the soils or emerging pasture.

“It is really important not to pug the paddocks, we really look after the new grass.”

After the final grazing the new pasture just comes away.

“It’s amazing technology.”

Prior to adopting the practice the Fitzgeralds were running a traditional system of turning late spring surpluses into silage for feeding out over winter.

Now, with more land taken out for cropping, there are no spring surpluses and feed supply is pushed forward to summer, autumn and winter. It also means they are not feeding out on hill country, which eliminates the costs and risks associated with that.

Geoffrey says silage used to cost 35-40c/ kg DM compared with around 10c/kg DM, which is what it cost to grow a crop of rape sown by helicopter. Geoffrey explains that it costs around $1400/ha including helicopter, agrichemicals, seeds, fertiliser and slug bait, and they get three grazings of around 6-7t DM/ha from that one crop.

The other significant benefit is the increase in the quality of the feed produced. These crops are grown on

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Matt O’Neale is applying flatland production principles to the hill country.

Now, with more land taken out for cropping, there are no spring surpluses and feed supply is pushed forward to summer, autumn and winter. It also means they are not feeding out on hill country, which eliminates the costs and risks associated with that.

country that was producing only 7-8t DM/ha/year of poor quality feed, with most of that production in summer.

By growing rape and establishing good quality permanent pastures they are lifting both the quantity and quality of the feed grown.

Geoffrey has tried kale and swedes with mixed results.

He says swedes established through broadcasting sit on top of the ground and in their situation too many ended up at the bottom of a gully.

The pastures they establish in the wake of the winter grazing are ryegrass and clover or, where nodding thistles are an issue, ryegrass and cocksfoot, in which case once the sward is established the paddock is sprayed with a weed killer to control the thistles before clover is broadcast onto the area.

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Helicropping swedes and plantain for pasture renovation For the past six years, Matt O’Neale has managed a 1500ha effective hill country farm near Rotorua. About 850-900ha effective is in the lake catchment, but it is on the balance outside of the catchment that they have been carrying out a helicropping programme.

The farm, which has pumice soils and an average annual rainfall of 2100mm, runs R1 and R2 dairy heifers, a commercial sheep breeding and lamb finishing operation, and an Angus trading cattle policy.

Matt says he came to the management position from an intensive, flatland farm in the Wairarapa, and through helicropping he is trying to apply flatland production principles to the hill country. Only 10-15% of the farm is flat.

Every year they identify 40ha for renovation through a helicropping regime, and this area is grazed by cattle four weeks before being aerially sprayed and seeded.

Matt says the grazing ensures they get a good even pasture cover before the spray goes on.

They aim to spray the area in early November with

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GROW SOME ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TIME TO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY

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A swede and plantain crop. The combination works well if managed correctly as the plantain acts as a catch crop after the swedes have been eaten.

Roundup and an insecticide and, depending on weather conditions, they will apply the seed, slug bait and base fertiliser either later the same day or within a seven-day window.

Matt is establishing a mix of swedes and plantain with the idea that the plantain cover crop comes out of the back end of the winter forage crop, utilising nutrients and providing ground cover, soil stabilisation and valuable drymatter in that early spring period.

Traditionally after winter forage crops are grazed there is a two to three-month period before any subsequent crop is able to be grazed.

Through this method the plantain comes away and can be grazed within one month of the winter forage crop being finished off.

Matt runs R1 dairy grazers on the swede crop over July and early August and is grazing the plantain in early September.

After 18 months the whole area is double-sprayed and permanent pasture is flown on.

Grazing management is important in this helicropping regime and Matt explains that they don’t graze the crop

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hard as they don’t want to compromise the plantain.

The 40ha is divided into eight blocks that are strip-grazed with mobs of 300-400 heifers on two-day shifts.

The cattle graze from the top of the hill down, but they can only do this because of their water infrastructure.

In order to look after the plantain they have been wasting about 10% of the swede crop, but this year they increased this wastage to 20-25%, (although cattle will chew the remaining bulbs on subsequent grazings).

This keeps the cattle on a faster rotation around the crop, and this year they have seen daily growth rates in the cattle increase from an average of 500gms/day to 700gms/day. This regime also allows the plantain to come away faster and so be available earlier in spring.

Matt says timing and monitoring are the critical factors for successful crop establishment via helicopter.

“Don’t procrastinate, have a plan, put it in place and stick to it.

“Talk to your agents and reps and have everyone lined up because timing is essential.”

Once the crop is in the ground it needs to be monitored, and for Matt this might mean applying another insecticide dressing and side dressing of nitrogen after Christmas, as was the case last year.

He typically budgets on a 10t/ha crop but this year drought affected yields and the swedes produced 8t/ha, which was better than expected given the conditions.

Costwise, it is typically around $1600/ha to establish the swedes and plantain, and last season the crop generated a $30,000 profit.

An extra dressing of nitrogen and insecticide this year meant costs increased to $2000/ha, and they won’t make a profit. But there are other benefits – they see improvements in soil and animal health through the mineral-rich plantain, and it is an effective pasture renovation programme.

Matt stresses that this helicropping system works well for their soil type and farm management. While they are still making tweaks and adjustments according to the season, it is a valuable way of improving the quality and quantity of drymatter grown on their hill country.

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CROP & FORAGE | MIXED SWARD

Thinzar Soe Myint with a mixed sward cross-section of pasture: sowing ratio is key to getting good synergy between species.

Science insight into designing pasture mixes BY: JOANNA GRIGG

T

he old way of formulating sowing rates for mixed pasture has been challenged by a PhD student’s research into synergies of pasture mixes.

Thinzar Soe Myint, Lincoln University, has been head down in a paddock of pasture plots taking careful measurements of ryegrass, white clover and plantain.

These were grown both on their own and in different combinations with varying nitrogen and irrigation applications.

Her work has proven that resulting pasture yield composition depends on the proportions of species in the mix, not the amount of the mixture sown (i.e. total sowing rate).

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In this case it’s all about proportions.

“Species proportion should be emphasised more than overall seed abundance because even low seed rate can give high drymatter yield if we combine the species perfectly and proportionally,” Thinzar said.

This grassroots research may not involve glamorous equipment nor be splashed across the tech mags but it has huge implications for pastoral farming that relies on the bread-and-butter grass, herb and legume mix to fuel animal production.

It is just one part of wider work by Lincoln University into pasture mixes and persistence (five experiments), which is ongoing and has covered at least 20 years of work. All papers are available on the

NZ Grasslands Association website (www. grasslands.org.nz).

Thinzar said the way a pasture mix is normally designed is based on information about the performance of the species or cultivars when grown by themselves as monoculture plots. The National Forage Variety Trial is an example. But evaluating them in mixtures should have a more important role, she believes.

“Previous trials of mixes rely on the agronomist’s best guess of sowing rates or proportions of component species. This approach provides little or no predictive ability.”

Her experiment showed that optimal proportions of species in the seed mix, to maximise annual dry matter yield in the first year after sowing, were about 35% perennial ryegrass, 25% white clover and 40% plantain, based on seed count. These proportions were equivalent to about 8 kg/ ha of perennial ryegrass, 3.5 kg/ha white clover and 7.5 kg/ha of plantain cultivars, used at the lowest total sowing rate tested of 1000 seeds/sq m.

There was no difference in dry matter yield for high sowing rates (2000 seeds/ sq m) so low sowing rates are fine. Most NZ sowing recommendations are 2530 kg/ha with grass, so the 19-20 kg/ha recommendation is lower, Thinzar said.

As well as the lower overall sowing rate the experiment results suggest that ryegrass and plantain be sown at 7-8kg each. Normally farmers sow ryegrass as the dominant component and the plantain is added at only about 1-3kg/ha.

The experiment was repeated at two overall sowing rates of 1000 and 2000 seeds/sq m to confirm that the species population eventually sorts itself out through the process of size/density compensation in plant communities.

“This gives us confidence that the mixing effects are going to be consistent across a range of total sowing rates currently recommended in New Zealand.”

The maximum yield was 28.7 tonnes for the first year after sowing. This experiment will run for three years so a better idea of persistence will emerge.

“This must be emphasised as the botanical composition of even simple pasture mixtures changes considerably after sowing from one year to the next.”

The maximum yield was achieved with nitrogen (N) fertiliser (275kg N/ha) as it boosted ryegrass and plantain. A parallel

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objective of this experiment was to test the effect that soil nitrogen status has on the dry matter yield of individual species in a pasture mix, and on the pairwise and more complex interactions between species in mixed swards.

“We did this by applying it in the first 14 months of the experiment to the high N treatment, and no N fertiliser as a low N treatment, and then seeing how the plants sorted themselves out.”

Rather than testing rates of N the experiment was looking at the change in the soil N environment to a level that would affect yield and composition. In the first 14 months, the ratio of ryegrass and plantain stayed the same (i.e. the same relative balance) but white clover reduced.

This impacted on the synergy growth of white clover and ryegrass, and white clover and plantain. Less white clover didn’t impact on the synergy of ryegrass and plantain however.

Thinzar and her supervisor Dr Alistair Black see the bigger-picture implications of this work.

“This result supports the widely accepted management recommendation to use strategic N fertiliser to encourage pasture growth in the cool season when white clover growth and N fixation is low,” Black said.

There will always be the dilemma between high sowing rates to maximise yield and weed suppression but also reducing ryegrass content of the seed mix to promote slow-establishing species like white clover and timothy.

Thinking of sowing rate in terms of seeds per square metre gives an impression of what the intraspecies and interspecies competition between plants might be like.

He would like the wider seed industry to think about the approach used in this

experiment, which gives more informed and unbiased evaluations. Such a trial design involves a regression analysis approach to measure the relationship between yield (or any other trait) and the proportions of the mixture ingredients.

“Formulating pasture mixtures based on a plant community-level approach gives more reliable information of not only performance of plant community but also that of each constituent.”

As a general message for farmers chasing yield, Black said the experiments support choosing pasture mixes over monocultures.

“The other message is you don’t need to worry about sowing rate because, even with low sowing rates, the perfect combination of species mixes with right proportions will give high dry matter yield.”

He adds that while finding synergy between species is the goal, too many species can reduce yield.

He recommends choosing forage species and cultivars that match the local environment, the grazing system, and feed requirements of stock on the farm.

“We already know a lot about what species to grow where: for example, perennial ryegrass and white clover for mild temperature and moisture environments, cocksfoot and sub clover for drier niche areas.”

He implores farmers not to lose sight of these fundamental principles of designing pasture seed mixtures and good pasture management in general.

“And we should remember that New Zealand has a history of government funded research in grassland farming systems spanning over 70 years.”

“The danger is forgetting that much of it is still relevant today.”

Thinzar in the plots at Lincoln University.

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RESEARCH PAVES NEW WAY TO SET SOWING RATES The Research: Designing optimal seed mixes for temperate pastures.

Funding: Assisted by the Hill Country Pastures Programme on behalf of Beef + Lamb NZ, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Seed Force, and PGW Seeds.

Supervisors: Alistair Black and Derrick Moot, Lincoln University PhD student: Thinzar Soe Myint is in her third year of experiments for her thesis. From 2012 to 2018 she was Assistant Lecturer in Yezin Agricultural University, Myanmar, and she plans to return there to study tropical pastures – something she describes as more challenging than temperate! A NZ Aid Scholarship provides financial support.

What she did: Sowed perennial ryegrass, plantain and white clover species on their own, in a binary mix, and three-way mix. The swards were harvested eight times (once cut and the rest grazed by sheep).

Swards were irrigated November to January (240mm total) and Urea applied to some plots (50kg N x 2 then 25kg every grazing).

Findings: The interim results (year two of a three-year study) show the optimal mix for maximum dry matter in year one is 35% perennial ryegrass, 25% white clover and 40% plantain, based on seed count. This is equivalent to 8.3 kg perennial ryegrass, 3.6 kg white clover and 7.6 kg plantain (19.5 kg total seed) per hectare at the sowing rate of 1000 seeds/m2. This is lower than traditional recommendations of 25-30kg/ha and is a higher plantain:ryegrass ratio.

Synergies exist between species but must be tested in plot experiments to measure the relationship between yield and the proportions in the mixture.

There was no difference in dry matter yield for high sowing rates (2000 seeds/sq m versus 1000 seeds/sq m).

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ENVIRONMENT | FRESHWATER

This cliff by the sea deemed low slope land by MFE mapping.

Fish hooks in the fine print BY: JAMES HOBAN

T

hroughout several months of Covid distraction the draft freshwater reforms have been simmering in the background.

Farmers who battled through submissions nearly a year ago might have been forgiven for thinking that their effort would make no difference to environment minister David Parker’s vision for New Zealand.

At the time submitters were encouraged by industry groups who told them that yes, suffering through the exercise of carefully crafting and submitting their views, on the cusp of peak work periods calving and lambing, was the best move available to them. Now the rules have landed and it is time to digest what they will mean at the farm level.

When the policy announcement was imminent in August, industry bodies tentatively revealed they were almost comfortable with what was coming but warned there might be some serious

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fishhooks in finer detail. Once these same industry groups saw the details clearly it became evident the feared fish hooks are of Maui’s fabled fishing proportions.

showing ‘low slope land.’ Farmers with low slope land need to exclude cattle.

While this is probably intended to target relatively intensive grazing where there is potential for significant impacts from cattle accessing streams, as usual a desktop mapping exercise has resulted in a blunt tool and perverse outcomes.

Bureaucrats tempted by the convenience of turning desktop mapping exercises into regulation only need to look at historical controversies and inaccuracies at regional and district council level to see it is the wrong way to go.

This is a blunt, lazy approach, generally disguised as someone’s bright idea, and should be banned by politicians genuinely interested in balanced, targeted policy outcomes.

The mapped zones are based on land parcels which creates headaches. There are areas of flat paddocks not captured in the mapping while some hill blocks are mapped as low slope land.

We have Land Use Capability Class 8 land mapped as low slope land. This is the trouble with mapping created in an ivory tower, at a scale too coarse to cater for common sense and onfarm reality.

It is not the first-time bureaucrats have created stress and perverse rules based on mapping and crucially this new tool, possibly despite good intentions, does not accurately reflect varying degrees of environmental impact. In its current form it will not achieve the outcomes the rule writers and community want.

STOCK EXCLUSION – MAPPING TOOL For several years extensive sheep and beef farmers have been nervously wondering whether rules were going to come in requiring stock exclusion from streams on hill country. For these people, the new rules include good and bad news.

Regional councils have generally taken an approach in recent years that sees intensively grazed cattle and deer excluded from streams. More relaxed rules have applied to extensively grazed beef cattle and sheep, where stocking rates limit major impacts on water quality and fencing is a challenging exercise.

The good news is that the new policy excludes sheep. The bad news is that the decision-making around where cattle need to be excluded is complicated and based on unreliable, illogical mapping.

The new rules come with a map

WINTER FEED – SLOPE CATCH The other glaringly sensitive area for sheep and beef farmers is ability to accommodate intensive winter grazing in their farm systems. When winter grazing is not well managed and carefully planned the environmental consequences can be significant and visual.

It has been a hot topic for environmental activists and politicians for several years and pressure has grown for rules to control winter feed management. The freshwater policy is the most stringent regulation seen to date in this area.

Most sheep and beef farmers would argue that growing enough winter feed to enable them to carry a sensible number of stock is an essential property right which they need to maintain.

Where winter grazing becomes a

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problem is when people push limits – for example bringing in large numbers of outside stock, growing heavy crops on sloped land, in wet areas or near waterways.

A wet winter inevitably brings mud.

Careful planning mitigates risk but can never eliminate all mud if stock are grazed in situ on high-yielding green feed crops.

Regulation has been inevitable for some time. There was always potential for political and community concerns to take this regulation too far.

The most challenging aspect of the new regulations for many sheep and beef farmers will be the restrictions around when intensive winter grazing needs a resource consent. Resource consents are a seductive tool for councils when it comes to regulating farming activities. The challenge is where to draw the line that distinguishes between farmers needing a costly consent and those who can get on with life sensibly and relatively independently. The new rules look set to capture too many farmers in the consenting process.

Any winter greenfeed crops grown on land with an average slope of more than 10 degrees will require a resource consent. Despite major resource issues at regional councils and lack of clarity among agronomists, farmers and regulators, this will potentially apply to crops sown in spring 2020. However, hawk-eyed Federated Farmers policy people have picked up on the fact that existing use rights might nullify the implication of this particular rule at a farm level next winter.

If land is not mapped as low slope land it does not mean it is exempt – just that farmers will have to work out how to assess the slope themselves and be prepared to justify their position if it ever came to a debate. It is hard to imagine farmers will be allowed to assess slope as coarsely as MFE has.

Any crop that results in pugging deeper than 20cm also requires a resource consent.

There is scant information on how this will be measured and managed.

If these issues are manageable, MFE has thrown another curveball. Winter feed crops need to be sown before October 1 for most areas and November 1 in Southland and Otago to not trigger the need for resource consent. Hopefully the weather gods have been informed of this

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Sheep on a gently sloping grass paddock which is not mapped as low slope

requirement which shows a complete lack of understanding of how farmers and farm systems operate.

COMPLIANCE COSTS – FARM ENVIRONMENT PLANS (FEPS) AND RESOURCE CONSENTS Every resource consent farmers have to apply for will cost them. Councils have long talked of streamlining consents for similar, relatively common or simple activities, to make them cheaper, faster and simpler.

While an attractive option for those facing mounting costs, turning this into reality has been a different story. Councils will not grant consents without being confident that the detail and conditions are specific enough to prevent them from appearing slack in the media.

This means at best a consent will cost $1500 for processing. More commonly, the consent will cost several thousand dollars in consultancy fees before the processing even begins. The processing cost will increase if the council staff feel they need more information than is initially provided.

Farm Environment Plans have been enjoying a gradual acceptance as a relatively painless way to demonstrate good practice on farm. They offer an opportunity to improve farm systems as well as being a cost of doing business under the gaze of an increasingly attentive society.

Progress with farm plans has been good, on the back of years of council and industry effort. Unfortunately, the new regulations have made FEP’s more costly.

They will now need to be prepared or approved by an as yet to be defined expert.

These experts will cost and in the same vein as council staff will be interested in ensuring their own behind is soundly covered. These particular experts don’t exist yet but the current environmental consultants who are likely to be involved in this work cost anywhere between $120180 per hour for their time.

CONSULTATION THROUGH EXCLUSION What grates many submitters most is what they have claimed to be an arrogant lack of consultation. Federated Farmers were quite publicly shut out of discussions last year after MFE accused them of leaking draft information. Federated Farmers have strenuously denied they were responsible for any leaks but nonetheless they were not welcomed back to the table.

The fact that regulations showing an apparent lack of understanding of farm systems have been drafted, after farming experts were kicked out of the room, is far from a demonstration of best practice policy planning.

While the latest policy announcement has farmers and industry groups in a state of fear they are not the only parties who will struggle with the new rules. Regional Councils will have to find a way to implement the resource-hungry demands from the government.

Many councils are already stretched and rate burdens constantly increasing.

It would not be safe to rely on councils applying a sensibly selective enforcement regime either because the pressure on them is immense. In the past three years, Environment Canterbury alone has been taken to court twice by Forest and Bird who felt they were not enforcing their rules adequately.

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REARING | LAMBS

Team effort rearing 3000 lambs Becs Mahoney, former Black Fern, now international rugby referee, rears up to 3000 lambs each year for Spring Sheep Milk Co as part of her farming duties.

Sheryl Haitana reports. Photos by Brad Hanson.

R

Aerial views of part of Mahoney’s operation.

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earing young stock is a key part of any successful farming business and a task that requires dedication and skill, says Becs Mahoney.

“I think rearing young stock is a specialty, it’s very time consuming and you have to maintain strong attention to detail.”

Rearing up to 3000 lambs/year for Spring Sheep Milk Co sees Becs and husband Luke working from 5am to 10pm most nights for a significant part of spring.

In a normal rugby season she spends 30 hours a week fitness training as well as reviewing/pre-viewing games, and development - which is often done at all hours of the night.

Becs typically will start the morning in the lamb sheds, drive or fly to referee a game, and be back in the sheds later that night. However, the hard work and long hours are palatable when it’s something you enjoy, she says.

“I absolutely love rearing lambs and the rugby is just fun. For me rugby is good head medicine, a chance to get off farm and out of the business for a few hours, to be able to mix with different people and be challenged at a different level.”

The former Black Fern, who refereed a

Ranfurly Shield match last year, was the first woman to referee in the Mitre 10 Cup, the first female assistant referee in Super Rugby early this year and was going to referee two Women’s Six Nations’ test matches this year.

However, with Covid-19 she has currently lost her contract with NZ Rugby and will wait to see if there are opportunities later this year with Mitre 10 and the Women’s Rugby World Cup next year.

She feels fortunate to have farming as her main business and income.

“Farming is forefront of our lives anyway. Rugby has always been a cool way to see the world and get a bit of enjoyment. But farming is my business, my background and is where we can help other people.”

Raised on a sheep and beef farm at Eketahuna, Becs went to work on the family farm straight after high school. She got into calf rearing on a large scale with her parents, rearing up to 2000 calves, predominantly Friesian bulls.

She was fortunate enough to meet a local farming boy, Luke, and the couple have slowly grown their farming business over the last 15 years. Luke has his own business dagging 500,000 sheep a year, and

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Top: The lambs are grown out and managed through until they are scanned and ready to go back to the Spring Sheep farms for lambing. Above left: Farm worker Paige Walker helping out with crutching. Above right: Luke and Becs Mahoney.

the couple have their own contracting business on the side.

They were approached by Spring Sheep Farm owners: Luke and Milk Co a few years ago to rear lambs Becs Mahoney because of their experience rearing large Location: Pahiatua numbers of young stock. The company Area: 55ha owned, has four farms currently and another three purchased from Luke’s new suppliers have signed up this parents Peter and Judy PAHIATUA season.

Mahoney, 550ha leased “They’re an innovative and Stock units: 650 Friesian collaborative business to work with,” Becs bulls; 250 beef cattle; 70 beef says. heifers; 1500 Romney ewes, 1000 “It works for us and works for them.

Spring Sheep ewes; 2500-3000 Their farmers work hard to get milk out of Spring Sheep lambs. their sheep and we work hard to grow the best young stock for them to work with.”

The four-day old lambs are picked up or delivered from the farms in Taupo. The lambs travel really well in a purpose-built

FARM FACTS

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October 2020

trailer - they curl up in their boxes and go to sleep, Becs says.

When they arrive the lambs are given Biostart to settle their stomachs and put in pens of 40 to be trained on the auto DeLaval feeders. A coloured chalk marking system is used to identify lambs once they are drinking off the feeder. Most achieve that within the first 24 hours, says Becs.

“Sheep are really intelligent and follow each other. Having them in small pens, it’s not hard for the lambs to find the teats and teach themselves.”

The feeders can supply up to 200 lambs.

Each pen of 40 lambs has four teats.

Compared with calves, lambs can be easier to rear because they don’t suffer from the same diseases and their survivability rate is around 90%, higher

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Becs enjoys working with the sheep: “Sheep are really intelligent and follow each other.”

than the traditional hill country farm system.

“We don’t get the nasty crypto or salmonellas etc. But lambs sometimes get pneumonia. We have a couple of pens in each shed with heat lamps for any smaller lambs to curl up under.”

Becs and Luke have two sheds, 2000m2 and 1000m2. The pens have 30cm of sawdust covered by a geotec felt that is used in roading and lets moisture through but not back up. They put fresh shavings on top of the bedding every day along with stellosan, which helps minimise ammonia and any “bugs”.

“We rake out every pen daily and put

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fresh shavings down. That will sound really intensive, but we get into every pen and handle every lamb every day. When you’re working with big numbers it’s that attention to detail you need to have.”

All lambs have access to fresh water with troughs cleaned out daily, a high protein grain mixture and unlimited milk on the feeders. Each lamb will go through 1416kg of milk powder.

All lambs are weighed when they arrive and subsequently every 14 days for the first 12 weeks with the aim of getting them to 17-19kg by weaning at six weeks of age.

After weaning, lambs are offered cut and carry grass along with their meal, and at

nine weeks they have external access to paddocks.

“We’ve set our new shed up as a miniature farm with little paddocks that function well with the shed. As the lambs get bigger they expand into bigger paddocks onto red clover and chicory mixes.

“Lambs come back into the shed for their meal. They love being inside, on cold days or on hot days. They have the best of both worlds.”

The lambs are grown out and managed through until they are scanned and ready to go back to the Spring Sheep farms for lambing.

The lamb rearing team includes Becs and Luke, four full-time women, and Becs’ parents, Neal and Shirley Hull.

“Our staff are the glue to the success of our business, we challenge them to have a go at everything. We have a strong team culture with a range of skills, my rugby mates Paige Walker, Sam Tipene, Tutz and Aunty Carol have embraced the processes that make the rearing a success.”

Becs and Luke have two daughters, Amber, 12, and Harper, 7.

“We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without Mum and Dad. Dad and I have the same vision for working with young stock and Mum has always looked after the girls and makes sure the team is always happy and things are running smoothly.”

As farmers, Becs and Luke think it’s a good move to have diversity in their business, which is why they’ve enjoyed working with Spring Sheep.

“We have always believed in having our eggs in lots of baskets. You can’t just do one thing, you’re too vulnerable. We are always looking for opportunities and listening for opportunities.”

They also lamb down 1000 ewes who have been retired from milking on Spring Sheep Milk Co farms.

“We like to be thought of as the retirement village. The older girls who have had enough of milking come here and get to live out their days on the hills.”

Any empty lambs are also kept on-farm to go into a traditional grazing system before they go back to Spring Sheep as two-tooths. Spring Sheep Milk Co is continuing to build supplier numbers, so having stock in front of them is another goal Becs and Luke are helping them to achieve.

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October 2020

SPRING INTO ACTION SHEEP YARD SYSTEMS BUILT TO LAST

0800 269 776 Country-Wide

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www.landquip.co.nz 171

SOLUTIONS | ACTION GROUP

Results with Action Group

A

ndy and Nic Gardiner have significantly lifted their Tararua farm business’s gross revenue over the past three years. They have improved ewes’ body condition and lamb birthweights, are docking more lambs, and boosting lamb survival to sale.

Andy and Nic attribute many of these gains to their involvement in a Red Meat Profit Partnership (RMPP) Action Group with its strong focus on business planning.

The RMPP Action Network model supports small groups of seven to nine farm businesses to work together to explore ideas and share expert resources to help them to make positive changes onfarm.

The couple, who farm 670ha near Pahiatua and a 92ha finishing block at Dannevirke, run 2700 ewes, 700 hoggets and 120 Angus cows that calve to a terminal Simmental bull. They also have Friesian bulls and trade lambs. They source sheep from the Motu-nui stud, cattle from Kerrah Simmentals and Angus cattle from the Stokman stud.

Their farm is predominantly winter wet and summer safe. However, with summers becoming drier and most of their land being hill country they were struggling to finish lambs on the hills with growth rates of 40-50 g/day and unpredictable seasons.

Andy says they saw joining the Action Group as an opportunity to improve their

Andy and Nic Gardiner with Evie, Angus and Henry.

business planning and to learn more about their business, its long term resilience, how it compared with other businesses and how they could increase its performance.

“We also saw it as a way to get together with like-minded people. We like the fact that a lot of couples go along together and that it is business based – a lot of discussion groups are just about sheep and grass and you tend to get into a rut. This is sheep and grass but much more too, from management decisions to leadership.”

The Gardiners say the facilitation aspect of the Action Group model is critical to its success.

“Without the facilitator doing a decent job it isn’t going to work,” says Andy.

“When we started we spent the first two to three meetings doing business work, like mission statements and financials. That was a great start because it gave us time to get to know one another and then you are more confident to share information further down the line.”

The group has worked with subject matter experts on a range of issues from sheep breeding systems to winter and summer crops, environmental issues, and fertilisers and cropping. Andy says that has brought significant learnings but that peerto-peer learning and support within the group has been equally valuable.

“They aren’t all local farmers, there’s a real mix, all the way up to Hastings with a variety of different types of farming and climate but there’s still a lot of things you can pick up from other people and bring back to your farm. We really enjoy that diversity.”

Opportunities Andy and Nic identified through specialist speakers and peer-topeer learning have included moving from a 12-month to a six-month shearing policy.

Using the group as a sounding board also helped give them confidence to invest further in their business where production and performance gains could be made. This has included building new covered yards to enable the pre-lamb shearing of ewes.

Cheviot – low maintenance, easy lambing

I

ntroduced in 1845, Cheviots are found throughout New Zealand, providing a hardy, low maintenance sheep that does well on both hard high country and easier lower country.

The Cheviot is gaining a growing reputation as a successful hogget sire and this lift in popularity is expected to continue as the rising value of lambs has seen a big increase in hogget mating.

This proven sire effectiveness, with high lambing percentages and low mortality overall makes the Cheviot a consistent performer and proven

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sustainable breed renowned for easy lambing, vigorous lambs, hardiness and even runs of lambs.

Cheviot ewes are good foragers and their ease of lambing, mothering and milking ability are all qualities that are passed onto their offspring. The Cheviot produces quality prime breeding stock with excellent hybrid vigor as a first cross. No matter what breed the Cheviot ram is mated with, many satisfied farmers have proven that their ewes have less lambing problems, fewer ewe deaths, a high lamb survival rate with good lamb growth rates.

Farmers using Cheviot sires state: “They are good lambs out of the hoggets, up and running when born, easy lambing”; “They had those prick ears and a ‘get up and go’ about them. I was impressed with the overall constitution, particularly the rear muscling of them”; “They come forward in good condition, even in drought these lambs have the ability to grow, gain weight and finish on grass”.

More? contact The Secretary, Cheviot Society of NZ - jcpascoe@xtra. co.nz or 03 318 8260 or www.cheviotsheepnz.com

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SOLUTIONS | STOCK HANDLING

Going off-grid with water An aerial view of the new sheep yard facility.

Flexibility in yards

H

awke’s Bay livestock manager Jordan Kingan can’t speak more highly of the designer and supplier of a set of sheep yards built on a new winter lamb finishing block this year.

When the farm business he helps manage acquired a new lease block with an old woolshed and run-down yard facilities in late 2019, he didn’t hesitate to contact the team at Landquip for help in designing and installing new sheep yards.

It’s the third set of Landquip steel sheep yards the company has ordered, and they already have extension’s planned for their main set of Landquip yards installed a few years ago.

“We took over this block in December last year and knew we had

a complete rebuild of the yards on our hands,” Kingan says.

Having worked with Landquip in the past on design, construction and installation, he opted for a mix of timber outer fences, permanent steel ‘Perma-yards’ and semi-permanent ‘Endura-yards’ to provide his staff with flexibility in the layout but a solid central working area for weighing, drenching and drafting.

The centre pens of the yards are fixed in place but three quarters of the pens are semi-permanent, enabling staff to alter pen sizes to suit mobs and manpower available.

Landquip general manager James Fyfe says the company offers a full design, construction and installation service nationwide.

A video of the new block yards is available at www.landquip.co.nz.

More? Call 0800 269 776.

T

he major limiting factor in water powered pumps is, of course, that you need flowing water and some degree of head pressure to drive the

pump.

The major benefit with water-powered pumps is that they will pump all day and all night regardless of weather, this can give you some significant quantities of water over a 24-hour period and makes no difference what season it is.

The major limiting factor in solar-powered pumps is that, obviously, the sun needs to be shining, meaning you can expect days when the pump will deliver little, or even no water.

In winter you can expect significantly less water than in the summer.

The way to mitigate the inconsistencies of the sun is to pump more water per day than you need to a storage tank or reservoir. This allows you to have a bank of water in the system that can accommodate the down days, effectively turning your tank/reservoir into a battery.

The major benefit with solar is your water source can be either flowing or still water, which opens solar up to all water sources.

Good quality solar pumps, installed correctly, are very reliable.

Off-grid pumping can deliver significant benefits. Do your homework, follow the guidelines and you can expect a great result.

More? www.perkinz.co.nz

PUKETOTARA STUD A SMALL NUMBER OF THESE...

CAN KILL ONE OF THESE!

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Breed Facial Eczema tolerance into your flock by using our high genetic merit, structurally sound ROMNEY Rams.

Contact Ken & Rebecca Haywood at Piopio 07 877 8586 Or email krhaywood@farmside.co.nz

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October 2020

Also available Poll Dorset and Black face rams.

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SOLUTIONS | GENETICS

Revolutionary new tool

B

eef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) Genetics launched nProve last month – a new tool that makes it easier for farmers to find the best rams for their farming operation.

Sarah Powdrell, sheep genetics operations specialist at B+LNZ Genetics, says unlike existing SIL tools, which are primarily for ram breeders, nProve is for both breeders and commercial farmers.

“It is an online tool that helps farmers identify breeders making progress in traits important to them. Using a series of buttons and slider scales you can refine exactly what you need from your ram team. The end result is a list of breeders whose rams tick those same boxes.

“Our breeders are constantly taking realworld observations and measurements of their animals across a wide range of traits.

All of this information feeds into New Zealand’s world-leading genetic engine in SIL. NProve taps directly into this information, so you are presented with transparent objective results.”

Sarah says she has worked alongside several commercial farmers, watching them use Nprove for the first time and see how quickly they “get it”.

“Nprove is free and there is no need to register. Once you get started, you’ll find yourself wanting to have more of a play – tinkering with the sliders to prioritise different traits and experimenting to see which breeders come up for you.”

Nprove will not show which ram to buy, but shows breeders who sell rams that match what farmers are looking for.

“The breeder is best placed to understand your needs and match you

Sarah Powdrell, Beef+Lamb sheep genetics operations specialist.

to animals that are fit for your purpose.

Take the time to discuss your operating environment, challenges and objectives so they can help you achieve progress in the areas you want.”

More? Visit beeflambnz.com and search “better sheep breeding”.

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SOLUTIONS | HERBICIDES

A crucial time to spray for spring

F

rom setting up a niche crop, to preparing for a traditional pastoral option like maize, reliable weed control makes all the difference to yield and profitability.

This applies whether you’re working with three hectares, or 3000, especially when weather conditions are fickle, and you’re depending on a good result. Spring can be a testing time to spray. However, one advanced agrichemical formulation has proved itself this past year. Hawke’s Bay contractor David Fleming says the use of Crucial herbicide for weed control, is money well spent.

David, based in Dannevirke says switching to Crucial when it was launched last year was a logical move for his oneman business, Fleming Ground Spray.

“I know I’m using a product that will work. If it rains 15 minutes after I drive out of a paddock, I still know it’s going to work! Also there’s less product to cart, because it is a high-strength formulation.”

Most of David’s clients are sheep and beef farmers, with some dairy farmers, and he sprays out 3800-4000ha of pasture a year.

After 10 years in the industry, he says reliability is his number one requirement

for both chemicals and equipment.

More? Contact your local Nufarm Territory Manager on 0800 NUFARM or visit nufarm.co.nz

Converted to Combi Clamp

H

awke’s Bay farmer Tom Clark wishes he’d bought his Combi Clamp 20 years ago.

Instead, he only had one installed two years ago in the main sheep yards on his 430ha hill country property on the Napier-Taupo Road.

“I’m in my late fifties now and the Combi Clamp is brilliant.

It means I can still stand up at the end of a day of dagging a big mob,” he says.

Clark spent time investigating options before deciding on his purchase. A neighbouring farm has invested in a larger sheep handling unit, but it was a trip to see a Combi Clamp in action at a mate’s property near Wairoa, northern Hawke’s Bay, that sealed his decision.

“We ran a few sheep through it, and I was impressed. Cost was also a factor for me.”

He’s fitted his Combi Clamp permanently into his existing yard design and says he tinkered with where to install it to draw sheep in and get the best throughput.

“It took a while to sort out the best spot to get our sheep to run well through it. It still needs two people to operate, one on the Clamp and one feeding them up, but it works well for us,” he says.

Getting the hang of the clamping action is easy, he says.

If sheep are not caught at the right point, it’s easy to ease them forward or back by taking weight off the clamping mechanism.

He runs 1200 ewes and 430 bulls on his property and says

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October 2020

the Combi Clamp is used for most sheep treatments – drenching, vaccinating, weighing and dagging.

The lead-up curved panels that help to draw the sheep around have shin-bars to prevent animals backing out once they get close to the ramp up into where they are clamped.

“The Combi Clamp is really well made. We’ve had no issues at all with it.”

“It’s not had much use for the past few weeks over lambing but once we start sorting lambs up for slaughter, we’ll be pleased to have it,” he says.

Visit combiclamp.co.nz for more information.

Sell your stock with

Online sales platform Call 0272299760 Email george@yourbid.org 175

SOLUTIONS | LAMB PREMIUM

Alliance premium

A

lliance Group has launched a new premium lamb offer to farmers as it seeks to capture greater value for its products and reward its shareholders.

The Pure South Handpicked Lamb programme will use an assessment system to measure eating quality with the qualifying lamb initially Lamb cuts on the line at Alliance’s exported to premium retail markets Lorneville plant, Invercargill. in Asia and North America.

In the first year of the programme, Alliance will offer farmers a 10c/kg premium above the ruling schedule to all qualifying animals that meet the requirements at the time of processing. The 10 cent premium is on top of the 15c premium Alliance pays for lambs raised without antibiotics. The programme is open to Alliance Platinum and Gold shareholders, who supply 100% of their ovine livestock to the company. Lamb must meet a strict criteria including being born and raised on the supplier’s property, achieve special raising claim requirements and be antibiotic-free.

The lambs must also weigh between 17.1-23kg, have certain levels of fat cover, intramuscular fat and pH. All ewes supplying lambs must be body condition scored throughout the year. Only wether and ewe lambs may be supplied to the programme.

The lamb will be selected from lambs of any breed except Merino.

Lambs with greater than 50% Merino genetics will not be accepted as these have their own unique attributes and are marketed under the premium Silere Alpine Origin Merino brand.

B12 shot that lasts

A

re you supplementing your lambs with vitamin B12 or selenium this season?

Cobalt (as vitamin B12) and selenium are well recognised as essential trace elements for successful sheep farming in New Zealand. Young growing lambs are most susceptible to deficiency and have the highest B12 requirement of any stock class. Every day lambs are below adequate in their vitamin B12 levels results in compromised growth rates, meaning reduced profit for your farming operation.

Developed by AgResearch and extensively trialled in NZ, Smartshot B12 products consistently maintain B12 and selenium levels for three+ months or six+ months (depending on dose rate) with a single injection, compared with short-acting B12 products which would have to be injected every four weeks to maintain levels. Because an injection of Smartshot lasts longer, there is less stress on lambs, reduced yarding time and labour and reduced risk of carcase downgrades. Sustained vitamin B12 and selenium levels allow for consistent and efficient feed conversion throughout the critical growth period. NZ trials carried out by AgResearch demonstrate greater liveweight gains in animals treated at docking/tailing. Gains of as little as 5g/day can provide a return on investment (ROI) on Smartshot, meaning even flocks with a marginal deficiency could benefit.

To learn more about the Smartshot products, ask your vet or visit smartshot.co.nz. Registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997, Nos. A9402 and A9984.

SAVING YOU TIME AND EFFORT Sheep and Cattle handling equipment designed to be user-friendly, durable and simple to offer an efficient, versatile and reliable solution to your stock handling needs.

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SOLUTIONS | BELTEX

Beltex boosts yield

F

armer experiences with the doublemuscled Beltex breed in New Zealand have been outstanding, according to importer, Beltex NZ. Company principal Blair Gallagher says most of the buyers at Beltex NZ’s first sale in 2018 have returned in following years.

The first two-tooth ram sale is scheduled for November 19 this year.

As a rough rule of thumb, quarter-Beltex lambs produced from Beltex-Suffolk, Beltex-Texel, Beltex-Poll Dorset or BeltexPerendale rams, produce a 1.5-2% higher killing out percentage and about a 2% higher meat yield in the carcase compared with other terminal sires.

For half-Beltex lambs, an increase in the killing out percentage of up to 4% is possible, along with a big increase

in the meat yield in the carcase, adding huge value to lamb carcases in the future.

Mackenzie Basin farmer Glen Fastier, Simon’s Hill Station, scanned 160% in a line of 700 Merino ewes mated to Beltex sires. Wool from hoggets out of Merino ewes will meet specifications for Smart Wool contracts.

Beltex NZ says Beltex and Beltex cross sheep will add value particularly where black fibre needs to be avoided in progeny.

Beltex-Cheviot rams will also become a feature for hogget mating.

Rangiatea Beltex is breeding halfbred rams out of Suffolk and Texel-Perendale ewes.

An improved Sufftex (half-Beltex) will likely become a feature for the stud in

French sheep breed BY: JO CUTTANCE

W

hen selecting a sheep breed, farmers need to consider what their production goal is and what market they are breeding for.

If fine wool gains and strong meat yields in lambs were goals the Ile-de-France should be considered.

Canterbury based farmers, Robert and Jean Forrester and James and Lisa Thomson, run in partnership Ile-de-France Sheep NZ Ltd and believe the breed is perfect for New Zealand’s farming environment. Each couple has their own large commercial flock and is striving to advance profitability in sheep farming. The stud has focused on very high meat and growth traits while being meticulous about the maternal Breeding Index, and has zero tolerance of structural imperfection.

In 2018 the Thomsons went to the Ile-de-France breeding centre in France to study what the French call “the most complete and strictest genetic selection programme in the world”. Impressed by what they saw, they decided to import semen from four unrelated lines. Lambs from this importation are now on the ground and are looking good. Incorporating the Ile-de-France breed into their flock brought some immediate gains, James said. The rams were tough and lambs had an increased weaning weight. Wool was a finer micron (24-30 micron) and a lower cost structure with fewer wool costs helped with farm profitability. Ewes held their condition, and because there was no need for a commercial terminal sire system this resulted in more ewe replacement choice, he said.

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October 2020

Pure Beltex two-tooth rams. The first sale of two-tooth rams in NZ is scheduled for later this year.

the future along with many more threequarter Beltex ram lambs available for purchase.

For more information call Blair Gallagher, Beltex NZ, 021 022 31522.

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SOLUTIONS | 4X4 ACCESSORIES

All the kit with Ironman 4x4

I

ronman 4x4 offers a full range of automotive accessories including bull bars, suspension upgrades, side steps and rails, rear bars, underbody protection, lights, winches, snorkels and camping gear.

Ironman 4x4’s extensive range includes replacement winch bull bars which are designed, engineered and tested in Australia. Every Ironman 4x4 bull bar is carefully crafted from premium grade materials and components to deliver the most comprehensive frontal protection and styling available.

The finish on Ironman 4x4 bull bars is top quality using a powder-coat system which gives a thicker, smoother and more durable coating. Along with winch and air bag compatibility, Ironman 4x4 bull bars offer affordable protection for your farm ute or wagon. Ironman 4x4 bull bars have a high strength mounting design utilising a replacement cross member that goes in

Ironman 4x4 12,000lb Monster winch with five-year warranty and wireless remote.

the front of the chassis to which a winch can be mounted. The bar is then bolted to the new crossmember. This design gives the ultimate in strength when winching as the winch is mounted to the chassis and not the bull bar itself.

Most bars for late model vehicles are full replacement meaning the original whole front bumper is removed and replaced.

Bull bars are available for most modern vehicles and can be fitted at authorised dealers throughout the country.

Ironman monster winches come in two

sizes - 9500lb and 12,000lb.

Winches come complete with a wireless remote with a 40-metre range as well as a 3m lead remote. The 12,000lb monster winch has a 6hp (4.5kw) motor which is fully sealed and is supplied with a breather tube for mounting high on the firewall away from water. Winches have 28m of steel cable or have the option of 28m of synthetic rope.

Ironman 4X4 have an extensive range of recovery equipment including snatch straps, recovery kits, high-lift jacks and exhaust jacks.

All come in sturdy carry bags and you can feel confident of having the right equipment should you get stuck.

Suspension kits and components with raised height, long travel and improved performance are available for most makes and models.

Visit www.ironman4x4.co.nz or call 0508 IRONMAN for more information.

Collar checks on ewe-lamb bond

T

he maternal side of an animal has a far more important role to play than many New Zealand farmers believe, Duncan Mackintosh says.

Duncan and wife Tina farm White Rock Mains farm, a 1056 hectare sheep, beef and dairy support at North Loburn, near Rangiora. The couple, winners of the 2019 Canterbury Ballance Environmental Award, have 3000 ewes and 900 hoggets. Just after tailing for the 2019/20 season, their farm became the location for one of the New Zealand trials of the Smart Shepherd sheep ‘collar’ device, which measures the maternal performance of livestock.

Smart Shepherd uses Bluetooth technology to accurately identify the lambs raised by each ewe and measures the strength of the ewe-lamb bond. It provides farmers with first-time insights into the ewe and lamb bond by measuring the frequency of interaction and the distance

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at which the ewe and lamb associate in a paddock.

“This is a very exciting development,” Duncan says. “We’re very interested in the technology of genetics and have long said that the next frontier of the New Zealand sheep industry would be getting parentage assignment at a commercial price. A friend, who is a sheep scanner, told us about the collar trial and we were very keen to give it a try. We trialled it on 400-500 ewes this year but in the coming season, we’ll be using the collars on our entire flock.”

Duncan and Tina worked with Aimee Charteris and Dr Mike Tate, directors of Four Good Foods, which has been trialling the award-winning technology in New Zealand. The Mackintosh flock is all EID tagged, so data gained from the trial goes into their EID life history. The collars can be easily fitted on an animal between four weeks of age and weaning. Once the collar

is removed, information is analysed and returned within 48 hours. Smart Shepherd provides dam pedigree, birth rank and rearing rank. The information can be loaded into any animal performance recording system. Sire pedigree can be included in the results package if the programme single sire mates the ewes in the flock. The system can match more than 1000 lambs a day to their mothers.

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SOLUTIONS | ONLINE SALES

Web sales platform catching on

A

new livestock sales platform idea is sweeping the stud sector.

Yourbid was developed during the Covid-19 lockdown period earlier this year by the Giddings family as an online platform to host the sale of sheep and cattle bred at Meadowslea, their South Canterbury base west of Fairlie.

Meadowslea principal David Giddings is quick to give his son George credit for leading the development of the website platform, but says it’s already catching on elsewhere in the world because of its simplicity and the pressure-free opportunity it presents for buyers to consider their purchases.

“It’s gone ballistic really,” he says.

Meadowslea formulated an agreement with a stud operation in the United Kingdom which used the new platform last month for the first time. The sale generated more than 1700 bids on 110 rams and produced a record gross revenue, smashing the previous best average price by 40%.

Giddings says Yourbid offers registered buyers the chance to view the catalogue of stock and videos over several days once the sale catalogue is open for viewing. They can place bids and watch progress on each lot right up to the sale closing time.

“It gives people time to consider their buying decisions. They can watch a video of each lot, talk it over with others in the family or their agent, and make a decision to place a bid or not.”

“Yourbid means buyers can buy based on their own order of choice, rather than by lot number as they have to now with a traditional auction sale.”

The Giddings’ have used videos in the past to showcase animals and the Helmsman ‘silent’ auction system for previous sheep sales. They plan to host their third NZ Yourbid sale with their annual yearling bull sale closing on October 9. Buyers register on the platform to view each sale catalogue and a commission is still paid to the livestock firms that are involved with each purchaser. Bids are also anonymous to other bidders and only the buyer’s number is displayed alongside the lot number and price until the conclusion of the sale when all buyers’ details appear on the screen.

All registrations and buyer details are

retained by the vendor which allows dialogue and advice to be shared in the days leading up to the sale. Buyers are encouraged to bid until the sale ends and provided there are no further bids within two minutes of a sale’s official ending, the sale finishes and the top bidder for each lot is notified of their success.

If a bid comes in within that two minutes on a particular lot or lots, the sale continues until that two minute minimum deadline is reached. Giddings says local agents have embraced the platform because they also have time to review and offer advice on specific lots to their clients, which helps to enhance their service. The first ram auction in NZ using the Yourbid platform will be the Meadowslea Ram sale offering 300 rams closing on November 26 followed by the Glenloe Dohne Merino offering of 40 two-tooth rams by stud principal, Richard Loe, Waimakiriri Gorge, closing on December 10.

Visit yourbid.org to find out more and view a demonstration auction.

Marking sprays threaten processing

A

fter hearing ongoing reports from the New Zealand wool industry about the problems farmers have with their wool clips in regards to stained wool from wool marking sprays,Richard Kettle of AHD Ltd went about finding a solution.

“Wool classers can remove stained wool before it reaches the market,” National Council of New Zealand Wool Interests executive director Bruce Abbot says.

“Staining on wool must be stamped out at source – on farms”, New Zealand Woolscouring Chief Executive Nigel

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October 2020

Hales says. In conjunction with Chemz, a local aerosol company, AHD scientifically developed and tested a fading, scourable wool marker formulation.

“We then trialled the product on several properties, on 360 sheep, and with the support from CP Wools and Kells Wool perfected the formulation.

“The outcome is Fade Away a revolutionary scourable stock marker.

The blemish on the wool is scourable (independently tested through a wool scouring plant) leaving little to no trace of tainting of foreign contamination.”

Fade Away sits on top of the wool and is not absorbed into the fibre. What colour does creep into the fibres is scourable, unlike other spray wool markers on the market that stain even further if the fleece gets wet. Fade Away has shown to last up to five months on the fleece allowing plenty of time to identify marked stock.

Fade Away has been approved for use by MPI. Fade Away is available from your local rural outlet or veterinarian in five striking colours.

More? sales@ahdltd.co.nz or richard@ ahdltd.co.nz Mobile 021 757 3344.

179

A NEW ZEALAND OWNED PARTNERSHIP A NEW ZEALAND OWNED PARTNERSHIP

The Murray’s vast property is long and narrow. It stretches from the coast at The Murray’s vastinto Kekerengu inland property is long andand the Clarence Valley narrow. stretches right up toIt the base of from the coast at Mt Tapuae-O-Ueneku.

Kekerengu inland into thethis Clarence Valleyhas and While unique property it’sright challenges, lendsbase itself to up toit the of a diverse production system Mt Tapuae-O-Ueneku. which Hamish and Jess Murray While this unique property has have embraced.

it’s challenges, it lends itself to

a diverse production system “With my parents Richard and which Hamish Jess Murray Sue, we run Bluffand Station—a highhave embraced. country sheep and beef property.

There are 5500 merino ewes, 950 “With my parents Richard and Angus breeding cows and 750 Sue, we run Bluff Station—a highbeehives.

We enjoy the diversity country sheep and beef property. of the production systemewes, and the There are 5500 merino 950 yearly calendar of events.

Angus breeding cows and 750 beehives. We enjoy the diversity

“There’s always something newthe to of the production system and look forward to as we switch from yearly calendar of events. cattle to sheep then back again— “There’s always something new to rolling through mating, shearing,

look forward to as we switch from cattle to sheep then back again— rolling through mating, shearing,

set stocking, marking, and then through into weaning. We also enjoy what the honey production cycle brings as well,” says Hamish.

set Thestocking, Murray’smarking, focus isand on then through into weaning.

We also producing 35 tonnes of merino enjoy what the honey production for a Norwegian merino clothing cycle brings as well,” says Hamish. brand and ensuring traceability

within the supply chain The Murray’s focus is on is a leading objective producing 35 tonnesfor of Hamish— merino and an element that for a Norwegian merinoconsumers clothing increasingly demand. brand and ensuring traceability within the supply chain is a This is where Hamish sees the leading objective for Hamish— ruralansector’s heading: and elementfuture that consumers “There’s a growing increasingly demand.awareness

“Insurance is a risk management tool and FMG advises and helps us make decisions on what are acceptable risks for our business to bear, against those events “Insurance is a risk management or unexpected costs that if tooluninsured, and FMG advises helps wouldand create a burden us make decisions on what are on us,” says Hamish. acceptable risks for our business to bear, against those events It was fortunate that the Murrays or unexpected costs that if came to FMG the year before the uninsured, would create a burden Kaikoura earthquake. on us,” says Hamish.

“We were badly by the It was fortunate that affected the Murrays earthquake. the past came to FMG the Over year before the3.5 years earthquake. we’ve have rebuilt and Kaikoura

repaired six houses on the farm

“Weand were badly affected by the around types of production and have had to repair countless This is where Hamish sees the earthquake.

Over the past 3.5 the environment. Our natural highother pieces of infrastructure. rural sector’s future heading: we’ve have and assessor country system with low stocking years Working withrebuilt our FMG’s “There’s a growing awareness repaired six houses on the farm rates and its biodiversity is a great over that time has been great. around types of production and and have had to repair countless story to share,” says Hamish.

They took the time to understand the environment. Our natural highother pieces of infrastructure. our business, the intention country system with low stocking Working with our FMG’s assessor we had The Murrays joined FMG around undertaking insurance, rates and its biodiversity is a great overwhen that time has beenour great. five years ago, as they wanted to and how fit under story to share,” says Hamish.

They took theclaims time towould understand be with a New Zealand owned certain policies. our business, the intention we had company and a mutual.

Hamish The Murrays joined FMG around when undertaking our insurance, saysyears theyago, value very would happyfitand proud five as the theyadvice wantedgiven to and“We’re how claims under be by with FMG.a New Zealand owned of our relationship with FMG,” certain policies. company and a mutual. Hamish says Hamish. says they value the advice given “We’re very happy and proud

by FMG. of our relationship with FMG,” says Hamish.

If this sounds like the kind of insurer you’d like to be with give us a call on 0800 366 466 or visit our website at www.fmg.co.nz If this sounds like the kind of insurer you’d like to be with give us a call on 0800 366 466 or visit our website at www.fmg.co.nz

We’re here for the good of the country.

We’re here for the good of the country.

180

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Breeder Directory BREED

NAME

LOCATION PHONE PAGE

BELTEX Ashton Glen Beltex NZ

R & R Mitchell B. Gallagher

Clinton Mt Somers

03 4157687 021 0223 1522 102

BORDER LEICESTER Te Taumata A, E & J McWilliam Gladstone 06 372 7861 CHAROLLAIS Elite N. Jay Lincoln 021 140 7827 Elite S Linklater Feilding 027 548 3578 Kaitoa P & L Barnett Dannevirke 06 374 3555 Lochee M Smith Rangiora 027 414 0308 Waterton C Hampton Cave 03 614 3330 Brabazon A. Brown Masterton 06 372 7712

CHEVIOT Cheviot Sheep Society J C Pascoe Darfield 03 318 8260 Ashby G & D Timms Palmerston Nth 06 362 7829 Herangi J & M Spellman Pio Pio 07 877 8401 Kaiwhata Farm A & J Tatham Masterton 06 372 3623

114 114

114 114

96

COMPOSITES Pine Park E Sherriff Marton 06 327 6591 82 Piquet Hill W Jackson Ngaruawahia 0800 379 958 53 Premier Genetics R Forsyth Otane 06 858 4383 104 Twin Farm Genetics A & R Welsh Gore 03 208 5904 Wharetoa Genetics G & C Shaw Balclutha 03 415 9074 107 Wairere D Daniell Masterton 0800 122 077 15 Wairere A Puddy Masterton 021 222 5100 15 Wairere M Gemmell King Country 07 896 6722 15 Wairere J Meehan Otago 027 443 5031 15

COOPDALE Braeburn Coopdales A & L Cocks Clinton 0800 206 487 Glenrae G & M Mitchell Lumsden 03 248 7080 Roslyn Downs C Miller Invercargill 03 230 6144 COOPWORTH Ashaig Farm G M Fletcher Cromwell 03 445 4059 Ashgrove Ashgrove Ltd Whangarei 09 438 8563 Ashton Glen R & R Mitchell Clinton 03 415 7687 Awa Mara T & M Hassall Hawarden 03 314 4496 Blackdale P & L Black Riverton 03 224 6059 106 Colhoun D W Colhoun Ltd Invercargill 03 221 7269 Carthew Genetics S & P Carthew Feilding 027 226 2262 38 Ditton J & J Falloon Masterton 06 372 4882 Glendhu Fletcher Bros Cromwell 03 445 4059 Glenlea D & B McCulloch Waimate 03 689 3818 Glenrae H & L Mitchell Lumsden 03 248 7608 Grassendale G & L Williams Masteron 06 372 6671 82 Hinenui B & L Teutenberg Gisborne 06 862 8768 82 Kaahu M Sargent Mangakino 07 882 8899 Kirikau R & S Carter Taumarunui 07 896 7020 81 Lawson-Lea G & R Black Riverton 03 224 6369 Lincoln Lincoln University Lincoln 03 423 0670 Marlow S Wyn-Harris Waipukurau 06 855 8265 57 Moeraki Downs Moeraki Downs Genetics Oamaru 03 439 4751 Nikau K Broadbent Tuakau 09 233 3104 81 Pine Park P & S Sherriff Marton 06 327 6591 82 Queenfield T & J Le Pine Waiau 03 315 6635 Romani Romani Farms Ltd Taumarunui 07 895 7144 81 Tamlet G & K Smith Wyndham 03 206 4925 Tautari J A Mills Oparau 07 871 0706 Te Rae C Wilson Winton

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BREED

NAME

LOCATION PHONE

PAGE

Waikoura J & A Lee Oamaru 03 431 7819 Waione J D Wilkie Wanganui 06 342 6883 Wharetoa G & C Shaw Balclutha 03 415 9074 107 Whitegate M & L Bryson Wyndham 03 206 4448 Woodlands Res Woodlands Research Stn, Invercargill 03 231 3033

COOPWORTH MEATMAKER Kirikau R & S Carter Taumarunui 07 896 7020 81 Wharetoa Genetics G & C Shaw Balclutha 03 415 9074 107 COOPWORTH x ROMNEY Kaahu M Sargent Mangakino 07 882 8899 Pine Park E Sherriff Marton 06 327 6591 82 St. Leger A Savage Gisborne 06 863 7106 73 Carthew Genetics S & P Carthew Feilding 06 328 5006 38

COOPWORTH x TEXEL Blackdale P & L Black Riverton 03 224 6059 106 Lawson-Lea G & R Black Riverton 03 224 6369 Pine Park E Sherriff Marton 06 327 6591 82 Tamlet G Smith Wyndham 03 206 4925 Wharetoa Genetics G & C Shaw Balclutha 03 415 9074 107 CORRIEDALES Glenafric J & M Hoban Amberley 027 2511 986 Longfield J Booker Hawarden 03 314 4129 Melrose D Rutherford Hawarden 03 314 4180 NZ Corriedale Society D Rawlinson Ashburton 03 308 7728 Willfield R Wilson West Melton 021 158 3866

122 122 122 123

DOHNE Glencairn Martin Pattie Seddon 03 575 7753 Glenloe Richard Loe Waimakiriri Gorge 027 208 5185 128 DORPER Ratapiko B Young One Stop Ram Shop Robin Hilson One Stop Ram Shop Ross Berry One Stop Ram Shop David Meade One Stop Ram Shop Jeff Moss One Stop Ram Shop Paul Crump One Stop Ram Shop Dave Riddell

Inglewood Waipukurau Wellington Nelson Clinton Havelock Winton

06 756 9197 06 855 8335 04 233 0117 03 522 4139 03 415 7707 03 572 8442 03 236 4191

DORSET DOWN Anui W Philip Dannevirke 06 374 8857 Craigneuk J Duncan Ranfurly 027 327 2372

95

75 84

DORSET DOWN x SUFFOLK Goldstream B & W Rapley Otorohanga 07 873 2818 111 FOCUS PRIME Focus Genetics

Dr N Pickering

0508 159 159

FINN (PUREBRED) AND FINN x TEXEL Daniel Wheeler Livestock D Wheeler Kaiapoi 03 313 2204 126 One Stop Ram Shop Robin Hilson Waipukurau 06 855 8335 One Stop Ram Shop Ross Berry Wellington 04 233 0117 One Stop Ram Shop David Meade Nelson 03 522 4139 One Stop Ram Shop Colin Burlace Ormondville 06 374 1843 One Stop Ram Shop Paul Crump Havelock 03 572 8442 One Stop Ram Shop Dave Riddell Winton 03 236 4191 HALFBRED/QUARTERBRED Cleardale B Todhunter Craigneuk J Duncan

Rakaia Gorge Ranfurly

021 140 3760 027 327 2372 111

181

BREED

NAME

LOCATION PHONE PAGE

HIGHLANDER Focus Genetics

Dr D van der Linden

0508159159

ILE DE FRANCE Ile de France NZ J Thomson Christchurch 027 471 3273 177 Ile de France NZ J & R Forester N-Canterbury 027 441 0486 177 KELSO Kelso M Holden Hawke’s Bay 0800 4 KELSO 93 Meadowslea D Giddings Fairlie 03 685 8027 98

MEATMASTER Daniel Wheeler L/stock Daniel Wheeler Kaiapoi 03 313 2204 126 Willowbank Michael Willis Kirwee 03 318 1536 MERINO Armidale Benmore Earnscleugh Muller The Gums

S Paterson Ranfurly W Sutherland Omarama D Campbell Alexandra S & M Satterthwaite I Stevenson Rangiora

034449716 125 0274510342 225 027 659 9671 124 027 474 8865 0274361262

NEVER SHEAR Para Farm J O Adams Waiouru 06 388 1070 PERENDALE Northland/Mid-Northern Awaroa P & A Brandon Waitomo Rua Peka Peka M Bryant Urenui Longspur LW Frank Waitara Green Acres C Jury Waitara Awapiko N & L Langlands Piopio Raupuha R & M Proffit Mahoenui Whanau D Randell Te Puke Waiotane S. Brosnahan Ohope Herangi J Spellman Te Kuiti

07 873 6313 06 752 3701 06 754 4311 06 754 6672 07 896 8660 07 877 8977 07 533 1371 06 864 4468 07 877 8401

Hawke’s Bay/Gisborne Kerrydale J Harding Otoi I & B Brickell Longview Rangiora Trust

06 376 4751 06 838 7398 06 839 7412

Wairarapa/Manawatu Mapari A & P Evans The Heights R & H Gaskin Misty Hills P Griffin Hautere J & C Henricksen Karere Vale W D’Ath Otapawa D & D Robbie Awataha M & I Rowe Te Whiti B. Low Ashby G Timms Montana P Wilson

Woodville Raupunga Tutira

92

Kimbolton 06 322 9880 Levin 06 368 0623 Pahiatua 06 376 6113 Dannevirke 06 374 3888 88 Palmerston Nth 06 354 8951 Eketahuna 06 376 7765 Hunterville 06 322 9814 Masterton 027 693 5690 Palmerston Nth 06 362 7829 Martinborough 027 207 2882

Canterbury/Nelson Mt. Guardian T & S Anderson Cheviot Chelmarsh T, F & J Burrows Rangiora Wangapeka C & B de Vos Wakefield Dolomite K & J Elliott Akaroa Bluff Farm I & J Evans Oxford

182

88 87

03 319 2730 03 312 5982 03 522 4280 03 326 7199 03 312 1585

88

BREED

Grasslands Rangiatea Ben More Glenfinnan Oldendale Kawatea Snowdon

NAME

LOCATION PHONE

J & M Jebson/G & J Sime Darfield B Gallagher Ashburton W James Sheffield A & A Laing Irwell P Oldfield Geraldine A Thacker Akaroa Tripp Partnership Darfield

03 318 8822 03 303 9819 03 318 2352 03 329 1709 03 693 9877 03 304 8651 03 318 6939

Otago Awakiki H & M Gardner Balclutha Stern F Darling Dunedin Hazeldale/Glenrannoch R & K France Tapanui Klifden R Gardyne Oturehua Gowan Braes/Matarae M McElrea Tapanui Newhaven D & R Ruddenklau Oamaru Newhaven B & J Smith Oamaru Hillcrest R & R Mitchell Clinton

03 418 0645 03 464 0886 03 204 8339 03 444 5032 03 204 0860 03 432 4155 03 432 4154 03 415 7187

Southland Avalon A Richardson Kamahi W & J Ayers Hinerua P Christie Diamond Peak S & R Sullivan Fairmont K & S Harvey Kylemore D McKelvie Feldwick J & J Minty Calderkin P & C Mitchell St. Helens J Wilson Kinnear H & K Slee Montana P Wilson

Tapanui 03 204 2134 Wyndham 03 206 4506 Gore 03 208 1789 Gore 03 208 1030 Otautau 03 225 4784 Wyndham 03 206 4481 Otautau 03 225 4631 Tokanui 03 246 8881 Gore 03 208 1789 Te Anau 03 249 9097 Gore

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PERENDALE x ROMNEY (Romdale) Fernvale L Brenssell Tapanui 03 204 0883 75 Mapari P & A Evans Kimbolton 06 322 9880 Meadowslea D Giddings Fairlie 03 685 8027 98 Raupuha R & M Proffit Mahoenui 07 877 8977 87 St. Leger A Savage Gisborne 06 863 7106 73 PERENDALE x TEXEL Avalon A & S Richardson Kaiwhata A Tatham Newhaven B & J Smith One Stop Ram Shop Robin Hilson One Stop Ram Shop Ross Berry One Stop Ram Shop David Meade One Stop Ram Shop Philip Munrun One Stop Ram Shop Jeff Moss One Stop Ram Shop Colin Burlace One Stop Ram Shop Dave Riddell Premier Texel R Forsyth

Heriot Masterton Oamaru Waipukurau Wellington Nelson Fairlie Clinton Ormondville Winton Otane

03 204 2134 06 372 3623 03 432 4154 06 855 8335 04 233 0117 03 522 4139 03 685 5772 03 415 7707 06 374 1843 03 236 4191 06 858 4383

PERENDALE X Minda Hills M & L Illston Taihape 06 388 7804 Wairiri M & M Poulton Woodville 06 376 5576 POLL DORSET Poll Dorset Breed Soc NZ Sheepbreeders Christchurch 03 358 9412 Ashby G & D Timms Palmerston Nth 06 362 7829 Castlerock S McCall Pleasant Point 03 614 8849 Glengarry B & R Pratt Kimbolton 06 328 4827

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NAME

LOCATION PHONE PAGE

Glenrae Goldstream High Plains Te Kawa Woodbine

G & M Mitchell B & W Rapley S Prouting A Clifton C & M Irwin

Lumsden Otorohanga Dannervirke Kimbolton Waiuku

POLL DORSET x TEXEL Kaiwhata Farm A & J Tatham Pine Park E Sherriff Premier Texel R Forsyth

03 248 7080 07 873 2818 06 374 3661 06 328 2818 09 235 1087

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NAME

LOCATION PHONE

PAGE

Te Taumata J & A McWilliam Masterton 06 372 7718 Mana M Wyeth Masterton 06 372 7875

Upper South Island Chrome Hills M Irvine Brightwater 03 542 3754 Moutere Downs P Moore Upper Moutere 03 543 2729

Canterbury Doughboy H Taylor Nth Canterbury 021 935 244 Waidale I Williams Pleasant Point 03 614 8388 Warrigal K Donaldson Ashburton 03 303 7267 POLWARTH Lynnford P Lowe Ashburton 03 303 7030 Matakanui Rockthorpe A Paterson Omakau 03 447 3573 Lammerlaw E Laurenson Fairlie 03 685 6186 Longdowns C Earl Scargill Valley 027 465 6612 71 RANGER Gatton Park D Wyllie Ashburton 03 308 0284 Cheddar Valley Jason McDonald Cheddar Valley 03 315 6285 Hermiston G Letham Ashburton 03 302 2704 Cheddar Valley Glen McDonald Roxburgh 03 446 9090 Snowlea D Wason Sheffield 03 318 3771 Cheddar Valley John McDonald Cromwell 03 445 3664 Jesmond Park S Miller Timaru 03 686 6886 Okaruru B Masefield Akaroa 03 304 8516 ROMNEY BREEDERS NZ Rosehope F Gardner Lincoln 027 227 4056 Northland/Auckland

Kikitangeo G Levet Wellsford 09 423 7034 95 Otago Paddyvale P Morresey Dargaville 09 439 0749 Ragniue B Rae Oamaru 03 434 7181 Riverdale M Finlay Waimauku 09 411 7820 Ellenslea D Moffat Queenstown 03 441 4124 Hurricane R Carter Kaikohe 021 149 1273 Kingsdowne G King Balclutha 03 415 9067 Argyle M Quinn Kaikohe 09 401 1933 Aurora D Robertson Palmerston 03 465 1919 Aro S Roadley Maungaturoto 09 431 8266 Glen Leith I Smith Ranfurly 03 444 9063

View Hill B Everett Balclutha 03 418 1753 South Auckland/Waikato Silver Peaks M Skelton Alexandra 03 448 8545 Hillcroft M Crawford Ohinewai 07 828 5755

Aria D Tucker Aria 07 877 7823 Southland Waimai J & A Reeves Ngaruawahia 07 825 4763 68 Rannoch N Minty Otautau 03 225 4885 Fernleaf M Forlong Owhango 07 895 4847 Merryvale J Robertson Gore 03 207 6851 Murvale C Trousdale Ohinewai 07 828 5715 Paramount D Irwin Gore 03 203 8324 Waiteika K Abbott Raglan 027 463 9859 95 Eden Bank A Mitchell Gore 03 203 3741 Brookbank C Brears Taumarunui 07 896 6102 Korovale M Cumming Gore 03 207 1808 Waipapanui C Swann Raglan 07 825 6777 Braebank H Mackay Gore 03 208 9563

Ram Hill G Senior Lumsden 03 248 7649 Central North Island/Manawatu Merrydowns B Robertson Gore 03 207 6851 Karere W d’Ath Palmerston Nth 06 354 8951 Helenslea R Hore Lumsden 03 248 8932 Banklea R Brown Feilding 06 328 9738 Achamore H McFadzien Gore 03 203 8063 Rosebank R Brown Feilding 06 328 9760 Tamlet G Smith Wyndham 03 206 4925 Ashby G Timms Palmerston Nth 06 362 7829 Pikoview W Devery Tapanui 03 204 8952 Paki-iti S & A Morton Feilding 06 328 5772 52 Blythburn T Anderson Winton 03 236 9570 Merchiston J Rowe Marton 06 322 8050 Ruakiwi D Addenbrooke Tuatapere 03 225 5655 Totaranui T Jackson/D Reynolds Pahiatua 06 376 8400 Kakatai C Thomas Taihape 06 388 0262 ROMNEY Te Ohu R Pettigrew Feilding 06 328 5999 ARDG Multiple Vendors Upper Nth Island Auckland 49 Stormy Point T Clare Feilding 06 323 1801 Fernvale L Brenssell Tapanui 03 204 0883 75 Brookfield R Humphrey Feilding 06 328 9890 Focus Genetics Dr D van der Linden 0508 159 159

Gleniti B & D Hume Featherston 06 307 7847 95 Hawke’s Bay Glenview G & B Croker Masterton 06 372 7820 Hollycombe P Tod Otane 0274475383 56 Grassendale G & L Williams Masterton 06 372 6671 Anui W Philip Dannevirke 06 374 8857 75 Hain Genetics S & G Hain Gisborne 06 867 8097 Pahiwi D & R Tennent Takapau 06 855 8154 101 Hildreth D Hildreth Hastings 06 874 2700 21 Esherel J Kuizinas Waihi 07 863 3343 Hinenui Genetics B & L Teutenberg Gisborne 06 862 8768 82

Holly Farm D,M & C Smith Marton 06 327 6513 Lower North Island/Wairarapa Kiwitahi P Lowry Taupo 07 377 6334 127 Waio C Matthews Featherston 06 307 7740 Mahoe D McRobbie Waipawa 06 857 3871 Wharepapa The Manager Featherston 06 307 7570 Meadowslea D Giddings Fairlie 03 685 8027 98

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Masterton Marton Otane, CHB

06 372 3623 06 327 6591 82 06 858 4383 104

183

BREED

NAME

Meldrum J & C Wingate Motu-nui J leGrove Moutere P Moore Ngaputahi Genetics F & A Cameron Orari Gorge R & A Peacock Pahiwi R Tennent Paparata T Johnson Paparata S Spence Peters Genetics T & K Peters Peters Genetics Justin Wallis Peters Genetics Clayton Peters Peters Genetics Morgan Peters Piquet Hill W Jackson St. Leger A Savage Te Whangai H de Lautour Turanganui M Warren Wai-iti T & Z Wallace Waimai A Reeves Wairere D Daniell Wairere A Puddy Wairere M Gemmell Wairere S Buckley Wairere J Meehan

LOCATION PHONE PAGE

Eketahuna Carterton Ranfurly Pohangina Geraldine Dannevirke Taumarunui Taumarunui Lawrence Lawrence West Otago West Otago Ngaruawahia Gisborne Waipukurau Featherston Masterton Te Akau Masterton Masterton King Country Masterton Otago

06 375 0602 94 06 372 3841 03 5432729 64 06 329 4050 03 692 2893 101 06 374 2865 101 0800 390 174 37 07 893 8844 37 03 446 6030 100 027 225 8330 100 03 204 8817 100 03 204 8849 100 07 825 4966 51 06 863 7106 473 06 857 7926 94 06 307 7841 98 06 372 2654 07 825 4925 68 0800 122 077 15 021 222 5100 15 07 896 6722 15 06 372 5560 15 027 443 5031 15

ROMNEY x TEXEL Hemingford S Holland Culverden 03 315 8689 106 Mangare R & J Harre Pio Pio 07 877 8383 Meadowslea D Giddings Fairlie 03 685 8027 98 Mount Linton M.Broughton Otautau 021 779 485 74 Mount Linton C Lewis Otautau 0800 685 468 74 Orari Gorge R & A Peacock Geraldine 03 692 2893 101 Paki-iti S & A Morton Kimbolton 06 328 5772 47 Premier Texel R Forsyth Otane, CHB 06 858 4383 104 The Gates H Pinckney Waiau 03 315 6433 Wairere D Daniell Masterton 0800 122 077 15 Wairere A Puddy Masterton 021 222 5100 15 Wairere M Gemmell King Country 07 896 6722 15 Wairere S Buckley Masterton 06 372 5560 15 SNOWLINE Cheddar Valley Jason McDonald Cheddar Valley 03 315 6285 Cheddar Valley John McDonald Cromwell 03 445 3664 Cheddar Valley Glen McDonald Roxburgh 03 446 9090 SOUTHDOWN Flockton Partnership J Jebson Sheffield 03 318 3796 Glenrae G & M Mitchell Lumsden 03 248 7080 Waidale I Williams Sth Canterbury 03 614 8388 SOUTH SUFFOLK Glenview G & B Croker Masterton 06 372 7820 Hildreth D Hildreth Hastings 06 874 2700 Holly Farm D, M & C Smith Marton 06 327 6513 Paranui A Yule Hastings 06 874 2852 Shian Stud R & B & S Sherson Taumarunui 07 895 7686 Waidale I Williams Sth Canterbury 03 614 8388 Waterton C Hampton Cave 03 614 3330 SUFFOLK Castle Rock S McCall Pleasant Point 03 614 8849 Fernvale L Brenssell Tapanui 03 204 0883 Goldstream B & W Rapley Otorohanga 07 873 2818 Mangare R & J Harre Pio Pio 07 877 8383 Pahiwi R Tennent Dannevirke 06 374 2865 Paki-iti S Morton Kimbolton 06 328 5772

184

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114

75 111 101 47

BREED

Pine Park Raupuha Studholme Woodbine Waterton

NAME

LOCATION PHONE

E Sherriff R & M Proffit B & D Holmes C & M Irwin C Hampton

Marton Mahoenui Waiuku Waiuku Cave

06 327 6591 07 877 8977 09 235 8776 09 235 1087 03 614 3330

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SUFFOLK x CHEVIOT Ashby G & D Timms Palmerston Nth 06 362 7829 TEXEL Blackdale P Black Riverton Cromarty B Busby Myross Bush Daniel Wheeler L/stock Daniel Wheeler Kaiapoi Fairlea H & H Winder Feilding Focus Genetics Dr N Pickering Grasmere R Weber Dannevirke Hemingford S Holland Culverden Highgrounds H Cottle St Andrews Iona-Lea G Howie Milton Kallara Paul Gardner Ashburton Mangare R & J Harre Pio Pio Murray Downs S Rodie Amberley One Stop Ram Shop Robin Hilson Waipukurau One Stop Ram Shop Ross Berry Wellington One Stop Ram Shop David Meade Nelson One Stop Ram Shop Jeff Moss Clinton One Stop Ram Shop Colin Burlace Ormondville One Stop Ram Shop Paul Crump Havelock One Stop Ram Shop Dave Riddell Winton Premier Texel R Forsyth Otane Roslyn Downs C Miller Invercargill The Gates H Pinckney Waiau Wairarapa Texel Developments S Cowan Wharetoa Genetics G & C Shaw Balclutha

03 224 6059 106 027 681 5241 105 03 313 2204 78 0800 328 877 0508 159 159 06 374 5229 03 315 8689 106 021 0232 0627 104 027 240 8002 027 495 6451 106 07 877 8383 0274 075 875 06 855 8335 04 233 0117 03 522 4139 03 415 7707 06 374 1843 03 572 8442 03 236 4191 06 858 4383 104 03 230 6144 03 315 6433 06 372 2770 105 03 415 9074 107

TEXEL x SUFFOLK (SUFTEX) Blackdale P & L Black Riverton 03 224 6059 106 Blackdale L Black Riverton 03 224 6106 Fernvale L Brenssell Tapanui 03 204 0883 75 Grove Meat Genetics W Kittow Waipawa 0274 878 332 Hemingford S Holland Culverden 03 315 8689 106 Mangare R & J Harre Pio Pio 07 877 8383 Mount Linton C Lewis Otautau 03 225 4687 74 Nithdale A Tripp Gore 0800 648 432 70 One Stop Ram Shop Robin Hilson Waipukurau 06 855 8335 One Stop Ram Shop Ross Berry Wellington 04 233 0117 One Stop Ram Shop David Meade Nelson 03 522 4139 One Stop Ram Shop Jeff Moss Clinton 03 415 7707 One Stop Ram Shop Colin Burlace Ormondville 06 374 1843 One Stop Ram Shop Paul Crump Havelock 03 572 8442 Peters Genetics T & K Peters Millers Flat 03 446 6030 Peters Genetics Shane Carter Millers Flat 027 364 1438 Pahiwi D & R Tennent Takapau 06 374 2865 101 Paki-iti S&A Morton Feilding 06 328 5772 47 Pine Park E Sherriff Marton 06 327 6591 82 Twin Farm Genetics A & R Welsh Gore 03 208 5902 Wharetoa Genetics G & C Shaw Balclutha 03 415 9074 107 WILTSHIRES Glenbrae M & M Taylor Porangahau 06 855 5322 Arvidson D. Arvidson Papakura 09 296 0597 Mangapiri T & H Gow Otautau 03 225 5283 McMillan G McMillan Ongarue 07 894 6136 Morrison Farming R Morrison Marton thegullies.nz

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SPRAY-ON SHEEP BLOWFLY TREATMENT ACTIVE CONSTITUENT: 50 g/L DICYCLANIL

Dicyclanil in a unique solution

Short term withholding period

Long term blowfly strike prevention

Any breed of sheep with any length wool

This unique formulation provides farmers with up to 18 weeks of protection against blowfly strike, whilst having the flexibility of a low meat WHP of 14 days.

AVAILABLE FROM YOUR LOCAL VETERINARIAN AND FARMLANDS STORES

* Up to 2 months before shearing.

New Zealand’s new flystrike solution. www.jurox.co.nz Products that work. People who care.

ACVM registration Number A11349

Jurox New Zealand Limited 8 Kordel Place, East Tamaki, Auckland, 2013 Customer service 0800 587 696 customerservice@jurox.co.nz

®Registered Trademark of Jurox Pty Limited

FARMING IN FOCUS

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1: Luke and Becs Mahoney with staff members Paige Walker and Tatiana McAndrew. 2: Action while drafting ewes on Dayanne Almeida and Paul Crick’s Wairarapa farm. 3: The hardest part of tagging and weighing calves on Blair and Jane Smith’s hill block is finding them among the tussocks. 4: Farm dogs on Paul Crick and Dayanne Almeida’s Wairarapa farm. 5: Newhaven Perendale ewe in the snow. 6: Paul Crick and Dayanne Almeida. 7: Pressing wool at Ulster Wool Group. 8: The Wiltshire ewes are weaning 135-145% off the Mt Cass hill country.

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9: Tim Lucas of Kenmore, Wairarapa. 10: Perendale ewes at Newhaven, North Otago. 11: Lavínia Evangelho, a Brazilian stranded in NZ due to Covid-19 is working on Dayanne Almeida and Paul Crick’s farm. 12: Ewes with ear tags. 13: R2 and R3 Hereford heifers at Newport farm, Tasman. 14: Luke Mahoney busy crutching lambs at Eketahuna. 15: The Sherwoods’ Otorohara Farm sign. 16: John Scott’s farm at Hill of Fearn, near Inverness, Scotland. 17: Lambs reared for Spring Sheep.

18: Isabel Vialoux with one of the lambs she raises. 19: Andrew Heard and Tim Chamberlain at Mt Cass. 20: Ewe with lambs on the Sherwoods’ Otorohara Farm.

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Our office attire is all-terrain.

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve worked with agribusinesses for decades, growing a vast team of industry specialists. Including agribusiness managers who know the local area better than the woodgrain on their desks.

Because we come to you. We know that to give the right support, and help you adapt with the times, we should know your business as well as you do.

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Want to meet with your local manager? westpac.co.nz/agricontact

Terms, conditions, fees and charges apply to Westpac products and services. Eligibility and lending criteria apply to some Westpac product and services. Westpac New Zealand Limited.

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