Merino Review 2020

From the NZ Stud Merino Breeders Society

YOUR BREED • Your country

TOP LEFT: Glenmore Station, Lake Tekapo – George Empson. TOP RIGHT: Matarae Station near Middlemarch – Kirsty Houston. CENTRE LEFT: Mustering ewes on the hummocks at Mt Nicholas Station in Queenstown – Phil McMurray. CENTRE RIGHT: Overlooking Lake Dunstan during the autumn muster on Northburn Station – Lisa Nolan. ABOVE: Merino ewes at Cloudy Peak, Tarras – George Reed.

2

Merino Review 2020

TOP LEFT: Lake Heron Spring muster – Anna Munro. TOP RIGHT: Blade shearing at Mt Hay – Samantha Allen. CENTRE LEFT: “My Way”, McKenzie Basin – Craig Smith. CENTRE RIGHT: Bright, clean and valuable fleece wool - Ben Doubleday. ABOVE: A very cold morning at Mt Grand Station, Hawea – Nadia McNeilly.

Merino Review 2020

3

SECTION • Slug specific

Contents

4

7

President’s message: Ron Small

20 Onfarm: Next step at Bluff Station

8

Profile: Jamie Whiting

25 Onfarm: Water-fed change to Poll Merinos

11 Growers: Accreditation appeal

26 Glenmore Station: Sheep for best returns and country

12 Innovation: Mons Royale

30 Benmore Station: Measures of success

14 Allbirds charts new territory

33 Stepping up to a regenerative future

16 Untouched World: A brand for our times

34 Crossbred to Quarterbred at Charles Hope

18 Clothing innovation: True Fleece

36 Onfarm: Halfbreds supreme at Mount Possession

Merino Review 2020

39 Footrot research: Vaccine shows promise

45 Wool game still appeals for Graeme Bell

40 Team effort for footrot

46 Wanaka Show 2020 results

41 Footrot needs trifecta to survive

47 Matangi Station nabs fourth win

43 Markets: Brand partners honour 100% of supply contracts

47 Merino breeders directory

44 Parentage solution: Smart Shepherd collars

48 Merino Excellence 2020

Lake Heron Spring muster.

Photo by Anna Munro.

Merino Review 2020

5

SECTION • Slug specific

6

Merino Review 2020

FOREWORD • President’s message

Our Merinos always deliver

W

New Zealand Stud Merino Breeders Society

HAT A YEAR IT HAS BEEN FOR THE country, and especially farming and the New Zealand Stud Merino Breeders Society.

The Covid-19 pandemic is still impacting our daily lives, but the farming sector continues to deliver its sought-after products to help sustain the country and earn valuable export income to fuel its recovery. Merino farmers are playing their part in this.

We were so fortunate to just conclude our Merino Excellence 2020 event in Central Otago before the Government announcement to send the whole country into full lockdown.

Thank you to all those who participated in Merino Excellence 2020. It was an amazing showcase of our New Zealand Merino sector. We did ourselves, our sheep and the country proud!

Of course, Covid-19 has caused the cancellation of many regional shows and other events on the Merino calendar this year. See page 46 for a selection of the show and wool competitions which were able to run this year.

For the second year running, the Merino Review is proudly published by NZ Farm Life Media on behalf of the New Zealand Stud Merino Breeders Society.

Building on the success of the first review and listening to feedback from members and farmers, we moved the publication date to later in the year to coincide better with ram selling timing and also to deliver a calendar year of highlights for the sector.

The team at NZ Farm Life Media is also the publisher of Country-Wide, the monthly farm management publication available on subscription. Their writers and photographers have produced a great selection of articles and imagery for Merino Review 2020. It includes a mix of innovation – a feature of the fine wool supply chain from farmers to consumers – on-farm excellence, research and coverage of our Merino Excellence 2020 from earlier in the year.

EDITOR: Tony Leggett tony.leggett@nzfarmlife.co.nz 027 4746 093 The Merino Review 2020 is produced by Country-Wide on behalf of the New Zealand Stud Merino Breeders Society.

Country-Wide is published by NZ Farm Life Media and available by subscription only.

WRITERS: Andrew Swallow, Heather Chalmers, Joanna Grigg, Lynda Gray, Brooke Hobson, Sandra Taylor

New markets are opening up for Merino studs to supply rams to strong wool breed farmers searching for more income from wool.

If you are considering a breed change to incorporate Merino genetics, or you are thinking of new ram sources for your farm, I urge you to contact any of our members to discuss your needs. You will find a full list of all the members of the NZ Stud Merino Sheep Breeders Society and their contact details on page 47.

If you would like further copies of Merino Review 2020, contact the team at NZ Farm Life Media by email at subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz or call their freephone 0800 224 782, or you can order directly from their website, www.nzfarmlife.co.nz.

Finally, enjoy reading your copy of Merino Review 2020, and let’s hope the resurgence in price for fine wool and Merino-cross lamb is sustained through 2021.

Ron Small

President, The New Zealand Stud Merino Breeders Society.

Blairich Station and Blairich Merino Stud, Awatere Valley, Marlborough.

DESIGNER: Emily Rees emily.rees@nzfarmlife.co.nz ADVERTISING SALES: David Paterson david.paterson@nzfarmlife.co.nz 027 289 2326

Subscriptions: Freephone 0800 224 782 or visit nzfarmlife.co.nz PO Box 218, Feilding 4740

Merino Review 2020

7

PROFILE • Jamie Whiting

Growers play pivotal role IN BARKERS’ RETAIL TEAM TONY LEGGETT

C

Barkers and Max group managing director Jamie Whiting says having ZQ accredited growers on board has been a game-changer for the business.

8

Merino Review 2020

LOTHING RETAILER Barkers owes its founder Ray Barker a debt of gratitude. Almost 50 years on from when he founded the company in 1972, threads of his DNA still run deep through the brand.

Ray Barker launched the company after returning to New Zealand from his ‘OE’ and spotting a gap in the New Zealand market for a quality men’s clothing brand.

Group managing director Jamie Whiting says Barker’s own edgy, fun-loving attitude was ‘baked’ into the brand from day one. It wasn’t unusual in those early years for Ray to join his sales team for a Friday night drink at the hotel over the road from his Queen Street store, with a fist full of dollars grabbed from the day’s takings.

Barker sold out of the business in the early 2000s and it went through three new owners in five years. During that time, the focus went off producing quality clothing that endured to maximizing profit margins. Quality suffered and the brand took a hit.

Whiting joined the company in 2010 in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and another challenging period in Barkers’ history. He brought experience in product development to a business that was teetering on the brink of collapse.

When he took over running the company in July 2010, he was confronted with an ultimatum from the company’s major shareholder who told him it was heavily in debt and strapped for cash.

“They told me there was no more cash available to pump into the business. The bank was saying no, and it was either fix it or we would die.”

In an effort to reconnect with the early success of Barkers, Whiting met with Ray Barker for breakfast. There and at subsequent catch ups, he learned more about the heritage of the brand, particularly the authenticity and quality focus that had been his founding principles.

From 2010 to 2014, Whiting led the repositioning of Barkers in the menswear market. Strapped for cash, he and his small team spent days helping fit out stores with

“That’s when I made the decision to go for only ZQ Merino wool because we needed to do a better job at telling that story of wool produced in our high country, spun and woven into the fabric that our All Blacks would be wearing to the World Cup.”

new branding and unique layout.

“We hit on a successful recipe for the brand and it was a great period in the life of Barkers.

Sales revenue doubled from 2011 to 2016.”

Then in early 2017, Whiting was given a book to read while on annual leave. It was Let My People Go Surfing, written by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of successful global active brand, Patagonia.

“I didn’t put it down till I had finished it. I read it in a day. It’s a book I’d recommend to everyone to read.”

“It made me ask what the purpose of a fashion business like Barkers should be. It made me ask myself if Barkers could be a force for good and not just a profit-making machine.”

It already irked Whiting that he was running a company in a sector that is the second worst polluter globally behind the oil and gas industry. Rivers alongside clothing factories in China run with a myriad of colours, reflecting the coming season’s fashions, and each year in NZ alone, 100m tonnes of textiles end up in landfills.

Whiting wrote a paper for his board asking for its support to shift Barkers to a fashion business built on sustainability, authenticity, quality and transparency, and to share that philosophy from the raw material suppliers along the supply chain to its customers.

“The board was mildly receptive. I was asked what it would cost and didn’t know the answer. So, I said what will it cost if we don’t do this? From that moment on, I decided we had to reinvent our supply chain.”

Whiting realised the company had close business relationships with the factories supplying it with finished garments but knew nothing about its raw material suppliers.

Barkers had been dressing the All Blacks in wool suits for their formalwear since 2009 but had no idea where the wool was sourced from and who was involved in the supply chain.

A fine wool suit from Barkers’ autumn 2020 range.

Ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, Whiting and the Barkers design team had an idea to dress the world’s greatest rugby team in the best wool suits, so they started looking for a source of NZ-grown Merino wool for suits and other casual items for the players to wear.

“Good old Google turned up The New Zealand Merino Company (NZM). I called the company and talked to Dave Maslen (NZM’s GM of markets and sustainability) and told him I wanted to make our new All Blacks suits and knitwear out of New Zealand Merino wool.”

Maslen invited him to the NZM’s Christchurch office where he also met chief executive John Brackenridge and creative general manager Stephen Williamson to discuss possible supply arrangements and the value of sourcing wool from ZQ accredited growers.

Whiting was invited to join the Wool Vanguard at the 2018 Te Hono bootcamp at Stanford University in the United States

where he met executives from the Italian yarn maker for the suit fabrics and the German yarn maker for their knitwear, which had been supplying Barkers for years.

“We’d been buying yarn from these companies for the eight or more years and I had no idea who they were.”

“That’s when I made the decision to go for only ZQ Merino wool because we needed to do a better job at telling that story of wool produced in our high country, spun and woven into the fabric that our All Blacks would be wearing to the World Cup.” In collaboration with NZM and Barkers’ brand agency Switch, they came up with a clever campaign for the All Blacks 2019 World Cup formalwear uniform. It was called Paddock to Pitch and focused on connecting NZ rugby from grassroots level to the All Blacks and traced the path of its wool suits and casual knitwear back to the farm through ZQ. “Making the All Blacks look comfortable and stylish in a range of outfits is challenging,

Merino Review 2020

9

but we came up with the idea of a layering system that would allow them to look smart with no fuss.”

Wool’s natural stretch and breathability helped overcome the challenge of kitting out bulky rugby players in warm and cooler climate countries.

“They were finishing off the Tri-Nations here in NZ in late winter and then heading up to the much hotter weather in Japan for the Cup, so we need to make that simple for the players.”

Barkers’ designers developed a suit with elasticated gussets so the lining inside the suit coats moved with the outer, and they added anti-radiation pockets for the players to store their mobile phones and slots for headphone chords to be hidden away.

The concept was a hit with New Zealand Rugby, and Barkers went on to produce the ZQ wool suits, knitwear, and shirts for the All Blacks as well as a limited-edition collection to sell in the stores.

“We were disappointed to not continue our sponsorship post the 2019 Cup, but we were ecstatic that we got to execute our ZQ Paddock to Pitch concept. The All Blacks uniform looked outstanding and sales from the collection were a real hit, so overall it was a great success.”

For Barkers, ZQ delivers a ‘better-for-planet’ tick that resonates with its retail customers.

All the knitwear in stores last winter was made from ZQ Merino fibre. It was more expensive than Merino wool from previous sources, so the company had to increase its retail price for knitted jerseys from $120 to $150.

“We were prepared to sacrifice volume, but we didn’t have to. That convinced us that if we can connect all the supply chain dots like we do with ZQ Merino, customers will pay a premium for our garments.”

Whiting says the swing to natural, sustainable products that are backed by authentic, ethical and transparent brand stories is gathering momentum. Much of it is driven by Gen Z (born after 1996) consumers who now comprise 40% of the global clothing market.

“They are born digital natives, raised in an era of non-stop social media. Research tells us they are willing to spend 15% more on sustainably produced clothing, and 75% say they will spend more on products sustainably made.”

“It’s a powerful audience. These new consumers want to know everything about the products they are buying, and they are connected in real time via their mobile phone while they are making their purchasing decisions.”

When surveyed, more than two-thirds of consumers want to know the product they are buying helps make the world a better place to live in.

Whiting says keeping it ‘real’ is critical in today’s world, right down to a shift away from using models to “gloss up our clothes”.

“We are on a journey to make better and sell less. That might sound like an oxymoron for a clothing company, but we know there’s a move to buy less volume, so we’re making better clothing that lasts.”

Backing themselves based on their belief in the new consumers’ willingness to pay more

for sustainable, authentic products, Barkers put its suit price up a notch on earlier years and achieved strong sales.

“Because we told the story of where wool is from, from the growers right through to where it’s made, our customers were connected,” he says.

“Two years ago, we wouldn’t have even mentioned ZQ. But now it’s an integral part of the whole story,” Whiting says.

When Barkers acquired womenswear retailer Max Fashions two years ago, Whiting wasted no time incorporating ZQ Merino wool into its knitwear ranges. The outcome was the same – customers were content to pay a higher price.

GET 30% OFF ONLINE PURCHASES Barkers is offering readers of Merino Review 2020 a 30% discount when they shop online at Barkers or Max. Just use the promo code: NZMERINOFARMERS to receive the discount.

Terms and conditions: 30% off Barkers and Max branded product (excludes other brands). Valid until January 31, 2021.

Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer.

BACKING FARMERS 2020

OCTOBER 2020

JULY

S FARMER BACKING

2020

2020 AUGUST

BACKIN G FAR MERS

True

SERVING UP

Wide Country-

August

Reducing

Livestock

has had a Akitio station 1 in the arm massive shot

hill country A nationwide project winter cropping

Country-Wide

clovers Managing sub

November 2020

A look at the opportunities for crossbred sheep farmers p17

incl GST

Freshw

2020

Blanke ater create t regulat concer ions n

Markets 1

Wool

Animal healt h

Countr

y-Wide

Genetics

from

115

Expert l report rearing advice on young stock

gst

$12.00 incl gst

$12.00 incl gst

SEPTEMBER 2020

health Animal lamb wastage

Hill country

$12.00 incl

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER 2020

Helicropping

$

Specia

Strong wool

oe pa’s Pasc s Wairara ry Reynold, and Hen ing a slickopping are runn , mixed-cr dryland p60 n operatio

in Who’s

Otago’s Johnny gets Bel a 13 yea kidney afte l rs of farm r while ing on dial ysis p22

Jo Lucas and her son Tim are part of a famil business which has y transforme their deve d farms with lopment p54

SiblingER POW

ion Successcontrol?

grit

Efficien cy

advice 52 pages of expert and forages on growing crops

July 2020

Managem ent

2020

1

SUBSCRIBE TODAY Be part of the important conversations on the issues facing farmers today.

• • • •

Subscribing saves 30% off the cover price Your subscription is a tax deductible farm working expense Entry into regular subscriber-only competitions to win great prizes Access to years of archive content on our website

0800 224 782 • subs@nzfarmlife.co.nz • www.nzfarmlife.co.nz 10

Merino Review 2020

GROWERS • Accreditation appeal

ZQ accreditation OPENS DOOR TO LONG TERM SUPPLY CONTRACTS TONY LEGGETT

C

ONSUMERS ARE DEMANDING deeper transparency at every stage in the supply chain, including behind the farm gate.

Purchasing decisions are increasingly based on each consumer’s personal values, says Dave Maslen, General Manager Markets and Sustainability at The New Zealand Merino Company (NZM).

Maslen says NZM’s ZQ grower accreditation programme was launched 14 years ago because the company could see consumers were seeking more details on how the garment was made, and the impacts of this process on animals, people and the planet. Origin labelling and quality assurance schemes have been around for many years, so this demand for deeper transparency was a natural progression, he says.

Integration of the internet into every aspect of consumers’ lives and connectivity of social media has led to an exponential increase in the speed at which consumers can access information about the products they are purchasing. Consumers are increasingly taking the opportunity to share this information among their peers and broader networks.

This creates huge opportunity for brands to connect with their consumers, it also comes with reputational risk when a product doesn’t live up to its claims. That news will spread very quickly.

Maslen says it is vital that ZQ evolves with this shift so farmers can offer full transparency, be honest about their weaknesses, but to also commit to continuously improving over time.

Brands like Allbirds, Icebreaker and Smartwool understand their consumers are

Dave Maslen.

“This will build a platform of trust, and it is trust that will lay the foundation for long term contracts and sustainable pricing.”

loyal to them because their businesses are purpose driven, beyond simply profit.

“It’s those businesses that align around a purpose that seem to be getting great traction at the moment. Allbirds is a great example of this” he says.

Growers who align behind a trust marque of integrity like ZQ are well positioned, Maslen says.

“ZQ is considered by brands and consumers as world best. However, we must not be complacent. We must be transparent, and we must be continually improving over time. Let’s recognize, celebrate and communicate the great things that are happening on ZQ farms, but equally, let’s also work on always striving for better,” he says.

“This will build a platform of trust, and it is trust that will lay the foundation for long term contracts and sustainable pricing.”

To maintain its position as a global leader, NZM employs a highly qualified team to lead its interaction with growers and markets, investing in its own research and on farm extension to deliver it to growers. It is currently working through the implications of carbon neutrality and greenhouse gas emissions on farm businesses.

“ZQ and the newly launched ZQRX is not a box ticking exercise, it is a partnership approach to help drive continuous improvement across the farm business over time, using the best available information and science.”

Internally, NZM is looking for ways to streamline ZQ accreditation for growers through automation of data collection, and tools to help avoid audit fatigue.

Maslen says ZQ accreditation for growers is voluntary but every grower selling wool via contract to brands through NZM is accredited.

“Through our long-term supply contracts and ZQ, we have a tangible way to connect a brand to a grower. When that happens, those two have a good conversation, amazing things happen and ideas flow.”

Any NZ sheep farmer can become ZQ accredited, regardless of whether they are producing fine, medium or strong wool. They must sell it through NZM.

Merino Review 2020

11

INNOVATION • Activewear brand

Hamish and Hannah Acland with kids Ted and Frankie at Dalrachney Station, Hannah’s family’s property in the McKenzie Country.

Pioneering spirit GENESIS FOR ACTIVE WEAR BRAND BROOKE HOBSON

E

NTREPRENEURSHIP RUNS IN Hamish Acland’s blood.

The 41-year-old founder of Merino apparel brand Mons Royale grew up on a farm in Canterbury’s Mt Somers, where he was inspired by his father’s pioneering spirit.

The late Mark Acland was one of the first deer farmers in New Zealand and helped to establish the industry here.

Mark and his brother John also imported cattle ear tags into the country, before moving into a builder’s apron and glove business which still operates from Geraldine. It took his father to far flung places like Russia and China, sparking an early interest in Hamish of the world beyond New Zealand borders.

“If you look at a world map versus a New 12

Merino Review 2020

Zealand map every day, then you’re going to think about the whole world and how you can add value,” Hamish says.

“That is what entrepreneurship is.”

Hamish went on to travel the world himself as a professional freeride skier for a decade and was ranked fifth globally in 2005. It was during this time that he found a gap in the market. Travelling and living out of two bags meant packing space was tight - “the original minimalist” Hamish calls it.

“I preferred to wear Merino because of its performance but I didn’t want to wear it downtown or travelling because it didn’t have much style or energy.”

On the flip side, the synthetic brands had a stronger connection to mountain culture but were made from petrochemicals and lacked sustainability.

“It’s pretty simple - why can’t I have a single t-shirt that is both technical, can be worn

on and off the mountain and connect to the whole culture of what I enjoyed?”

The Mons Royale brand is built on wearing clothing that represents who you are with bold colours and graphics featuring since inception to reflect the mountains’ energy. Hamish has worked side-by-side with wife Hannah, who’s led the creative team since launching in 2009.

“You can see that energy people have on an amazing day on the mountain, there’s a lot of excitement and a big part of us is sewing that into everything we do, including the garment.”

The contradiction between going into the mountains with a product that’s not protecting the environment doesn’t sit comfortably with Hamish.

Mons Royale - Latin for mountain - is designed for people to embrace the outdoors but do so with less impact. Using Merino is therefore a natural fit.

In the brand’s infancy, wool was supplied

“You can see that energy people have on an amazing day on the mountain. There’s a lot of excitement and a big part of us is sewing that into everything we do, including the garment.”

Hamish Acland explored the world as a top-ranking freeride skier for more than a decade.

by Shanghai Challenge, an early manufacturer of Merino apparel that had skin in the game with other global brands. The supply chain inched closer to home as Mons started to grow, settling on a partnership with New Zealand Merino and its ZQ certified wool. ZQ’s programme has the highest standard in the world for wool supply.

“In the beginning, we were focused on connecting the consumer and a younger audience with wearing Merino wool,” Hamish says, “then over time we worked out how to improve our supply chain, both in sourcing and impact.”

The company knows they’re doing right by the planet but that’s not enough for consumers, who increasingly demand a guarantee. Hamish is quick to clarify that it’s no longer just the consumer.

“The retailer internationally has become the gatekeeper and they’re asking for credentials and verification,” he says.

“That’s essentially what ZQ wool does for us.”

Mons Royale blends its wool with natural fibres like Tencel or a synthetic to strengthen the garment and increase lifespan.

“Farmers can see that themselves when they’re on the farm, they might be wearing a Merino t-shirt, a cotton shirt and a synthetic outer layer and that’s where blending comes in.”

With a foot in both the consumer market and farming, Hamish has a unique perspective on the wool industry. He says there’s an amazing opportunity for wool to succeed if it can align with the current consumer shift of solving the climate crisis.

“A consumer has to make all these contradictions in their purchasing every day and what they’re looking for are symbols that say we are part of the solution, not against.”

Other products that come along like hemp will also meet the consumer shift and Hamish says wool needs to make sure it’s right there with it.

Co-founder of the Mons Royale brand, Hamish Acland.

“Mons Royale is based around wool but there’s no point in us in being anti-hemp or whatever it may be. We want to be antipetrochemicals,” he says.

“Wool needs to be a cheerleader for others who are part of the solution too.”

When asked about the reception to Merino in the overseas market, Hamish says it’s “New

Zealand Inc.” above all else that’s strongest.

He’s observed that consumers don’t separate our wool from our tourism or from our Government. It’s one package.

“I think we have to get our heads around that,” he says, “if one part of the country is doing something that’s going to have a negative impact, that’s going to affect us all.”

The overseas market has been a focus for Mons Royale from day one. Having a Swiss retailer on board just months after launching gave them the confidence it was a globally capable brand.

Three years on, snowboarding royalty Jamie Anderson got in touch while in Wanaka from the United States. Hamish says she asked to visit the office, which at that point was a bedroom and the ‘warehouse’, a garage. The company had aimed to equally connect with both men and women in action sports around the world, so a star like Jamie being interested was a ‘pinch me’ moment.

Mons Royale now sells in around 750 stores worldwide, with an office in Innsbruck and a team in Whistler. You can spot the trademark bright clothing on the world stage, with ambassadors like Italian world champion skier Ariana Jacomy and Kiwi freeride mountain biker Conor Macfarlane.

Based in Wanaka, Hamish has been able to combine his love for the mountains and adventure sports with a business that operates globally. He knew he wanted to do something where he was passionate and in the outdoors from his early teens. In a serendipitous moment, he learnt in the development phase that Mons is also ‘snow’ upside down.

“It was meant to be,” he says.

Merino Review 2020

13

BRANDING • Sustainability

LEFT: The TrinoXO t-shirt made from Merino wool with eucalyptus spun with a fibre produced from discarded crab shells.

BELOW: The Dasher – a performance shoe made from Merino, eucalyptus, and sugar cane.

ALLBIRDS CHARTS NEW TERRITORY

in sustainable fashion KATHARINE BROUGHTON

G

LOBAL BRAND ALLBIRDS has ventured beyond footwear into clothing, launching a four-piece collection in October.

The collection includes a T-shirt which mixes Merino wool with eucalyptus spun with a fibre produced from discarded crab shells which would otherwise have gone to waste.

The tees have a 20% lower carbon footprint than a standard polyester tee shirt, vital to a brand that has sustainability as its cornerstone.

“The fashion industry doesn’t need another T-shirt unless it’s better,” says Allbirds cofounder and chief executive, Tim Brown.

"From the start, we knew that our vision of evolved environmentalism was broader than just shoes. And as the chasm between disposable fast fashion and utilitarian basics has grown, the fashion industry has clung to the same outdated methods that continue to drive excessive carbon emissions, soil depletion and synthetic waste.”

The other items are a wool cardigan; a wool jumper; and a wool puffer-jacket - all made out of the same Merino wool, sourced by The 14

Merino Review 2020

New Zealand Merino company (NZM) and currently found in Allbirds’ popular shoes.

Proving that brands can create great footwear and clothing that has sustainability at its core has elevated the company’s growth.

The company continues to push for a united response to the universal threat of climate change. Last year Allbirds co-founder Joey Zwillinger penned a post to Amazon asking it to “please steal our approach to sustainability,” and urging it to borrow Allbirds’ SweetFoam sole formula free of charge.

“If you replaced the oil-based products in your supply chain with this natural substitute (not just for one product, but all of them), we could jointly make a major dent in the fight against climate change. With the help of your immense scale, the cost of this material will come down for all users of this material, allowing for even broader adoption,” Zwillinger posted.

Earlier this year Allbirds released the Dasher – a performance shoe made from Merino, eucalyptus, and sugar cane.

It’s rare to see collaboration and partnerships with competitive brands in the same industry, however in May this year global sneaker brand Allbirds and footwear giant adidas announced they were teaming

up to design and produce the “world’s most sustainable shoe.”

The brands plan to use their resources to design a performance sports shoe with the lowest carbon footprint ever recorded. Both brands have been focused on sustainability, and hope the partnership will hasten the industry’s pace to achieve carbon neutrality.

“There is an urgent need to reduce our global carbon number, and this mission is bigger than just Allbirds or adidas.”

“Whether we realise it or not, this is a race that we are all running together as a planet and it is one that trumps the day-today competition of individual companies. I am hopeful that this partnership will be an example for others to follow as we pursue a more sustainable, net zero carbon future,” says Brown.

To achieve this unprecedented goal, Allbirds and adidas will open the doors to each other’s suite of sustainable innovations, combining advancements in technology, processes and use of natural materials such as ZQ wool.

Also launched earlier this year by Allbirds is a tag that shows the carbon footprint of each of its products. This assessment includes the ZQ Merino wool used to manufacture its range of shoes.

Continuing the tradition, breaking new ground.

We combine EBVs with visual assessment to breed the best sheep we can.

Poll Merino

The 12,000 commercial merino ewes are weaning over 130% and clipping over 6kg of 18 micron wool.

Quarterbred

Mating ewes as hoggets. Two-tooth ewes scanned 175% & clipped 6.5kg of 21 micron wool.

Halfbreds

The 5,000 commercial halfbred ewes are joined to terminal rams, wean 165% & clip 6kg of 25.5 micron wool.

Bill Sutherland: 027 451 0342 billsutherland.benmore@farmside.co.nz Andrew Sutherland: 027 243 8577 deidre.andrew@farmside.co.nz Poll merino, quarterbred and halfbred rams sold by private selection Jan 2021. Obligation free inspections welcomed.

www.benmorestation.co.nz

Merino Review 2020

15

INNOVATION • Brand profile

Untouched World founder Peri Drysdale says the brand feels very current at a time when people are resetting their values and thinking about consumerism and the fashion industry.

Untouched World - A BRAND FOR OUR TIMES SANDRA TAYLOR

I

t has been a whirlwind of a winter for Untouched World.

Globally, online sales increased 300% as consumers in a Covid-ravaged world sought out high quality natural fibres and clothes crafted in a country associated with nature, health and wellbeing.

It seems appropriate that this renewed appreciation for natural fibres is happening the year before Untouched World the brand turns 21 and the Untouched World Foundation celebrates 20 years.

Founder Peri Drysdale muses at this milestone and says the energy behind the brand is still as fresh and new as when it was first launched.

“It still feels very current and even more current this year when people in New Zealand, and globally, have re-set their values 16

Merino Review 2020

and are thinking about consumerism and the fashion industry. The days of a different outfit for every Insta pic are gone. It’s just not cool anymore.”

Conversely, Untouched World’s distinctive Maori Kite logo embodies the brand's whole philosophy of connecting people with nature through the use of natural fibres. It expresses a freedom of spirit which Peri believes New Zealand has in spades.

“I wanted to use Untouched World as a vehicle for doing business that impacted the planet in a positive way.”

Wool is a fibre that Peri has used from the outset, and is now just one of a range of materials Untouched World uses in their garments. From organic cotton and Tencel derived from eucalyptus trees, to aloe vera, linen and soybean which makes use of an otherwise wasted food by-product.

Peri says the brand is always looking to innovate with latest natural fibres.

“You can put your whole heart and passion into something you really believe in. Wool is such an amazing fibre. We love it for its comfort, temperature regulation and the way it breathes and wicks moisture away from your skin. It also positively impacts the planet.

There is just no comfort comparison with wearing oil-based fibres. Gone are the days of rough, itchy wool jumpers. We now have silky fine Merino that is soft on the skin and can be thrown in the washing machine.”

Untouched World now sources the bulk of their wool requirements from Glenthorne Station in the Rakaia Gorge, not far from where Peri grew up.

She named her first woollen garment label and the company Snowy Peak, after the property she’d grown up on. The company was recently renamed Untouched World Ltd. It was those early days spent in the high country where Peri learnt about farming, selfresponsibility, the value of providence.

“I remember the conversations around the kitchen table. At the time our economy was almost entirely based on primary products. We were shipping unprocessed whole carcases and unscoured wool overseas.”

Peri remembers a box containing beautiful, red leather children’s shoes arriving in the farm mail bag and hearing at a very young age her mother saying the ‘Made in England’ stamp on the bottom meant they would be good quality.

She says she reflected on that comment and the power of country of origin decades later.

This desire to add value to NZ wool wasn’t reflected in Peri’s early career choice as a nurse, but it was a Cardiac Specialist, Professor Hamid Ikram, who worked alongside Peri setting up the first Echocardiography unit in the South Island, who encouraged her to extend her skills well beyond what she could ever imagine. This instilled a can-do approach in Peri that has stood her in good stead throughout her life.

“It was a huge gift he gave me.”

Peri’s Snowy Peak business began when she was a mother at home with two young children, in her early twenties.

Looking to get back into the workforce in a part time way, she identified the things she knew about outside of Echocardiography. That was sheep farming, small children and wool.

Despite not being able to knit, she thought

FOUNDATION SUPPORTS ENVIRONMENTAL ETHOS In line with the launch of the Untouched World brand and its ethos around social and environmental sustainability, Peri launched the Untouched World Foundation in 2000.

“We wanted to have a major project outside the business that we could coalesce stakeholders around.”

They determined that developing leadership skills in young adults and empowering them to build sustainable futures would create more value than anything else they could do.

In 2007, Untouched World became the first fashion company in the world to carry the United Nations Decade for Sustainable Development logo on its labelling and in 2015, the Foundation was identified by UNESCO’s Global Action Programme as one of three global exemplars for empowering and mobilizing youth.

The Foundation runs four courses a year in different locations (each comprising around 20 young adults), along with an Advanced Leaders’ Programme now in its second year.

With a strong environmental focus, the Foundation has cleared Marlborough Sounds’ Blumine Island of pests and worked in the areas of native biodiversity and protecting water resources alongside developing the leadership skills of young people.

“I remember the conversations around the kitchen table. At the time our economy was almost entirely based on primary products. We were shipping unprocessed whole carcases and unscoured wool overseas.”

there would be a market for children’s woollen clothes, so she started producing small woollen anoraks, booties and thumb-free mittens.

Firstly, she had to learn how to knit properly and then how to employ outworkers, going from 10 to 500 in a very short time as the business grew.

“It was a baptism by fire really. I went to (then) Trade and Enterprise with one sample of each of our products in hand, with the intention of exporting to the US and adding value to NZ wool, but I was wisely told it would be a good idea to establish a local market first.”

Peri admits she knew nothing about marketing, but working with intuition, she quickly realised there was a ready market for undyed, natural wool products amidst the growing number of tourists coming into the country. Within a year she moved from infants to children’s knits and on to adult garments as she needed scale to get yarn spun for her.

“There were lots of points along the way where it was either stop or take the next plunge, but my focus was always to add value to wool and sell beyond New Zealand.”

“Growing an awareness of our country of origin brand and wrapping New Zealand values around woollen products that people off-shore could engage with, were the threads that really got me going.”

Because the tourist season was short, Peri turned her focus to exporting, and selling offshore meant travel. Every February, when her children were back at school after the summer holidays, Peri boarded a plane and travelled to Europe, Canada, the USA and Asia, introducing her customers to woollen clothing, the likes of which they had never seen before.

It was during her travels that she became increasingly aware and worried about what was happening to the environment.

“I was spending hours and hours on planes reading international newspapers and nobody was thinking about the consequences of an exclusive focus on GDP and business growth as a success measure.”

Returning to the same places every year allowed her to see first-hand the environmental degradation taking place.

That was the catalyst for Peri launching the Untouched World brand.

“We put together a collection of undyed, organic hand knitted wool garments in a cute, rustic display and the Japanese jumped on it.”

It was Shozo Honda (Honda san) the President of Prada Japan who also had a big influence on Peri and the formation of the Untouched World brand after. In typical Kiwi style, she broke protocol during dinner with him and began tapping into his knowledge of building a global brand.

Peri invited Honda san to New Zealand and much to the amazement of ‘his people’, he came, visiting Ryton Station (now part of Glenthorne Station) in the Rakaia Gorge to see first-hand where and how fine New Zealand wool is produced. He described his visit as the best experience of his life.

Honda san came on board as an advisor for Peri, where she was able to draw on his vast experience of brand building.

As with any business, it hasn’t all been plain sailing and Peri says that one of the toughest times was when she and her husband bought the first of a new generation of three-gauge industrial knitting machines from Japan.

The couple had mortgaged the house and borrowed money to buy this piece of cuttingedge equipment, paying interest rates that were, at that time, an eye-watering 27%.

“When we got it here there were so many things wrong with it. Thankfully my husband is clever technically and got it going, but physically, emotionally and financially everything was on the line.”

There was also the challenge of dealing with outworkers in those early days, and the constant fear of letting her retailers down, issues that were solved with the move to machine knitting.

Untouched World’s relationship with Glenthorne Station is a relatively new one, but the station shares a similar philosophy around kaitiakitanga and is carrying out a lot of conservation work.

“They are really wonderful to work with and they are just up the road from where I grew up at Windwhistle.”

“What I find exciting is farmers embracing the need to meet the market with sustainable farming and land management practices. John Shrimpton owner of Glenthorne is a leading example of that.

Looking back on the past 40 years, Peri says she is most proud of the people who make the business tick.

Next year the company celebrates 40 years in business and Peri says she still has as much energy as when she first started, which is good news for NZ wool and the planet.

Merino Review 2020

17

INNOVATION • Clothing

The Uren children on the family’s Banks Peninsula farm overlooking Le Bons Bay. Their parents’ desire to dress them in Merino wool school jerseys rather than synthetic fleece led to the formation of their business, True Fleece.

Homegrown fits BURGEONING WOOL CLOTHING BUSINESS HEATHER CHALMERS

A

MERINO WOOL CLOTHING company run by Banks Peninsula sheep and beef farmers Carl and Tori Uren wants to reclaim the word “fleece” back from synthetic, petroleumbased imitation fibres.

“A lot of our motivation is revealed in our company name, True Fleece. We wanted to reclaim the word from synthetic alternatives such as polar fleece and techno fleece. It is almost misleading the way they describe their products.” Carl says.

“Synthetics have been trying to mimic the performance and attributes of wool for years.

By using the name fleece, this gives consumers the impression that they are buying something natural, rather than a petroleum-based product.”

Instead it is a matter of educating consumers about what their clothing is 18

Merino Review 2020

made from and how this impacts on the environment. While Merino wool is naturally warm, breathable, fire resistant, renewable and biodegradable, common synthetic fabrics such as polar fleece leave the wearer feeling wet and clammy, sweaty and smelly. As synthetics are petroleum-based they are highly flammable and have a detrimental effect on the environment.

“Synthetic clothing ranks number two in the worldwide production of pollution, second only to oil.

“An astonishing 150 billion new clothing items are being made annually, most from synthetic materials which will not biodegrade.

People are over-spending on cheap, disposable clothes that are wreaking havoc on our environment,” Carl says.

This philosophy extended to dressing the Urens’ children, with Tori’s mother, Pam, making them Merino dressing gowns with zips to keep them warm when they were toddlers.

However, once their children reached school

age they couldn’t find suitable school jerseys made from wool.

“We couldn’t find what we wanted, so we went and did it ourselves.”

This led the Urens’ to establish Merino Wool for Schools. “It started out as making Merino jerseys for our kids, then other parents started asking about them. Tori’s mum was making more than she could handle.”

Initially schools were non-committal about switching to Merino wool jerseys. “As the option wasn’t out there, schools didn’t feel they had any reason to change. No one was complaining about the use of synthetics in school uniforms so they didn’t realise they had a problem.

“People could individually buy one-off Merino garments for their children, but it wasn’t possible to buy a bulk line of Merino jerseys in a school colour.”

Seeing a gap in the market, the Urens’ developed their own line of school jerseys.

Needing to become a more commercial

operation they found a small manufacturer in Christchurch. They now supply 60 to 70 schools nationwide, with another 10 to 15 coming onboard every year. Parents now have the option of paying $20 to 30 more for a natural New Zealand-made product, rather than polar fleece.

Volumes have grown from 100 to 200 garments a year to hundreds a week with school uniforms now making up about 20 per cent of the business.

Relaunched as True Fleece, their main business is now online sales of adventure lifestyle Merino wool clothing.

“If you are looking for gear to wear in the outdoors for a walk, run, or hike, mountain biking or a school camp made in New Zealand from Merino wool we are putting ourselves out there as one of those brands.”

As a shop open 24/7 to anyone in the world, the website is the businesses’ biggest future, supplying garments for men, women and children, Carl says.

True Fleece is also increasingly supplying branded Merino garments to businesses as company uniforms.

As Banks Peninsula is too wet for fine woolled sheep, the Urens’ farm crossbred sheep and cattle, sourcing Merino wool through The NZ Merino Company.

“During the start-up phase we received assistance from NZ Merino which has amazing resources and experience. Their experience

took out some of the guesswork.”

Their garments use about 19 micron wool which has met animal welfare, environmental sustainability, quality fibre and traceability standards through NZ Merino’s ZQ on-farm accreditation programme.

True Fleece was not yet in a position to offer contracts to individual growers but plans to do so when volumes allow.

True Fleece has stuck to Kiwi made, sourcing its wool from New Zealand and making its garments in Christchurch. “It’s a big decision for any brand, but we made the decision early on that we wanted to manufacture in New Zealand.”

The businesses’ initial years were spent joining up all the links in the production chain. After out-growing a couple of smaller manufacturers, its garments are now made by 140 Clothing.

Expansion of the business means Carl isn’t so involved in the day-to-day farm work as True Fleece takes more of his time.

Initially farm managers, the Urens’ leased properties to build up their business before buying their 220ha Le Bons Bay farm nine years ago. They have also bought a second 165ha property at Barry’s Bay in Akaroa Harbour. While retaining a 300ha lease block next door to their Le Bons Bay farm, they have given up another 1200ha of lease land in the last few months to concentrate on True Fleece.

True Fleece garments are made in Christchurch using New Zealand-grown Merino wool.

Banks Peninsula farmers Carl and Tori Uren fit their True Fleece business around their children and farming operation.

“We have four children and there is huge potential for them to be involved. It was going to be tough with just one farm and so we were looking for other opportunities. This one just evolved because of what we believed in.”

Not wanting to be tied to an office from nine to five, the Urens’ run True Fleece around the children and the farm, with their flexible working hours coming in handy during Covid-19 restrictions.

“The lockdown didn’t change our business structure at all as we are already online based.”

While True Fleece has no full-time staff, it has a pool of models, photographers, marketers and designers it can draw on when required.

“So Covid-19 didn’t make any difference as we were already using these people on a contract basis and remotely.”

True Fleece has also launched a North American-based website, with three or four people in the United States working part-time to develop the business focused on online sales as well as uniforms for businesses, sports teams and schools.

“It’s in the early stages but growing in the US. There is a huge opportunity for a brand like ours, but it takes time to get all the links in the chain joined up.”

Despite the expansion, Carl and Tori Uren remain 100% True Fleece owners and operators. “You either fund it all yourself or you bring in investors. This gets the company branding and development up and running more quickly, but you lose control and equity in the company.”

Their personal philosophy was behind the type of product and company they had developed.

“As a farmer you want good quality, reliable, functional gear that you can wear day in and day out. We also bring in new colours and designs each year.

“We want our gear to not only perform, but to look good as well,” Carl says.

Merino Review 2020

19

ONFARM • Bluff Station

NEXT STEP AT

Bluff

Bluff Station’s owners have a shared vision to build profitability and create opportunities for future generations on this iconic Marlborough property. Jo Grigg charts their journey.

20

Merino Review 2020

C

HID AND SUE MURRAY HAVE MADE GIANT strides in making Bluff Station a less risky and more profitable property to farm.

This stunning station has scope and appeal but its largely mountain-locked location brings its own issues.

Since taking on full ownership in the early 1980s from a group of family shareholders, they have focused on reducing the risk of having TB reactor cattle. A full-time pest control manager was employed and, in 1997, the Bluff herd came off movement control for the first time. After thousands of ferrets were trapped and possums culled by TB Free, the main herd at Coverham can now celebrate a C6 status.

Residual infections in pests in the Muzzle/Clarence keep the Murrays on watch.

“We are one test away from change and this has a large influence on stock policy,” says Chid.

To reduce the risk of TB shutting down options and, in recognition of improved pasture quality, cows gave way to 2500 Merino wethers in the late 1980s. Eventually these wethers were

Hamish and Jess Murray. Photo: FMG.

Hamish Murray with ewes, winter 2020. Photo: FMG.

phased out and replaced with ewes. When Merino lamb value increased from $25 to $100, even more ewes were added, bringing the tally to 9000 sheep; 45% of total stock units. The cow herd remains at 950 AngusHereford cows, with a policy to sell calves as weaners or at 12 to 16 months.

An ongoing threat to pasture supply is rabbits. The Murrays started an arrangement with a hunter to shoot them for free, with meat supplied to a pet food company. In one year alone 25,000 were shot and, in combination with the 2018-released Rabbit Haemorrhagic Virus strain RHDV1 K5, the Murrays believe rabbits are now at the lowest number since 1980.

“This place was abandoned to rabbits in 1915, so it’s always going to be an ongoing issue.”

The third step has been investing in fences and tracks over the 13,800ha property. This is no mean feat given the steep mountain faces, the broken plateaus, dense bush, mountain rivers and all of this a 40-minute drive over a farm track from the homestead.

A 35-year subdivision programme using contract and in-house labour has seen block numbers go from four in 1976, to 130. These range from 4ha to 300ha, divided with seven wire fences (non-electric).

“Five years ago, I would have thought there wasn’t any land we could crop and now we have 150ha of land that has been developed as well,” says Chid.

This investment of energy and funds has meant the next generation of Murrays at Bluff Station, son Hamish and wife Jess, can now focus on increasing stock performance and, in turn, profitability.

“Five years ago, we were struggling to find options for succession, as we just didn’t have the income,” says Hamish.

“We developed a plan and invested $500,000, and then we were caught in the Marlborough-North Canterbury drought, which cost another significant amount as well.”

“But we carried on.”

Hamish and Jess are 50% partners in the stock and plant. They have three children under six; Lucy, Margot and Jonty. They have pushed on and continued the focus on infrastructure. They added a set of sheep yards at the Mead River and another, beyond, at the Dee. The Coverham outpost now has a new stock managers house (post-earthquake) and a refurbished shepherds’ quarters. This valley of broken plateaus, between the Inland and Seaward Kaikoura Ranges, carries 95% of total stock.

The 35km track to the Branch and onwards to the boundary with the Muzzle, has been improved and the travel time quickened by adding lanes and cattle stops in places. Instead of droving calves and weaned lambs back to SH1 for trucking, they can now be carted using an eight-wheel truck. A second-hand tip truck carts gravel for the road and a 20T digger keeps it in good shape. Improved access allows more timely attention to stock jobs.

In 1963 (before Chid’s time) 30t of white and red clover were sown and this legume base has been topped up with subterranean clover over the years. With the luxury of small fenced-off blocks, Hamish has drilled 85ha of straight red clover. This is stitched in with annual ryegrass in year three.

Hamish says they are moving into a phase of feeding stock better, by providing better quality feed and building pasture covers ahead of them. He has seen immediate results already, with lamb weaning weights lifting from 23kg five years ago to around 27kg.

The station’s five-year average lambing percentage is between 85-90% and offers the greatest potential for improvement. He is trying to do this by feeding the twinning ewes better pre-lambing.

“We now have specific areas of clover and pasture we use to provide high quality feed before mating, and then again for the feed pinch in late winter.”

“We will continue to do further subdivision and use fertiliser to improve quality.”

This season, small mobs of 60 ewes were set stocked on red clover blocks at 15 ewes/ha on October 5. Hamish is delighted to see clover is outstripping demand. Tailing is late November and in December ewes will be mobbed up and rotated around blocks before being turned out onto the limestone country, in mobs of 800 to 1500. This spells the lower country.

Merino Review 2020

21

Hamish has the paddock rotations to run the two-tooths separately this year.

Ewe body weight has increased from a traditional 50kg, to 55-57kg.

Rams have been sourced from both Middlehurst and Muller for the past seven years. Hamish chooses rams with higher-thanaverage fat EBV to try and build body weight and survival. He has really noticed an increase in wool clip.

“I can see an increase in frame size too.”

The target wool length is 75 to 95mm for their Icebreaker contract and the challenge, says Hamish, is keeping two-tooth fleeces under this.

“So, the next idea is to try and shear the ewe lambs in February, again late November as a ewe hogget, and then again to line up with ewes as a two-tooth.”

The poorer Merino ewes go to a Romney ram. Footrot is a challenge and ewes are troughed at weaning. Offenders are put in the B mob and kept handy for further treatment.

The clean sheep are sent to country beyond the Mead River. About 1600 wether lambs are taken through a winter, shorn and have been sold store to a neighbouring property for the past three years.

Cold winters and drought have created a few tough seasons. Other battles include keeping wild sheep out of the flock to prevent transferring lice.

“These sheep have been here since 1860; letters in Kaikoura archives refer to them when people first settled at Coverham.”

Hamish is keenly aware that he is just one cog in the wider family and team of nine contributing at Bluff Station.

His Nuffield study in 2019 looked deeper into the benefits of a team approach to farm work, and different ways people operate and like to give and get instructions. His report recommends the ‘boss’ acts more as a mentor, allowing others to step up and develop skills.

He is quick to point out that his new stock manager, Matt Wise, has experience on feeding Merinos in intensive cropping and subdivided systems.

“We’ve hired him to help me with that aspect.”

“The biggest limitation to success is often our own egos, knowing when to get out of the way to let others thrive, or step into that space – that’s really the trick.”

Hamish spent two years studying economics at Cambridge University and five months

BLUFF STATION, CLARENCE • 13,800ha farmed by Hamish and Jess Murray, Chid and Sue Murray • Winters 9000 Merinos (4300 mixed age ewes, 1400 two-tooths, 3300 hoggets) • 40 tonnes of 17.5 to 21.5 micron wool • 85-90% lambs weaned/ewes mated • 950 Hereford/Angus cows, 89% calving • 750 Beehives producing 35T honey • 130 blocks, from 40m to 650m above sea level • Gateway to unique geological features • 40 minutes on gravel track to key production area Coverham from homestead • Rainfall 850mm homestead, 950mm Coverham

travelling including eight weeks with the Nuffield Scholars, so has honed his analytical and business management skills. Putting it into practice has been challenging.

“It’s been a tricky process at times, taking on the family farm, trying to keep everyone happy – parents, staff, close family.”

“In the past I tended to try and problem solve everything for everyone and it became

MULLER MERINO STUD

• Breeding true dual purpose 18-20 micron Merinos, focusing predominantly on polled genetics.

• ASBV’s and full recording information including muscle and fat scan available.

• Incrementally increasing muscle and fat whilst staying focused on wool quantity and quality.

• Using industry-leading genomics to improve foot-rot resilience.

• High fertility stud scanning 190% M/A ewes and 150% 2ths.

• Ideal for adding value to your sheeps’ performance.

• View Muller Station on Facebook.

Phone: 03 575 7044 Cell: Stephen 027 474 8865 Mary 027 474 8869 E: info@mullerstation.co.nz www.mullerstation.co.nz

22

Merino Review 2020

exhausting. After a while I shut myself off and didn’t really want to socialise.”

Through a suggestion from his sister, he saw a business coach and made a plan to become more of a mentor to staff, rather than try and solve all the problems. This interest in team dynamics spurred his Nuffield research.

“Now I try and learn something new each day – reading or chatting to someone, as this keeps me happy, and I try to allow others do the problem solving themselves, while I encourage.”

Staff keep in touch with radio links and via a Messenger group where photos and requests can be loaded up. This is a great way to keep communication flowing throughout the day, says Hamish.

LEFT: Around 85ha of the plateau behind Hamish have been root raked, sprayed, drilled into red clover, then over drilled with grass in year three, to provide better feed for tupping and late winter. BELOW: Wool and meat from the 9500 Merinos ewes are just two of Bluff Station’s saleable products. They also sell 35 tonnes of honey, and store cattle. Photo: FMG.

WOOL AND HONEY EQUAL EARNERS Quite by chance, the wool clip and the honey extracted from Bluff Station in 2019 were almost the same weight – 35 tonnes of honey and 40 tonnes of wool. They also earned the same income per kilogram – around $12.

When the opportunity came to buy their beekeeper’s hives in 2017, the Murrays took it up. Chid Murray had been impressed with the amount of red and white clover on areas where hives had been placed.

From 30 hives in the 1990’s to 400 in 2017, the business has now grown into 750 hives, employing two beekeepers plus some casual input from shepherds, when time allows.

Within three years, what started as a diversification has grown to match the wool clip from 9000 sheep. Despite current price issues with honey (their 2020 honey remains unsold), the Murrays are optimistic about its future and see potential for New Zealand honey producers to market multiflora honey at a higher price.

“Multiflora kanuka, manuka, clover, matagouri and beech honey is really superb,” says Hamish.

Producing more of both honey and wool are a goal for Hamish, although there is some trade-off between them. With about half the property in scattered or patches of kanuka, manuka, beech and woody species like Tauhinu, it offers bee feed but regeneration also threatens pasture production. Fertility is improving (pH 5.6) but fertiliser applications also increase scrub growth.

Hamish’s approach is to make the existing pasture produce more through improving pasture species and support ineffective land to regenerate for honey.

“They are a natural fit, providing real resilience to the business in a variable climate.”

“The cost to produce a kilogram of honey is about half that of wool but it’s been the infrastructure for wool and meat that’s allowed

us to open up the place for beehives.”

Hamish would like to see Bluff Station honey sold via Weederspoon in the USA, and he sees benefits from having more of a NZ sales pitch and differentiation around it.

“I tried many types of honey in the USA and around the world on my Nuffield trip and the quality from here is far superior as it’s not from mono-flora crop flowers as a by-product of pollination, but a variety of sources, really adding taste.”

“There are almost two hundred different New Zealand honey brands competing and

we need to work together.”

Hamish feels that his wool, marketed through the NZ Merino Company, has a better marketing story attached to it than the honey.

Hamish signed the 10-year Icebreaker contract in 1996 and said the price is essentially a smooth mean.

“This was a natural progression after 20 years of supplying with shorter term contracts.”

“The more wool we can contract the better, as we can’t contract our beef price or honey in such a way.”

Merino Review 2020

23

GLENMORE •

MERINO

STUD

•

Breeding heavy cutting, well-nourished, balanced rams for the high country environment.

• Horned and Polled sale rams.

• 800 stud ewes mated 2020.

• 7000 Glenmore commercial ewes averaging 6kg of 18.7 micron wool.

• Utilising Merino Select ASBV’s & visual classing.

• Incredibly proud of the quality sheep we are producing.

Supreme Champion Fleece Wanaka Show 2020.

Please call us to chat about how our Merino rams can add value to your farming business.

Station: 03 680 6752

glenmore@farmside.co.nz 24

Merino Review 2020

|

|

Will: 021 1869 087

|

Emily: 021 680 505

www.glenmorestation.co.nz

ONFARM • The Gorge

WATER-FED CHANGE

to Poll Merinos

LYNDA GRAY A POLL MERINO FLOCK IS THE obvious livestock sign of the change that pivot development is bringing on the McNally family’s Central Otago farm.

Over the past three years Jock and Kaylee McNally have been building the number of Poll Merino ewes which are better suited than their traditional Merino ewes to management under pivot irrigation.

“The goal is to get a bigger and faster growing Merino that can handle the irrigation,” Jock says.

They bought 500 Poll Merino ewes in 2017 and since then have bought rams from Malvern Downs and Maryburn studs which have both undergone extensive irrigation development.

Jock’s hopeful that the new genetics will boost fertility and lamb numbers. Lambing sits at around 95-100% (lambs weaned from ewes mated) but he thinks that another 20% is a realistic goal.

If all goes according to plan the number of Poll Merino ewes could increase to 2000 but Jock isn’t pushing things, preferring instead a wait and see approach.

“We’re open minded at this stage and want to see how they perform and adapt. It could be that over time we add in some other genetics to get what we want.”

The Gorge is mid-way between Alexandra and Ranfurly, almost bang smack in the middle of the Ida Valley. The McNally family started out there more than 100 years ago and over time have increased the landholding to 2800ha. Development has been in waves, explains Jock, with much of his grandfather’s efforts directed at ploughing in the warrens of the rabbits which plagued the hill country.

Jock’s father John kept up the rabbit control, subdivided and did a lot of pasture development and renewal. When Jock and Kaylee took over in 2005, they stepped up development, adding three storage dams and installing four pivots watering 160ha from 2014 until 2017.

“We knew we had to do something more efficient with the water we had and decided it was easier to flick a switch than chase water with a shovel,” Jock says.

The water chasing refers to the hours and hours that used to be spent over the summer

digging sods to block and divert water under the flood irrigation system. It was hard work and not overly efficient leading to the decision to progressively ditch it in favour of pivot irrigation.

It’s been a huge investment but taken a lot of risk out of the farming business.

“It’s cheap to run because it’s gravity fed and the big thing is that we have guaranteed water from December to March, even during drought years.”

With the irrigation has come subdivision and new pastures.

A clover dominant mix - Quartz and Legacy white clovers, Sensation red clover and Puna chicory - is grown under the pivots and is used for lamb finishing.

The paddocks are being subdivided into 6 to 7ha blocks, and culverts and water troughs replaced or added.

The McNally’s have also been beefing up production on the dryland terrace areas establishing a newer variety cocksfoot, Savvy.

Development at The Gorge will continue, and it’s clearly something that Jock likes doing.

“We’ve done a lot over the last 15 years and we want to keep on improving. It’s good to pick out the lower performing areas and improve them.”

The next priority area is the hill country where 100ha will be direct drilled with a lucerne and cocksfoot mix, and another 50ha of run out oats replaced with pure lucerne.

“It’s always a work in progress and we’ll keep chipping away,” Jock says.

MIX OF AUCTION AND CONTRACTS FOR WOOL OFF THE GORGE Merinos have been run at The Gorge since 1985. Jock’s father John transitioned from Corriedale to Merino because of the higher income generating potential of the finer micron wool.

They’ve selected and bred from mainly Moutere and Matangi genetics, producing a traditional type Merino that clips a 17 micron, 5kg fleece.

The 5000 ewes spend most of the time on the higher country, lambing there before coming down to the flat country briefly for weaning.

Lambing performance is in the 95-100 percent range (ewes mated to lambs weaned).

The August shorn wool clip of about 40,000kg

Jock McNally checks out a Savvy cocksfoot mix growing on a lowland terrace. His feeding philosophy is simple: “to grow lots”.

THE GORGE, IDA VALLEY, CENTRAL OTAGO • Jock & Kaylee McNally and family Logan (19), Ben (17), Mitchell (14), and Claudia (10).

• 2800ha partly-irrigated sheep breeding and finishing plus cattle and lamb trading.

• About 75% is cultivated lower lying country.

This includes 260ha of irrigation of which 160ha is watered by pivots.

• Remainder of the farm is dryland pasture and lucerne hill country • Altitude: 350m–700 masl.

• Rainfall: 400–500mm

STOCK: • Merino 9500 (ewes and hoggets) • Crossbred 1700 (ewes and hoggets) • Up to 8000 lambs and hoggets are finished annually for supply to ANZCO. • About 400 Charolais and Angus-cross cattle are bought in October/November, wintered then slaughtered on late winter/spring contracts for ANZCO.

is brokered by PGG Wrightson Wool through auction and contracts. About 40%, most of the Poll Merino, goes to Devold. The 17 micron, 90-100mm length fleece wool, is the perfect fit for the Norway-based knitwear manufacturer.

The finer-end of the Merino clip is contracted to the Schneider group, and a percentage is sold through auction.

Merino Review 2020

25

ONFARM • Glenmore Station

SHEEP FOR BEST RETURNS

and country

Tekapo’s Glenmore Station is combining multiple income streams to create a resilient business.

Jo Grigg reports. Photos by George Empson.

W

HEN THERE ARE 55 tonnes of wool to sell, having a keen return buyer is crucial to sustainable returns.

For Will and Emily Murray, Glenmore Station, their Merino breeding programme is all geared towards the end market. They are looking to produce authentic quality and maximise their genetic investment.

The largest cut of the clip, 150 bales of 18.5 micron wool, is contracted to Norwegianbased outdoor garment retailer, Devold. The Murrays are the public face of the 12 Devold grower-suppliers, with the Devold website homepage featuring the family mustering a mob with a mountain backdrop.

The couple feel they share Devold’s values of uncompromising quality, and being gentle 26

Merino Review 2020

on animals and the environment. The contract provides a premium on the price of the day.

Emily describes the three-year rolling contract as a critical part of their business.

“It gives us the financial certainty to plan, as wool makes up just over 30% of our income.”

The high altitude and sometimes extreme climate lend themselves well to producing 18.5 micron wool. Micron hasn’t really changed in the past 10 years, says Emily, but meeting their Devold micron specifications is a part of the sire selection decision-making process.

As well as satisfying their wool buyer and chasing maximum total wool and meat income, the Glenmore sheep breeding programme has to appeal to commercial Merino farmers. Glenmore Stud (started by

Jim and Anne Murray in 1976) now sells 120 rams each year.

Will and Emily see the twin goals of wool for Devold and profitable genetics for ram clients as identical. Historically, the focus has been putting on as much wool on sheep as possible. However, over the past seven years the Murrays have “plained up” their ewes. Coefficient of variation (CV) measures variability, with 15% considered very uniform wool while 30% is highly variable. Glenmore’s clip is typically 18.7%.

“We have maintained wool weight, micron and nourishment while increasing staple length and growth rates of young stock,” says Emily.

Commercial ewes clip 6kg. Developing 300ha of pivot irrigation has been critical

to growing young stock and realising their genetic potential. Having a plainer type of Merino that is well-fed has resulted in large increases in scanning and lambing performance. Lambs weaned to commercial ewes mated ranges from 90% to 115%.

Of the 7300 ewes run on Glenmore, 850 are studs. Two years ago they diversified into Poll Merinos to complement the horned stud.

“The Polls have higher growth rates in young sheep and we utilise fat and eye muscle testing to help identify sires we want to use.”

Will said they are treading carefully as the horned genetics have proven themselves on Glenmore country.

“We are very aware that our summer country is reasonably challenging, with the Cass Valley at over 2400 metres, with two metres of rain annually. It can also be very dusty on windy days due to the shingly slopes.”

Around 2500 mixed-aged ewes are lightly stocked up the valley from weaning until autumn. There are about 12 natural boundaries up there, so mobs are small. In April, eight musterers spend five days camping out on the autumn muster, bringing the ewes home before the first snow.

“Nourishment has been key in keeping the dust out, therefore the horned Merino will always have a place on Glenmore.”

The 300ha of irrigation provides a great deal of flexibility and resilience to the seasons.

“We no longer have to rely heavily on the oversown country whilst hoping for rain. We know we will make enough silage for the winter even if we have a dry summer,” says Emily.

The stud ewes are lambed in paddocks in

their individual sire groups. Mobs are kept to around 30 so mothering up for pedigree recording is easy. The irrigation paddocks are perfect for this and large haybales are put out to provide shelter from spring storms.

Once tagged, they are mobbed up and run on lucerne through to weaning.

The commercial ewes are lambed on the improved country and some dryland lupin paddocks. After weaning, the four-tooth ewes are run around the paddocks while the older ewes go up the Cass. The cattle are an important management tool for pasture quality and worm control on the irrigation.

GENETIC COACH GREAT INVESTMENT AT GLENMORE Having a trusted genetics coach to explain and encourage is helping Will and Emily navigate the somewhat-tricky world of sheep genetics.

Eighteen months ago, Will Gibson, neXtgen, was hired to be their genetics coach and encourager, as Gibson puts it, and the Murrays say it has been money well-spent.

Gibson visits Glenmore about five times a year to help navigate the collection, analysis and selection of Merino genetics, for both stud and commercial flocks.

With so much going on in their highcountry business - pastoral lease, environment policy changes, feed management, tourism, wool and ram marketing - having someone to keep the genetic recording on track has been a God-send.

“We really value his input and he is good at explaining things in farmer’s language, as he is a farmer too,” says Emily.

Since starting at Glenmore in 2019, he has

GLENMORE STATION, TEKAPO • Will and Emily Murray - owned Glenmore Station Limited since 2002 • 19,000ha between Forks and Cass Rivers • 11,000 Merinos wintered (600 horned stud ewes, 250 polled stud ewes, 6500 commercial ewes and 4500 hoggets) • Merino rams to all ewes for 14 days, then swapped with Romney rams • 1000 half-bred ewe lambs sold as capital stock in autumn • 1000 half-bred wether lambs shorn and killed by end of May • 1000 Merino wether lambs sold store in March • 1400 Merino wether lambs wintered and killed in spring • 2400 Merino ewe lambs wintered, 900 sold as capital stock in spring • 700 stud lambs retained • 18.5 micron wool, commercial ewes clip 6kg, hoggets clip 3.2kg at 17.4 micron • Lambs weaned per ewe mated (commercial 90-115% average) • Clip contracted to Devold (outdoor garment retailer in Norway) • 800 deer and 320 breeding cows • 300ha centre pivot with prairie grass/red clover/ lucerne/timothy/cocksfoot mix • 500ha dryland paddocks, variety of species (includes 150ha lupin/cocksfoot mix) • 2500ha oversown tussock country • 15500ha unimproved • Altitude: Homestead 750m, rainfall 600mm.

Head of Cass Valley 2400m, rainfall 2000mm • Hunting, skiing, accommodation business

Will and Emily Murray discuss their ram selections with neXtgen Agri genetics ‘coach’ Will Gibson.

Merino Review 2020

27

assessed all existing pedigree records and EBV data and explained what it was showing about different breeding lines. He helped explain the relevance of results from the Central Progeny Test that Glenmore was involved with in 2018.

He also has helped with creating a robust electronic recording system of stock production. The Murrays now use EID tags on all stud stock and record all stock data into KoolCollect. This programme is cloud based and data is sent to Sheep Genetics in Australia for processing. It sends back estimated breeding values (EBVs) that the Murrays then use as a classing tool.

Although it was daunting at first, Emily says it is incredibly satisfying to have KoolCollect working well and seeing the results in each year’s progeny.

“Building a foundation of good data collection is important,” Will Gibson says.

“At weaning I check that tagging of lambs is done properly and help teach staff.”

Glenmore now has the training wheels off, Gibson says, and Will or Emily will only ring just to check up on things.

Gibson and the Murrays decide together what data to collect and this is then sent back in report form to the Murrays, via Merino Select.

“It is a really exciting thing for Glenmore to get EBVs that are really useful for them – in particular, wool weight.”

“The power of it is when you record the females – this is the backbone.”

Sending rams away to be compared with others, in similar conditions, has been revealing.

In 2016 rams from Glenmore joined the Central Progeny Test at Mt Grand. This showed that they were the top wool cutters for breed and micron range and had average growth rate and body weight figures.

“Now we know where we are.”

Will has also taken up the chance to join in on neXtgen Agri on-line webinar sessions, run by geneticist Dr Mark Ferguson.

ELEVATED RACE OFFERS BEST VIEW FOR REPLACEMENTS Every breeder has a preferred system for selecting ewe or wether replacements.

Will uses a classing race, 20 centimetres off the ground, which helps give a good view of each sheep. Of the 2400 straight Merino ewe hoggets, Will aims to keep 1500. To identify the keepers, he takes time to check each sheep. From a distance he watches it run into the race, to view their heads and underlines.

The person pushing up the sheep into the race

SHEEP DIPPING

“It is a really exciting thing for Glenmore to get EBVs that are really useful for them – in particular, wool weight.

The power of it is when you record the females – this is the backbone.” checks hocks, from the rear view.

Will then steps up and checks the fleece along the side of the sheep, looking for nourishment, fibre length, crimp and freeness.

His ideal ewe hogget fleece has a bold crimp with a bright white staple and a wellnourished free skin.

“I’m also looking for a good size bum for meat and muscle.”

He drafts three ways; any definite culls go straight out, the good sheep stay in and then the third ‘maybe’ mob is run through a second time.

At the end of it, Will walks through each mob, picking out faults such as short necks,

LINCOLN SHEEP JETTERS • Price includes Honda 5.5HP & Davey Fire Fighter single impeller pump with hose kit (10m) • Weighing just 48kg, it makes moving into and around sheep yards plus on/off trailers a oneman job • Non-adjustable sides • Single set of electric eyes • Top and bottom nozzles

7685

$

The success of PPP Industries’ sheep jetters is based on the product’s simplicity, reliability - and our highly competitive pricing (the best in the market).

• • • • •

The best price d sheep jetters acro NZ and Austra ss lia

Manufactured from stainless steel Electric eye 800-1000 sheep per hour Fantastic penetration Get one now before price increase

SAXON SHEEP JETTERS • Price includes Honda 6.5HP & Davey Fire Fighter twin impeller pump with hose kit (10m) • Weighing 110kg makes moving into and around sheep yards easy with handles at both ends for 2 men • Adjustable sides • Side jetting nozzles • 2 x sets of electric eyes

10,970

$

+GST

www.pppindustries.co.nz sales@pppindustries.co.nz

0800 901 902 28

Merino Review 2020

Serving NZ Farmers since 1962

enr95037

+GST

The Murrays class sheep on a dry warm day, with no frost, as this can affect the fleece movement.

poor hocks or pasterns. These sheep have a chance to breed as two-tooths and are then culled again as four-tooths, mainly on poor constitution. Will expects to remove 100 of the 1500 at this stage.

“Because we breed a sheep ‘true to type’, classing our ewe hoggets is getting more difficult. We are still proud of the sheep we cull, and it is a great feeling selling them as a line of capital stock knowing they will perform well.”

He classes on a dry warm day, with no frost, as this can affect the fleece movement.

EYE, EBVS AND EXPERTISE Will and Emily use three tools in selecting stock - eye appraisal, estimated breeding values (EBVs), and the extensive knowledge of Australian sheep classer Chris Bowman.

Bowman has been their wingman for 10 years, following Gordie McMaster’s retirement.

“He has made a real impact, as he knows the Australian bloodlines very well and has seen these genetics play out in the next generation,” says Will.

It was under his direction that Glenmore used a horned Nurstane ram in an AI programme in 2020 and a Gray’s Hill polled ram. The Nurstane ram was judged Australian Supreme Merino Ram in 2017 and Will describes both his EBVs and wool as outstanding. Over the previous four years Glenmore stud ewes were put to Wanganella rams, with a reputation for carcase performance. Coonawarra sires also had an influence.

Bowman visits Glenmore twice a year.

January sees him out selecting two-tooth rams for sale. He visits most of Glenmore’s ram clients to class their sheep, so knows their individual breeding goals and is able to select the correct type of rams for their needs.

“Essentially he lines up the right ram to the

Glenmore Station co-owner Will Murray and geneticist Will Gibson at work in the yards.

right property so his expertise is invaluable,” Emily says.

Some clients are happy for Chris to select their rams while others like to choose their own with Chris’ help, she says.

“A few like to come and go through the rams themselves and we are happy to accommodate these differing selection methods.”

Bowman also visits in March to class ewes and select rams for the upcoming stud joining. This includes sourcing ram semen for Glenmore’s annual AI programme.

Will admits to previous reluctance to fully engage with using EBVs, something he puts down to not understanding them fully. A new initiative, started 2020, is measuring and recording for the worm resistance EBV. Footrot is not present at Glenmore so cull ram hoggets are sent away to expose them to footrot and measure the response. The data collected from these trials is being used to create a footrot breeding value.

Will and Emily say they are more

comfortable with using EBVs now as they can see the merit in knowing where the Glenmore Merinos line up against the Australian sheep genetic data.

“We are not trying to breed ‘curve bending’ sheep but a well-balanced, productive Merino.

EBVs are one part of the equation. No ram will be sold unless it is constitutionally correct,” says Will.

He gives the example of buying a ram to decrease micron a little, to balance the big crimpy Wanganella wool. The Wanganella bloodlines are living up to their reputation of being big bold wool producers with good carcase attributes.

The ribbons for Champion Medium Ram and Supreme Champion Fleece at the Wanaka A&P Show this year were both Wanganella genetics. A Glenmore ram with Coonawarra bloodlines won the 2019 Golden Fleece Competition.

“The win at Wanaka, based on what you can see and touch of the wool and the rams, was followed by good interest in our rams.”

Merino Review 2020

29

ONFARM • Benmore Station

Benmore co-owner Bill Sutherland checks on a mob of ewe hoggets being grown out on irrigated pasture on the family’s Omarama farm.

success

MEASURES OF Backing the power of genetics and data is paying off for the Sutherland family’s Benmore Station.

Lynda Gray reports. Photos by Rachel Gillespie.

30

Merino Review 2020

T

HERE’S A SAYING THAT ‘EFFICIENCY is doing things right, effectiveness is doing the right thing’. It’s fair to say that equal measures of both have driven the production leaps and bounds at the Sutherland’s Omarama Merino business.

By far the biggest efficiency driver is the move over the past nine years from a traditional to dual-purpose plainerbodied Merino.

“We were led to believe that the thicker-skinned and heavier Merino wouldn’t be as productive, but that hasn’t been the case,” says Bill Sutherland, who farms in partnership with his brother Andrew.

“They’re easier to manage, shear more and produce more lambs.”

The move was fast tracked with AI and semen sourced from Merinotech Western Australia. Every year a couple of new sires are introduced for the Merino stud side of the business from which ram hoggets are bred for sale to clients and use across the commercial flock. All of Benmore’s ram hoggets are measured and recorded for a number of production-related attributes from which estimated breeding values (EBV) are calculated under the Australian Sheep Breeding Value (ASBV) system.

Genetics is a particular interest area for Bill and he says

that EBV-guided selection has been key in beefing up flock performance.

“It’s helped us breed an easy care and a more productive sheep and to me that’s efficiency.”

Throughout the body type transition and beyond there’s been selection emphasis for improved reproductive performance by honing in on carcase EBVs for eye muscle area and fat depth - both of which have been proven, through Australian research, to have a high correlation with lambing performance.

The selection approach has clearly worked; lambing percentage (ewes mated to lambs weaned) has jumped from 115% to 133% since 2008.

Bill says they were warned that chasing carcase attributes would be at the expense of fleece weight but that hasn’t been the case.

Another measurable trait and efficiency measure being tapped is the recent release of a commercialised EBV for footrot resistance.

The Sutherlands are clear on Benmore’s Merino sheep breeding objective – an efficient, productive ewe clipping an 18-micron white, free-growing, long stapled, high strength fleece.

They’re also clear on the genetic selection criteria to achieve this: sires with minimum EBVs of 15% for clean fleece weight; 1.8 for yearling eye muscle depth; 0.8 for fat depth as well as high resistance to footrot. But breeding the perfect commercial ewe is still a work in progress – and one they’re both enjoying.

“It’s taking time but we’re starting to see the results.”

IRRIGATION LEARNING CURVE Pivot irrigation on 740ha of Benmore’s flats either side of State Highway 8 between Omarama and Twizel is the most visible sign of investment to increase efficiency.

The seven pivots installed from 2006 until 2011 transformed Benmore from a store lamb breeder to finisher of lambs and hoggets.

About 9000 lambs and hoggets annually are finished under the pivots along with 850 yearling cattle.

“Our big driver is to get as many lambs out the gate and up to weight in the shortest time possible,” Bill says.

Developing an efficient large-scale irrigated sheep and beef platform took several years of trial and error because most of the available information at the outset was targeted at dairy production. Mistake number one was establishing “high octane” dairy-type pastures that lambs, straight off the hill country struggled to adapt to.

“We learnt very quickly that the traditional ryegrass, red and white clover mixes and hay are what we needed to transition and successfully feed sheep under irrigation.”

Another mistake was over-generous paddock sizes of 7ha. They have since been downsized

Benmore Station:

Commercial Merino breeding flock performance.

How Benmore Station has lifted Merino production efficiency:

2008

2014

2019

Lambing % Merino (Merino ewes mated/lambs weaned)

115

120

133

Average Merino ewe fleece weight (kg)

6

6.4

6.6

Average Merino hogget fleece weight (kg)

3.8

4

4.6

Genetics

• Selection and breeding for a plainer body ewe which produces more lambs and more wool, and has fewer animal health issues such as flystrike.

Stock Management

• Growing and feeding ryegrass, red and white clover pasture mixes to get large numbers of lambs to specified weight in the shortest time possible.

• Body Condition Scoring target of 3.2 of ewes in autumn and preferential feeding of lighter ewes.

• EID tagging of lambs for recording of production.

• Regular weighing and sorting of young stock into weight ranges for targeted feeding.

• Cobalt and iodine supplements for hoggets and lambs.

Farm management

Hill country

Irrigation

• Irrigated area.

• Subdivision of 4 to 5ha paddocks for efficient lamb/hogget grazing.

• Lots of silage made to control October-November growth spike and maintain pasture quality.

with either permanent fencing or hotwires to 4.5-5ha blocks which are a better size to manage for pasture quality and grazing efficiency.

The sheer size of the irrigated platform makes management challenging at times, especially during the growth spike during October and November which coincides with the departure of the hoggets. They deal with the growth as best they can by making about 3500 tonnes of silage.

“It’s a lot more than we need but it’s one way of trying to control the growth.”

Another unexpected issue under the

• Weed and pest control to improve pasture coverage and reduce VM contamination of wool.

• Three-year fertiliser rotation.

irrigation was a cobalt deficiency. Lambs and hogget growth rates were sluggish despite the feed and the Sutherlands incorrectly assumed it was an internal parasite problem. However, further investigation identified trace element deficiencies particularly for cobalt which they now manage with a 5-in-1 and Prolaject B12 for all lambs and hoggets. Two-tooths are also injected with Iodine pre-tupping.

Irrigation has transformed livestock management and production, and also diversified farm income. Before development, fine wool accounted for about 70% of revenue.

The remainder was from the sale of store

Merino Review 2020

31

cattle and lambs and fluctuated according to seasonal conditions. Nowadays farm income is more or less a three-way split between wool; live and prime sheep sales; and prime cattle. The mix, as well as New Zealand Merino Company long-term wool contracts for Benmore’s 160 tonne wool clip, has reduced the income risk of pre-development days.

The irrigated area is the transformative business end of Benmore’s operation and

justifiably requires intensive management to maximise meat and wool production.

However, the Sutherlands are mindful of looking after the hill country on the Benmore and Buscot ranges, which is the engine room of production.

“It’s valuable to us because it’s the breeding country from where we produce our lambs so we’re careful with how we manage it.”

There’s regular weed spraying to control invasive species including broom, matagouri and wilding pines. Horehound is another problem weed the Sutherlands try to keep in check because of the contamination it can cause in the wool clip. Every year one-third of the hill country area is top-dressed with a high sulphur fertiliser.

GROUP GATHERS TO FOCUS ON MERINOS

Ben Sutherland and his father Bill have been working together on Benmore this year before Ben headed off to a shepherding role in Hawke’s Bay in November. Photo: Lynda Gray.

Ben Sutherland is an enthusiastic founding member of the neXtgen Muster, a group of young people with Merino industry connections.

The facilitator of the group is Mark Ferguson, neXtgen Agri founder and animal geneticist and the committee comprises Georgia Urquhart, Todd Walker, Josh Kirk, Patrick Forbes, and Sheldon Scott.

The first get together in August included

M M

32

Merino Review 2020

S

on-farm visits to Benmore and Simon’s Hill Station as well as an evening dinner at Twizel.

Topics covered included genetics, ways of improving productivity and animal health plans.

Although there is a learning emphasis, the group is also a great forum for networking and socialising which is often difficult for young people in the industry who usually live and work on isolated high country properties.

It’s also a forum to devise ways and means of promoting Merino.

“Merinos have advanced to become a true dual-purpose sheep and we want to get that message out there,” Ben says.

The next event is a Canterbury-based event in early 2021.

Since graduating with a B.Com Ag from Lincoln University, Ben (24) has worked in Australia harvesting and on outback cattle stations. Plans for overseas travel were parked with Covid and replaced with employment on Benmore before departure in early November for a shepherding position in Hawke’s Bay. He appreciates the diversity of the Benmore operation.

“There’s a lot going on and it’s a great extensive and intensive mix plus the stud aspect. I’m lucky but at the same time I like the opportunity to look elsewhere.”

FUTURE • New benchmark

STEPPING UP TO A

regenerative future

T

HE NEW ZEALAND MERINO Company (NZM) launched ZQRX last May so growers could benchmark their practices against regenerative criteria and embark on a path of continuous improvement.

ZQRX enables growers to gain recognition for their efforts to drive environmental, social and animal welfare outcomes on their properties, and helping to be part of the solution to challenges facing our global community such as climate change.

NZM chief executive John Brakenridge says the time is right to help shape how we look after this planet.

“We were getting a clear direction from our brand partners and growers that they believed natural materials could be part of the solution to climate change,” Brakenridge says.

“There is a growing emphasis on environmental issues, particularly on carbon emissions, and brands are looking to be part of the solution by partnering with supply chains that are willing to drive change.”

“Some growers have been making exceptional progress in their own ways, particularly around climate change and biodiversity.”

Positive farming stories and science underpin the platform.

“We wanted to celebrate and accelerate their commitment to a regenerative future and give them a platform that will help them realise the value of this effort,” says Brakenridge.

ZQRX is not just another accreditation programme. It is a framework that focuses on outcomes and provides growers with a basis to measure and monitor progress over time. It rewards growers for incremental and continual improvements and enables growers to move at their own pace.

“By measuring the performance of individual farms against the different KPIs, brands can now partner directly with growers who share the same values with them. It also means they can incentivise and reward processes on farm that are valued in the market.”

Central to the ZQRX platform is the Regenerative Index – RX for short. The index has a series of metrics that growers are baselined against, recognising their understanding, monitoring and progress in a range of different areas. Every baseline is completely unique, just as the property’s characteristics and grower’s goals are.

“ZQRX involves a journey of continuous improvement, accurate measurements and shared wisdom to discover better, smarter,

kinder ways to make and grow the things we all love while addressing critical global issues such as climate change and biodiversity loss.”

The work to create the ZQRX platform has been focused on capturing the positive stories of farming, as well as science to back it up. With carbon being such a hot topic, the team from NZM has worked alongside scientists to build a better understanding of carbon emissions on ZQ farms, and to better understand how growers’ activities are also sequestering carbon in their soil and vegetation.

This included partnering with a global sustainability consultancy firm, Quantis International. Together with Quantis, NZM has carried out a lifecycle assessment which considers the full carbon position on farm, such as carbon stored in the soil and in nonETS vegetation.

Since launching ZQRX in May, more than half of NZM’s fine wool growers have committed to the programme.

“Growers are sympathetic to the challenging environment that many of the brand partners find themselves in and are eager to see them not only survive but thrive when the market recovers,” says Brakenridge.

FIRM FINAL AUCTION FOR SEASON PRICES IMPROVED SLIGHTLY ON the previous sale at the November 5 fine wool auction.

PGG Wrightson South Island Wool Auction manager Dave Burridge says the early November sale is already regarded as the final big offering of fine and mid-micron wools for the season. But the catalogue was boosted by the appearance of extra bales from growers who had withheld their wool from earlier sales in August and September when the market was weaker.

Prices for mid-micron fleece and oddments were 4-7% higher and Merino fleece wool and

oddments were 1-3% dearer. Clearance rate was 95%.

“We’ve been fortunate to have buyers from Australian Wool Exports Limited at our sales.

They have been a real powerhouse here for the fine wool sale season, buying wool right across our offering from fine wool to midmicron,” Burridge says.

Aside from the usual wrap-up sale in early February next year, the volume of Merino type wools being offered at auction over coming weeks will drop away.

He says the wool auction system continues to provide a strong complement to longer term

supply contracts which many growers have commitments to.

“An open-cry auction system easily handles large volumes in a very short period, and for many growers, it’s still the only benchmark for them to assess the value of signing up to longer term contracts,” he says.

“As a company, we certainly see the need to help growers manage the risk of price volatility when they sell their wool.

We’re constantly on the lookout for supply contracts that we can offer our clients, but they have to be credible and worthy enough,” Burridge says.

Merino Review 2020

33

ONFARM • Charles Hope

Crossbred to Quarterbred PAYING DIVIDENDS AT CHARLES HOPE Merinos a year for foot trimming and treatment and it’s something we never wanted to go through again.”

However, their fears were mitigated by selecting fine wool rams using the Lincoln University developed single gene marker test, which has since been superseded by more advanced breeding value technology.

Understandably the Huttons were alarmed when despite the selection process, some of the fine wool imports went lame after a feed flush. Luckily, the affected sheep were troughed and came right soon after.

“It was our only experience of lameness and we haven’t had to treat for it since, but we are strict on culling anything that’s had any sign of lameness.”

TRANSITION TO QUARTERBRED James and Mark Hutton. Mark has no regrets about the transition from crossbred to Quarterbred.

LYNDA GRAY

B

REAKING A 125 YEAR crossbred tradition wasn’t an easy decision for Otago farmers Mark and Liz Hutton.

Mark, the fifth generation to farm Charles Hope, says his father Jim tried a Merino wether flock on the steep hill country back in the 1990s when fine wool prices went crazy.

However, problems with footrot and all that went with it took the gloss off the wool price premium. The wethers were banished and Jim turned his attention back to crossbreds.

When Mark and Liz took over the farm in 2004, Perendales roamed the ridges. However, it wasn’t long until the couple, more familiar with Merinos through previous farm manager roles, found themselves at loggerheads with the bolshy crossbreds which they not so affectionately referred to as ‘Pokiedales’.

“They were hard work, and we didn’t enjoy mustering and working with them,” Mark says.

But they persevered with Perendales because of their performance on what can be difficult country. Their lambing performance was good, and they were easy care. The downside was the wool which was always on the yellow side and often contaminated 34

Merino Review 2020

with vegetable matter (VM) thanks to the Perendales propensity to poke in the hill country briar. The Huttons introduced Romdale genetics to improve the clip but it didn’t make a lot of difference.

“It put us into the 33 micron bracket, but we were only clipping about 3.5kg a head and getting at best $4/kg.”

In today’s market $4kg is a not so bad price, but in 2013 it was a line in the sand for the Huttons who decided to look seriously at changing direction and edge towards a finer micron wool clip. Helping them weigh up the pros and cons was desk top analysis and modelling led by Mark Ferguson, a New Zealand Merino Company (NZM) employee at the time. They looked at various scenarios comparing a fine wool and Perendale system.

Although assumption based, the modelled benefits plus the opportunity for long term wool contract agreements convinced the Huttons of the fine wool direction. The decision was made although Mark admits he was still “nervous as hell”.

An overriding fear was the possibility of footrot which had plagued the wether flock previously grazed at Charles Hope. Adding to the anxiety was Mark and Liz’s own experience at battling the disease at a couple of the properties previously managed.

“At one place we turned over 30,000

It took about two years to identify Quarterbreds as the best fit for the Hutton’s system.

Full Merinos were ruled out due to the risk of footrot problems, and Halfbred because of fleece wool discolouration. Quarterbreds proved to be footrot-free producers of 22-23 micron good-coloured wool.

The Quarterbred answer was preceded by a trial and transition process started in 2013 with the purchase of 600 Merino, 500 Quarterbred and 500 Halfbred ewes.

In 2014 the Huttons, with assistance from NZM, artificially inseminated 200 Halfbred ewes. The combined progeny from the AI program and the bought-in Quarterbred ewes formed the nucleus of the fine wool breeding flock. From then the Huttons had a split flock, gradually increasing the number of Quarterbreds while decreasing the number of Perendales. The transition was a bit of a nightmare, especially during shearing when there were four clips to deal with.

The last of the Perendales were dispatched earlier this year and the Huttons have 5000 Quarterbred ewes. They’re mated to

TOP TIPS FOR TRANSITIONING • • • •

Don’t be afraid Take your time to make the change Get advice from those you trust Surround yourself with positive people supportive of the change

Quarterbred rams, all twins, that have to tick the appropriate boxes for conformation, wool quality (medium staple length with good style for fast drying) and eye muscling.

The goal is to select only twin born progeny for replacements.

Ewes are classed into a replacement ‘A’ mob, and a terminal mated ‘B’ mob.

Management hasn’t altered much with the change from crossbreds to Quarterbreds.

They’ve integrated well, especially on the

Table A:

Comparison of Hutton family’s crossbred and Quarterbred systems.

Trait

Quarterbred

Perendale

Ewe weaning %

110%

118%

Ewe bodyweight

55kg

55kg

Ewe fleece weight

4.2kg

2.7kg

Micron

21

34

Revenue per ewe*

$178.35

$117.78

Source: New Zealand Merino

hillier country with the breeding cows.

“The Perendales were harder grazers and ate more than what the Quarterbreds do, and we’ve found we now have more feed on hand for the cows to follow-up on.”

The EID tagging from this year of all lambs is an opportunity to fine tune management and drive production.

“There’s a lot of information we could record, and we’ll refine that over time and use as a basis for selection and culling.”

Key assumptions • *Revenue per ewe includes wool (from ewes, hoggets and lambs), lambs sold excluding replacements and cull ewe income. It is not equal to revenue per stock unit.

• Lamb policy: is 30% of Quarterbred lambs are sold on the schedule to the Silere program and 70% are sold to store. All Perendale lambs were sold to store.

• Quarterbred lambs are shorn pre-kill or prestore. No Perendale lambs were shorn.

• Quarterbred wool price is based on current ZQ contract prices, one of the Hutton’s key supply contracts is with Smartwool. The Perendale wool price is assumed to be $2.09.

Meat contribution rising, but wool still dominates The dual purpose attributes of the Quarterbred flock is reflected in the changing composition of farm income.

Most of the Hutton’s income is from wool but the contribution from the sale of store and prime lambs is increasing.

About 10 percent of Quarterbred terminal-cross lambs are weaned onto the truck at the end of January, and the rest finished over summer.

The Quarterbred lambs are shorn in May when about 700 are dispatched to an Alliance Silere contract; another 700 go in November.

Over winter, the lambs graze off-farm for eight weeks, returning home for August shearing. They’re then sold to a finisher in Mayfield; it’s a regular arrangement in which an agent helps determine the selling price.

The Quarterbred wool clip is sold through both contract and auction.

“I like the fact that we can easily trace and track where and when our wool is sold,” Mark says.

This year 30 bales of ewe wool were sold to a five year Smartwool contract, 16 to a ZQ contract and the remainder through the auction system.

Merino Review 2020

35

ONFARM • Mount Possession

SCALE AND PRODUCTIVITY

at Mt Possession

Ewe hoggets grazing at Mt Possession, looking across the upper Rangitata to Mt D’Archiac in the background.

ANDREW SWALLOW

W

HEN SOMEONE HAS TO get a 1:50,000 Topo map out to show you the extent of a property, you know you’re on a big place. And properties with such scale need stock that largely look after themselves, while still being productive.

Mt Possession, in Mid Canterbury, is one such property. Ryan Hussey has managed the 15,000ha station since 2007, bar a couple of years when he took a break to work in Australia.

The station runs 11,000 Halfbred ewes, wintering 3500 ewe lambs of which 2500 are retained as hoggets to go into the main flock after lambing as two-tooths. The flock is up from 9800 a few years ago as the station’s shifted from finishing all lambs, to having an on-farm sale in the first week of February 36

Merino Review 2020

at which all wether Halfbred lambs, and all Halfbred x terminal lambs are sold.

Many of the latter are at or close to kill weights at the sale and the Halfbred stores, which are typically low to mid 30kg liveweight, are highly sought after by farmers just down the road on the Canterbury Plains for wintering and finishing as schedules rise in spring, with the wool cheque for a fine lambs’ fleece the icing on the cake.

“That wintering option with the wool is pretty valuable,” says Hussey.

The retained ewe lambs clip 3.9kg on average, at 23 micron. “A fair chunk” of it is contracted to Smart Wool to provide price stability. Ewes average 5kg/fleece at 25 micron with about half that contracted.

The wool income isn’t far behind what they’d make with purebred Merinos, says Hussey, and with Halfbreds they’re getting at least 20% more lambs that grow faster and are worth more.

Lambing starts October 1 with the 4300 ewes put to terminals, followed a week later by the main Halfbred-mated flock. Ewes are moved off the flats on to improved hill for lambing as there’s better cover.

“We average around 130% lambing from ewes put to the ram through to weaning.” This year’s scanning, including two-tooths, averaged 167%, which is about where he wants the flock to be, given the nature of the property.

“We’ve backed off flushing them a bit because if we get up to 180% scanning we start to get too many triplets and you don’t really want triplets up here. It’s about finding the right balance in productivity. 130% is about all we can feed to.”

Even that’s a slight increase on his original objective of 125%, he notes, but good fertility is one of his objectives in using first-cross Halfbred rams from Benmore Station across Mt Possesion’s main flock.

“They’re a moderate, meaty sheep with good

milk and a good maternal-type animal.”

While a strong wool breed or composite might be even meatier, mature ewe weight and hence maintenance feed demand would likely be 10 to 20% higher than Mt Possession’s Halfbred ewes which averaged just under 65kg the last time they were put across scales. Hussey doubts they’d get any better performance from such breeds for that extra feed, plus, of course, the wool would be worth a lot less.

Wool quality is another reason he likes Benmore’s Halfbreds.

“They’ve got top Merino ewes… they’ve won the Otago clip competition several times, and the fertility is very high for Merinos. They’ve been lambing at over 100% for a long time.”

Hussey says he selects rams more on the style of wool than micron, looking for a dense fleece that’s well nourished and has good crimp.

“It needs to keep the dust out. That’s always been an issue to watch with Halfbreds.”

Ewes in the terminal mob are there either because they were five years old at mating and it’s their last lambing before being sold cullfor-age, or because they’ve been rejected from the main flock on type.

“The plainer, finer ewes; maybe lacking constitution.”

If extra hoggets meet the grade to go into the main Halfbred flock, then it’s the terminal flock that’s culled harder, he adds.

Tailing starts in early November with the blackface singles and finishes with two-tooth twins. Weaning is early January. Any dries are culled.

Weaned lambs go on to young pasture paddocks.

“We have a reasonable re-grassing programme of 400-500ha a year,” says Hussey.

That development, as well as the shift to an on farm sale, has not only allowed the increase in ewe numbers to 11,000: 70 cows have been added to the beef herd taking it to 800 head, including 100 Angus stud cows. The commercials are run in two herds: 200 AngusHerefords, and the balance pure Angus.

Hussey’s “go to” pasture mix in recent years has been prairie grass, cocksfoot, red and white clover, plus plantain. Lucerne’s been tried but didn’t do well due to late, unseasonal frosts and wind burn. Ryegrass doesn’t perform or last in the summer heat. “We’d be lucky to get more than a year out of it.”

Lambs are drenched with a triple-active product at weaning, again a month later, and, for those that are retained, before going on to swedes and baleage for wintering.

Ewes get one drench a year, an oral triple

Mt Possession general manager sheep and beef, Ryan Hussey.

at shearing in August, except for two-tooths carrying twins which get a capsule.

All ewes get a 5-in-1 pre-lamb vaccination, with the two-tooths also now vaccinated against toxoplasmosis and campylobacter following a largely toxo-induced abortion storm in 2019.

“We did the two-tooths and four-tooths last autumn and from now on we’ll do the twotooths as they come into the flock.”

Matarae Merinos are selected for high ebv foot rot resistance and ebv staple strength • One of NZ’s top Reda suppliers • Large commercial operation which challenges the stud • Large emphasis on carcass traits • Emphasis on wool quality and true to type ultra and super fine spinners style wool Contact: William Jones 03 464 3232 or 027 418 1386, william.jones2@gmail.com

Merino Review 2020

37

EARNSCLEUGH HIGH COUNTRY GENETICS Home of New Zealand's most footrot resistant Merinos. Industry leading footrot EBVs, a game-changer for the NZ sheep industry.

Rams to suit a range of needs: Ultrafine - The world's finest Superfine - Specialist wool producers Icebreaker - Balancing wool and lambs Smartsheep - Lambs with a wool cheque TM

Earnscleugh Icebreaker flock ram after more than 200mm rain for the month at Glenthorne Station

Mermax - Carrying the Lambmax gene TM

Inverino - Carrying the Inverdale gene

Stud ewes are run on true hill country and managed commercially, all fully performance recorded using EBVs since the inception of the stud.

Invitation sales held in January & February. Contact us to book your place.

Alistair Campbell 027 489 2820 ecgenetics@farmside.co.nz Duncan Campbell 027 659 6713 duncancampbell77@gmail.com Mark Ferguson (Genetics advisor) 021 496 656 mark@nextgenagri.com 38

Merino Review 2020

RESEARCH • Footrot vaccine

VACCINE DEVELOPMENTS COULD

boost breed’s appeal ANDREW SWALLOW

S

Strain-specific footrot vaccines are being trialled across seven Merino flocks.

been everywhere on a property and they’re some of the hardest to cure because they have big feet which can harbour a lot of bacteria, they’re heavy and they’re put under a lot of stress at times such as mating,” he notes.

The swabs are sent to Sydney University for analysis and results returned a week or two later.

“It usually costs about $1500 to find out what you’ve got.”

The vaccines, which are also made in Sydney, though not at the University, cost about $2.50 per dose for a monovalent, or $3$3.50 for a bivalent. However, each shipment costs around $1000 in freight due to biocontrol requirements and refrigeration, he notes.

The good news is that once the vaccine matched to your farm’s strain(s) is here, it has a good shelf-life. Robertson recommends vaccinating a small mob first – maybe one or

Graph 1:

Antibody levels comparing a 2 strain custom vaccine versus footvax (9 strain) Bivalent Multivalent (9) Source: Dhungyel OP & Whittington RJ, [Journal] Vaccine, Volume 28 (2010) pp 470-473

12 10 Log 2 titre

TRAIN SPECIFIC FOOTROT vaccines could extend popularity and range of Merino sheep within New Zealand, says one of the seven farmers involved in a two year trial to validate use of such vaccines here.

The mono-valent, or in some cases bivalent vaccines, have been helping Australian farmers eradicate the disease since they became commercially available there in 2015.

Now, Oamaru-based vet Dave Robertson has set up a two-year trial with funding from the McMaster Trust*.

“We want to get some good data around the vaccine effects and whether it can really be an effective alternative in controlling or eliminating the footrot disease,” he says.

Seven flocks are involved, including Omarama Station’s 19,000-head. Omarama owner Richard Subtil believes if he and other producers could eliminate the disease, it would facilitate the breed’s expansion nationally.

“It’s one of the limiting factors for Merinos doing better.”

More farms would be prepared to run Merinos if they knew there were vaccines available that made footrot eradication easier, he argues, and lowland farmers would be that much more willing to take on Merino or Merino cross lambs for finishing if they knew they were coming from footrot-free properties.

In his own case, he says he’s read and implemented “binder upon binder” of advice on tackling footrot over the years and while it might go away for a while, particularly in a dry spell, to date it has always flared up again at a later date.

Tests on the Omarama Station flock found three of the nine strains of the footrot-causing bacteria, Dichelobacter nodosus, known to be in New Zealand. One of those, known as “NZ E”, isn’t present in Australia so no specific vaccine for it is available yet, but the other two strains found, A and C, are present in Australia and trial use of an imported bivalent vaccine for those “worked really well,” says Subtil.

To identify strains present, Robertson recommends taking swabs from active infection across a range of different mobs within a flock – hoggets, ewes, and rams.

“Rams are good because they’ve usually

two hundred – with a sensitiser and booster four weeks later, then assessing response a month and six months later.

Typically visual assessment’s been adequate, but occasionally they have run blood tests to check the vaccine produced the antibody response expected because disease was still found. So far in such cases the residual disease has turned out to be a different strain of D. Nodosus.

“You never really know how well a vaccine is going to work until you get it into the sheep on your farm.”

Assuming a good response, treatment can then be scaled up to the whole flock at a convenient time such as post weaning.

Robertson stresses that even though the strain specific recombinant vaccines produce a stronger, and longer antibody response (see Graph 1) than multi-strain vaccine Footvax (currently the only commercially available option in New Zealand), vaccination alone is unlikely to achieve eradication: ongoing management measures are essential.

“You need to go through them again one and six months later checking for infection.”

If residual cases are few and far between – say less than one in twenty – then culling those could lead to eradication, he suggests. If more than 5% are still infected then testing which strain(s) of footrot remain and possibly vaccinating again may be necessary.

Validating exactly which protocols are most likely to prove successful is what the twoyear trial, which started this spring, aims to achieve. * The McMaster Trust is a fund set up in the 1980s by Merino farmers in the Mackenzie and Waitaki region to fund individuals to work alongside renowned Australian wool classer, the late Gordie McMaster.

8 6 4 2 0

0

1

2

3 4 5 6 Months after vaccination

7

Merino Review 2020

8

9

39

RESEARCH • Footrot vaccine

VACCINE NOT TOTAL ANSWER VACCINES ARE PART OF THE JIGSAW of footrot control but alone they won’t cure the problem, says MSD Animal Health’s Kim Kelly.

She’s taken a keen interest in the disease ever since working in Central Otago with fellow vet Chris Mulvaney, who literally wrote the book on footrot.

Now, after 14 years in practice and 10 with MSD Animal Health, she says unfortunately the disease is still a recurring problem on many farms and more research is needed, starting with a nationwide Dr Kim Kelly. survey of prevalence and strains of the disease-causing bacteria, Dichelobacter nodosus.

Vaccination with Footvax provides up to 16 weeks’ protection against the 10 strains of D.nodosus known to cause disease in New Zealand, the exception being the NZ variant M strain. Dr Kelly believes it should be used much more widely than it is, albeit as part of a co-ordinated programme of measures.

However, many farmers were put off using

it because historically they, or some of their peers, didn’t use it the best way and/or had unrealistic expectations, she says.

“It’s not a silver bullet. It has to be used with other measures.”

That is starting to change now, with a gradual increase in use, probably in part due to renewed interest in vaccination as a control strategy thanks to the advent of mono or bivalent vaccines in Australia. While those are now being trialled here too, Kelly says sometimes it will prove more cost effective to use Footvax at key times, rather than attempt to get strains identified and order the appropriate mono- or bi-valent vaccines from Australia.

Another question mark over the strainspecific approach is whether swabbing will find all strains present in a flock, or just the ones dominant at the time of swabbing. If it is the latter, farmers might use a mono-valent or bi-valent vaccine only to find other strains fill the gap.

However, if none are missed in swabbing

Superfine extra

The stud was founded in 1988 on 10 Ewes and 1 Ram (7-6516-85).

These were purchased from Bullamalita. These ewes were mated to a Merryville Brilliant Sire, this is the B17 family.

The Bullamalita blood lines are producing an excellent extra fine and fine wool with a long and well marked stylish white staple of wool on a well grown frame. Micron range from 14-19. Yield from 72% to 85%.

STRATH CLYDE

MERINO STUD

In March 1991, I purchased 4 inlamb ewes from Rock Bank Victoria.

These ewes were mated to Sir Thomas 87025. In 1992 the same ewes were mated to a Winton Sire JT 6080. This sire was purchased in 1985 from Winton Tas. In June 1992 a further 4 ewes were purchased from Rock Bank.

This Rock Bank family is the foundation blood of a Saxon Super Fine Merino micron ranging from 16-19. Yield around 78%.

Both the Bullamalita and Rock Bank families do very well in low and high rainfall areas with no blemish to the wool in any way.

The current Sires in use are Ringmaster Brilliant Example 7243/97 and Ringmaster 35th 6465. There is a limited supply of Saxon semen for sale.

Private sales start around mid-January. Enquiries and inspection always welcome.

Strath Clyde. Flock No 256 John McArthur. Phone (03) 448 8335 McArthur Road, Clyde

40

Merino Review 2020

and only one or two strains are present, a positive for the strain-specific approach is that those vaccines protect for up to eight months compared to Footvax’s 16 weeks, she notes.

Unusually for a vaccine, the first shot of Footvax provides some improvement in lameness as well as protection so the booster can be given anything from four weeks to six months later. A possible strategy might be to use the sensitiser a month or more pre-mating to protect feet during tupping, and administer the booster at pre-lamb shearing to provide protection around lambing.

Typically, those protection periods coincide with ewes being on lush, moist feed in weather warm enough for footrot to spread.

A plus is there’s no withholding period, hence it can be used to alleviate disease and get culls into the works where MPI inspectors are getting increasingly alert to lame sheep.

If trying to cull a few persistently footrotinfected ewes that are still slightly lame even after vaccination, then getting a vet certificate might be a wise precaution to avoid rejection at the works, she suggests.

RESEARCH • Footrot vaccine

FOOTROT NEEDS TRIFECTA TO SURVIVE THE FIRST THING TO UNDERSTAND about footrot is that it can be eradicated because it is not endemic in the soil, says Oamaru vet Dave Robertson.

“It’s a common misconception that it’s present in the soil and you can’t get rid of it.

Infection is maintained on chronically infected animals. It can only survive for a maximum of 10 days without a host.”

Consequently presence of a susceptible host, ie some sheep, is one of a trifecta of factors which, when combined, result in the disease. The other two are presence of both causative bacteria, Fusobacterium necrophorum and Dichelobacter nodosus, and an environment favourable for bacterial growth, ie warm and wet.

F.necrophorum alone causes scald, which allows the more damaging D.nodosus in.

It takes about 20 days from infection for D.nodosus to start causing under-run infection of the hoof and lifting of hoof material.

“It is one of the only bacteria capable of digesting hoof-nail keratin,” notes Robertson.

The endemic nature of F.necrophorum is

probably where the misconception that footrot is always present in soil comes from. However, without D.nodosus present too, scald will not develop into footrot.

Body heat provides enough warmth for D.nodosus to persist on hooves even in cold weather, but for it to survive off the hoof and hence for spread to occur, pasture needs to be wet and over 10 deg C. Even then, it will only survive for about 10 days, hence why it is the focus for eradication efforts. Susceptibility of

stock is best judged by experience with a flock or preferably breeding values, though breeding values are only available on rams bought from participating breeders.

As for the causative bacteria, of the 50 or so known strains of D.nodosus, about 10 are virulent and cause disease. Mono-valent vaccines have been developed in Australia for eight of them. The exceptions are the New Zealand specific “NZ E” strain, and the M strain which is also present in Australia.

Merino Review 2020

41

Servicing the wool industry for over 165 years.

When it comes to experience, expertise and knowledge we are your trusted partner for all things wool.

PGG Wrightson is 100% committed to the New Zealand wool industry providing strong, competitive, and reliable sales platforms ranging from auction right through to long term contracts directly with international brands.

Call us today to find out how we can add value to your farming business.

0800 497 496 or visit www. pggwrightsonwool.co.nz

Helping grow the country 42

Merino Review 2020

MARKETS • Contract commitments

BRAND PARTNERS HONOUR

100% of supply contracts

Demand for wool recovered some lost ground during October.

Photo by Izzy Malone.

T

HE VALUE OF LONG-TERM grower contracts with brand partners has been reinforced by the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic says The New Zealand Merino Company’s General Manager of Supply, Innovation and Logistics, Mike Hargadon.

He says the pandemic’s impact on retail globally and the flow-on effect in supply chains has been significantly disruptive for the entire wool market, not just fine wool.

“The uncertainty that resulted from Covid, the global lockdowns, travel restrictions, job security issues and massive changes to consumer spend patterns resulted in the market being dragged down from a long term high to around 50% of that pre-Covid level for fine wools,” Hargadon says.

No brand was immune to the loss of consumer demand, and the impacts were swift as retail stores closed. Those brands that already had a strong online presence were fortunate to continue with sales, but that channel did not fill the gap left by the closure of retail.

As sales came under pressure, many buyers of NZ wool stopped buying. It soon backed up in the supply chain and the commodity market slumped.

However, despite the market conditions and

the risk of contract failure, Hargadon says every brand partner that had agreements with NZM growers has confirmed it will honour their commitments.

“The depth of relationship between NZM, growers and brands has seen significantly less disruption than the commodity market, and the 100% honouring of contracts in this climate is remarkable.”

Brands have been communicating closely with growers throughout the year as Covid has impacted on their businesses. This close contact and relationship has ensured that NZM growers have remained connected and informed about the likely impacts on their businesses, and enabled sound and considered decision making.

Some growers have elected to help their brand partners by accepting some delay in being paid. Hargadon says this highlights the strength of the NZM contract model when both parties are prepared to help.

“It is heartening to hear growers say, ‘we need our brand partners in the future’,” Despite the world still dealing with the pandemic, Hargadon says NZM is experiencing inquiry from brand partners looking at new contracts with growers.

“We are seeing new business being increasingly written as brands adapt their

business models to the new world they find themselves in.”

“In many ways our ZQ accreditation programme and NZM is even more in demand than before as consumers seek to source products of quality, integrity and ethics, driven in many ways by their experiences during Covid lockdown.”

Not a single existing contract has fallen over because of the pandemic.

Through October, the market for Merino and mid-micron wools bounced back, largely thanks to the Chinese domestic market.

Merino wool’s other big market stronghold, Europe, continues to deal with the huge impact Covid has had on sales particularly for worsted suiting type products.

Hargadon says demand has dropped because people are working from home rather than corporate environments, and not able to travel and socialise. Contracts enable both brand partners and growers to plan and provide resilience in time of challenge.

“The Covid crisis is the greatest supply chain and retail crisis in recent history, and those brands and growers that have had the foresight to establish contracts and deep relationships with each other are now heavily insulated from the significant volatility that the market is experiencing,” he says.

Merino Review 2020

43

RESEARCH • Parentage solution

Clever collars MATCH LAMBS TO EWES FOR STUD MOUTERE STATION HAS BEEN IN Andrew and Hamish Jopp’s family for 125 years, but their focus is firmly on the future.

The brothers farm the 8000ha property near Alexandra, running 20,000 Merino sheep and 500 Angus cattle. The focus of the stud established in 1904 is on breeding superfine and fine, horn and poll rams.

They see embracing technology as key to ensuring they have the most accurate data to aid their decision making – so they were keen to trial the Smart Shepherd sheep ‘collar’ device.

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 firsttime insights into that bond by measuring the frequency of interaction and the distance at which the ewe and lamb associate in a paddock.

The system can match more than 1000 lambs a day to their mothers, saving farmers from the time-consuming process of manually matching ewes to their lambs and provides better information on mothering ability and maternal pedigree.

“Previously, we would spend two weeks ‘mothering up’ at an already very busy time, often made more difficult by the weather. So when we heard about the collars, we were keen to try them,” says Hamish.

The Jopps worked with Aimee Charteris and Dr Mike Tate, directors of Four Good Foods, which has been trialling the award44

Merino Review 2020

Andrew and Hamish Jopp says the clever Smart Shepherd sheep collars are ideal for their operation.

winning technology in New Zealand.

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 and the information can be loaded into any animal performance recording system. Sire pedigree can be included in the results package if the breeder single sire mates.

A trial was run where the traditional pedigree system was tested against Smart Shepherd. When this proved successful, it was extended to all of the mobs.

The Jopps found the most effective way to do this was to bring the ewes into the yard and run them over the conveyor where the collars were put on. The lambs were then drafted and put through the tailing chute, and at the same time their collars and EID tags were put on. Using this approach, they were able to get through 800-1000 animals a day.

“For us to get into it, it needs to be fast and efficient,” says Hamish. “Once the collars were on, we turned the ewes and lambs back out into their blocks for 48 hours and then brought them back in and took the collars off.

While they were in the yard, we also tailed the lambs. It was efficient and saved us a lot of time.”

Andrew says that as well as providing efficiencies, the process is also better for the ewes and lambs.

“It is important to us that ewes are left

Andrew Jopp holds a lamb for testing one of the Smart Shepherd collars.

alone during lambing as much as possible to enable them to develop a strong bond with their lambs, particularly over the first 48 hours. The Smart Shepherd system allows us to do this and is also less stressful than other mothering up methods.”

Smart Shepherd aims to remove much of the guesswork so farmers can make more informed decisions and improve their on-farm productivity.

PROFILE • Wool representative

formal ticket paved the way for a career that’s spanned shearing; crutching; shearing contracting; wool classing; woolhandling; and membership of several shearing related organisations. During the thick of his career he classed about 50,000 sheep a year.

In retrospect his woolhandling involvement both as a competitor and competition organiser is a career highlight. During the late 1970s and early 1980s Bell was the undisputed king of the wool table. He was the consistent top qualifier and winner of the competition circuit and his efforts earned him Master Woolhandler status, an honour bestowed

by Shearing Sports New Zealand to the woolhandling elite.

PGG Wrightson Central Otago wool representative Graeme ‘Ding’ Bell still loves working with wool after more than 50 years in a range of roles.

“It doesn’t matter what end market a farmer’s clip ends up at. It has to be prepared to the highest standard and I’ve always tried to achieve that.”

WOOL GAME STILL APPEALS

after 50-plus years FINE WOOL WILL RISE AGAIN. But then again, you’d expect that comment from a PGG Wool rep, especially Graeme Bell who by his own admission has a wool-centric view on life.

He picked the dip in the fine wool market pre-Covid from the various market indicators and commentaries he keeps close tabs on.

The tell-tale signs were the depressed Italian economy; the China-America trade war as well as ructions within China’s wool processing industry.

“I told fine wool clients they could expect a 30 to 50% reduction in price, but I think things will improve once Europe is up and running again.”

Bell, known as ‘Ding,’ by colleagues and friends, has clocked up 50 years in the industry.

His introduction to the wool industry started as a primary school kid back in the early 1960s. The family’s footwear business was across the road from the Alexandra Memorial Hall, venue for the annual NZ Merino Shears, an event eagerly anticipated by Bell.

“I just loved the buzz and excitement of the

competitions and watching the shearers arrive in their Holden utes and Mark 2 Zephyrs.

Somehow I just knew that it’s where I wanted to be.”

He was a stalwart supporter from an early age and quickly became intoxicated by the smell of lanolin and fine wool rather than shoe leather. Keen to be in on the action he moved from spectating to helping out.

“I got the job of taking the skirted fleeces from the competition out the side door of the hall for baling up in the carpark.”

His big break into the competition scene came when a team arrived minus a wool handler leading to a last-minute roping in of Bell. Encouragement from local fine wool farmer and shearing judges including Alex Sanders, Jack McArthur and Andrew Jopp led him into shedhand work on leaving school in 1968. He worked for a local contractor Fred Peyton covering Central and West Otago, the Maniototo and Northern Southland. It was a perfect introduction to both fine and crossbred wool clips and the ideal complement to the wool course he completed at Lincoln in 1970.

The hard earned practical experience and

He strived for excellence during his top level competition days and that attention to clip presentation continued in his day to day career.

“It doesn’t matter what end market a farmer’s clip ends up at. It has to be prepared to the highest standard and I’ve always tried to achieve that.”

In 2013 Bell joined PPGWrightson Wool taking on the role of Central Otago representative, and immediately set about building the fine wool side of the business.

There’s no official job description, although he’s made it his mission to matchmake fine wool clips throughout the region with appropriate end users.

“Really I see it as my job to add value to my clients’ clips by creating a balanced portfolio of contract and open market opportunities so that they spread their risk.”

He’s perfectly placed for the role; its based in Alexandra which back in the day was the heart of New Zealand’s fine wool industry.

“My professor at Lincoln always said that the hills up and around Alexandra were the best fine wool growing country in the southern hemisphere and I think it’s still the case.”

Bell has no immediate plans on calling time on his all-consuming career and passion.

“There’s no obvious successor in the wings so in the meantime I’m happy to keep on doing what I enjoy.”

Merino Review 2020

45

SHOWS • Wanaka results

RESULTS FROM

Wanaka Show 2020 MERINO LIVESTOCK AND WOOL CLASSES Covid-19 forced the cancellation of many of the usual events on the Merino calendar for the year. Wanaka Show 2020 provided a fitting finale for the Merino Excellence 2020 event.

Most classes were well supported and keenly contested.

Results from the Merino section livestock and wool classes: Super fine Merino ram 17 micron & finer: Robbie and Chrissy Gibson, Malvern Downs, 1; A J Sanders, Matangi Station, 2.

Super fine Merino ewe 17 micron & finer: Robbie and Chrissy Gibson, Malvern Downs, 1, A J Sanders, Matangi Station, 2 and 3.

Super fine Merino hogget 17 micron & finer: Robbie and Chrissy Gibson, Malvern Downs, 1 ; Gordon Lucas, Nine Mile, 2, A J Sanders, Matangi Station, 3.

Fine Merino ewe, 17.1-19 micron: Will and Emily Murray, Glenmore, 1 ; Simon Paterson,

Armidale stud, 2, Will and Emily Murray, Glenmore, 3.

Fine Merino Hogget, 17.1-19 micron: Robbie and Chrissy Gibson, Malvern Downs, 1 and 2, Will and Emily Murray, Glenmore, 3.

Medium Merino Ram, 19.1 micron and stronger: Will and Emily Murray, Glenmore, 1; Simon Paterson, Armidale Stud, 2, Robbie and Chrissy Gibson, Malvern Downs, 3.

Medium Merino ewe 19.1 micron and stronger: Robbie and Chrissy Gibson, Malvern Downs, 1.

Medium Merino hogget, 19.1 micron and stronger: Will and Emily Murray, Glenmore, 1.

Champion stud Merino ram fleece: Will and Emily Murray, Glenmore.

Champion stud Merino ewe fleece: Will and Emily Murray, Glenmore.

Champion stud Merino hogget fleece: Robbie and Chrissy Gibson, Malvern Downs.

Halfbred, Polwarth and Corriedale ram: Andrew Paterson, Matakanui Station, 1.

Halfbred, Polwarth and Corriedale ewe: Andrew Paterson, Matakanui Station, 1, 2, 3 Halfbred, Polwarth and Corriedale hogget: Andrew Paterson, Matakanui Station, 1, 2, 3.

Champion stud fleece (excluding Merino): Andrew Paterson, Matakanui Station.

Three Merino Fleeces – ewe, wether or

EID Data backs up the important decisions at Lindis Peaks Station “The Merino industry has a range of sheep types, depending on the genetics you choose to focus on,” says Simon Mailing of Lindis Peaks station, “management decisions on farm are supported by data collected from Allflex EID tags, it’s hard to gauge the performance of individual animals when you don’t have any history.”

Lindis Peaks started using Allflex RapID EID ear tags in its replacement ewes in 2016 and has continued that practice every year since. With four years of records now available, this is the first year they are using these records to type-class all sheep as two-tooths pre-mating and this will assign them their mating mobs for life unless they are made a terminal. Helping the Malings out with the genetic development of their Merino flock is Will Gibson, an award-winning Merino stud breeder from Middlemarch and consultant for NeXtgen Agri. “When EID tagged sheep are run through the yards they are weighed and condition scored and that information is scanned and recorded.

It’s all about monitoring at the start and nailing down what you’re actually wanting to change, so until you know, you can’t make informed decisions on that. For a Merino we need to have them up in condition so we want to know if there are ewes out there that are falling away in condition or not,” Will explains.

Visit www.allflex.global/nz to read the full article.

46

Merino Review 2020

hogget from hill country: Taff Cochrane, Little Hunter, 1; Jack Davis, Long Acre, 2.

Super fine flock Merino ewe or wether, 17 micron and finer: JMJ, The Bend, 1 and 2, Geof Brown, Locharburn, 3.

Super fine flock Merino hogget, 16.5 micron or finer: Cluden Station, 1, Simon Maling, Lindis Peaks, 2, Jack Davis, Long Acre, 3.

Fine Flock Merino ewe or wether, 17.1-19 micron: Tom Moore, Lake Ohau, 1 and 2, Pip and Hamish Smith, Bendhu, 3.

Fine flock Merino hogget, 16.6-18 micron: Tom Rowley, 1; Jack Davis, Long Acre, 2 and 3.

Medium Flock Merino ewe or wether, 19.1 micron and stronger: Charles Todd-Hunter, Lake Heron, 1, Meg Taylor, River Run, 2, Barbara Blackler, Tullock Ard, 3.

Medium flock Merino hogget 18.1 micron and stronger: Tom Moore, 1 and 2; Pip & Hamish Smith, Bedhu, 3.

Flock Merino ram, any micron: John Perriam, 1, 2 and 3.

Champion flock Merino ewe fleece: Charles Todd-Hunter, Lake Heron.

Champion flock Merino hogget fleece: Cluden Station.

Quarterbred, Polwarth hogget, any micron: Callum Paterson, Ida Valley.

Supreme Champion Fleece: Will and Emily Murray, Glenmore.

MATANGI NABS FOURTH WIN A fleece from the Sanders family’s Matangi Station won this year’s Child Cancer Foundation fleece competition.

The Otago Merino Association’s long-running competition — which has raised more than $360,000 for the charity over the years — attracted 132 entries this year.

Each year, farmers are invited to give a fleece which is graded and sold by The New Zealand Merino Company. All funds are given to the foundation.

Matangi is an 11,400ha property at Little Valley, just outside Alexandra, which has been farmed by the Sanders family since 1923.

Matangi has previously won the overall prize in the fleece competition three times — in 1994, 1996 and 2009. The cup was first awarded in 1989.

RESULTS: Medium micron (17.9 and stronger): Olrig Station, Elliott and Nikki Heckler, 1, Cluden Station, Ben and Sam Purvis, 2, Mt St Bathans, Don Malcolm, 3.

Fine (17-17.8): Matangi Station, John and Mary-Liz, Brett and Helen Sanders, 1, Ben Ohau Station, Simon and Priscilla Cameron, 2, Buscot Station, Richard and Jemma Gloag, 3.

Super fine (16.1-16.9): Buscot Station, 1, Craiglea Station, Brian, Maxine and Adam Wright, 2, Craighurst Stations, Nick and Kim Richards, 3.

Ultra fine (16 and finer): Happy Valley Station, Duncan and Rae Henderson, 1, Wai-tangi Station, David and Kerrie Sutton, 2, Geordie Hill Station, Matt and Jo McCaughan, 3.

Overall winner: Matangi Station.

MERINO breeder directory STUD NAME

NAME

LOCATION

PHONE

Armidale Awapiri Benmore Blairich Cleardale Earnscleugh Glenlee Glenmore Glentanner Grays Hills Hawksburn Isolation Kaiwara Lauder Little Valley Malvern Downs Maryburn Matangi Matarae Middlehurst Mount Hay Moutere Muller Nine Mile Otematata Rhino Park Sandown Sawdon Somerton Park Stonehenge Strathclyde The Gums Upcot Wairua

Simon Paterson Eric and Sally Smith Bill and Kate Sutherland Tom and Ron Small Ben Todhunter Duncan Campbell Rob Hamilton Will and Emily Murray Mark Ivey Mark and Sherie Urquhart Phillip McElroy Rob and Sally Peter Geoff Millar Grant and Robyn Calder Lindon and Jenni Sanders Robbie Gibson Martin Murray John Sanders William and Emily Jones Willie Macdonald John and Sam Simpson Jopp Family Mike and Mary Satterthwaite Gordon Lucas Hugh Cameron Colin Clark Helen Heddel Robert Allan Isobel Somerton-Smythe Andrew Hore John McArthur Ian and Mark Stevenson Bill Stevenson Russell Smilie

Ranfurly Awatere Valley Omarama Awatere Valley Rakaia Gorge Alexandra Awatere Valley Lake Tekapo Mt Cook Lake Tekapo Cromwell Ward Swannanoa Omakau Alexandra Tarras Fairlie Alexandra Outram Wairau Valley Lake Tekapo Alexandra Awatere Valley Tarras Otematata Hawea Flat Rangiora Lake Tekapo Swannanoa Ranfurly Clyde Rangiora Awatere Valley Hakataramea Valley

03 444 9322 03 575 7990 03 438 9474 03 575 7257 03 302 8233 03 449 2031 03 575 7465 03 680 6752 03 435 1843 03 680 6640 03 445 0874 03 575 6866 03 312 6635 03 447 3377 03 448 6575 03 445 2839 03 680 6612 03 448 7806 03 464 3855 03 575 7042 021 336 806 03 447 3726 03 575 7044 03 445 2885 03 438 7863 03 443 5801 03 312 0404 03 680 6574 03 448 8335 03 444 7703 03 448 8335 03 319 8443 03 575 7463 03 436 0287

STEP UP YOUR SHEEP OPERATION WITH A RACEWELL HANDLER

T30 SCALE SYSTEM Use EID to collect fleece weights, live weights and multiple animal traits.

Get in touch for a free on-site demo M AT T S H I E F F E L B I E N

Racewell Sales Ph: 027 565 0260

0800 837 274 www.tepari.com

Merino Review 2020

47

EVENT • Merino Excellence 2020

NEW ZEALAND MERINOS

showcased to the world

Rams on display at Blairich Station.

ANNABELLE LATZ

A

PICK OF NEW ZEALAND’S best Merino sheep went under the spotlight earlier this year at the Merino Excellence 2020.

More than 30 Merino stud farmers, and those involved in the wider industry from Argentina, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Australia gathered to visit some of best of the Merino offerings in some special pockets of the South Island.

They started in North Canterbury, headed north to Marlborough’s Awatere Valley, across to the West Coast for some sight seeing, then spent a few days in Central Otago to attend the Merino Excellence 2020 Congress in Cromwell on March 12. It was all finished off with a visit to Wanaka A&P Show.

48

Merino Review 2020

First stop of the South Island tour was The Gums Poll Merino stud in Cheviot, North Canterbury.

The Stevenson family is at the helm of this 920ha property, New Zealand’s oldest currently operating Merino stud, first formed in 1903.

The 19 micron fleeces from their Merinos are pegged for Ice Breaker, while the wools from their quarter-bred and half-bred flocks target Smart Wool contracts.

“We focus on fertile and productive sheep,” said Mark, who runs The Gums with his father Ian. The focus is to breed sheep that position commercial clients to profit.

“It’s about breeding uncomplicated sheep that can handle any environment, while breeding for resistance to animal health challenges.”

Further up the road in Marlborough’s Awatere Valley, these global Merino visitors were in for another treat visiting three iconic Merino stud properties in one day and getting the chance to chat to a number of producers.

Manuel Camus from the Chubut province of Argentina has been managing a 45,000ha property with 20,000 Merinos for nearly four decades, and has during the years bought rams from the Awatere’s Blairich Station.

“I like the wool; it’s brilliant and white, soft, well nourished and good weight.”

The ability for these fleeces to keep out the dust and dirt is very important to Manuel.

Ron and Sue Small have farmed the 3100ha Blairich Station for 20 years, where they have their Merino stud.

Ron, president of the New Zealand Stud Merino Breeders Society, says Merino farming is in a positive place at the moment, especially

TOP: A good gathering at Middlehurst Station. ABOVE LEFT: Sally and Eric Smith of Awapiri Station enjoyed the day meeting Merino producers from around the world, and showing the crowd some of their own Merinos. ABOVE RIGHT: Merino farmer Campbell Penny of Victoria, Awatere Valley Merino farmer Kit Sandel of Upton Fells, and Victoria farmer Greg Campbell.

with the fine wool prices and the integrity of the industry thanks to initiatives like the ethical wool brand ZQ driven by The New Zealand Merino Company.

A handful of farmers from the Awatere Valley gathered at Blairich Station with their own progeny for the tour group to see.

Ron had a great time on this tour in 2018 in Uruguay and was thrilled to see them on his turf.

“There is an element of looking at sheep, but equal to that is visiting special places and learning about rural culture. Often we learn as much about the culture as the sheep.”

Sally and Eric Smith of Awapiri Station know they are in a special industry with Merinos, and the wider focus for all breeders and farmers must be to keep moving forward.

“We need to get it out there that we are sustainable and focused, and ethically minded,” said Sally.

Bill Stevenson of Upcot Station said the Awatere Valley is great Merino country.

His family has been farming the 13,500ha property since 1902, and the stud was founded in 1944.

“You sort of grow a few roots,” he smiled.

Bill agreed with his neighbours that Merino wool is in a good place and having 10 year contracts with companies such as Icebreaker certainly adds stability.

Bill will get seven, perhaps eight years out of his sheep for their fleece. Wool is his focus and he aims for around 19 microns fleeces.

But he does acknowledge the meat side of things is important.

“The carcases have got to be good too,” he said.

Blair Davies, Area Manager for Marlborough for The New Zealand Merino Company, was also in the valley for the tour.

He enjoys the relationship he has with

all the farmers, particularly helping them understand the value add of NZM’s ethical wool brand ZQ and NZM’s branded contracts.

There was some representation from the Russian Merino industry, which is seeing a decline in the breed. There are currently between 13 and 14 million Merinos farmed there, but export numbers have dropped recently with the loss of the Chinese market.

Magomed Abdurakhmanov farms in southern Russia’s largest sheep farming area, the Dagestan region.

He farms 25,000 Merinos in total on their 15,000ha farm; where they breed rams, sell lambs, and keep 11,000 replacement ewes.

This Merino breed was introduced there in 1935, using rams from Australia and Germany, and ewes from Russia.

Magomed said there’s no such thing as ‘owning’ farms in Russia. Instead, all farms are leased, his on a 49-year lease.

Merino Review 2020

49

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Julie Rogers and Julie Meyer from Victoria, Australia; Mikhail Egorov from Russia, Will Roberts from Queensland Australia, and Yuri Korneenko from Russia share ideas about Merino farming; Kakharman Kuder (left) is involved in farming Merinos, and Dr Bakitzhan Mussabayev is involved in Merino breeding at the Kazakh Research Institute of Animal and Fodder Production; Ian and Mark Stevenson spoke about the importance of breeding a robust Merino that can handle harsh conditions, yet still produce excellent wool and quality meat.

“Our sheep must be resilient,” he said, adding that each spring the sheep are walked for three months, covering 300 kilometres and reaching 3000 metres above sea level to graze the summer ground.

Fences are limited on farms in Russia.

Sheep must be bred for good feet so they can be moved around a lot.

He was impressed with the wool New Zealand Merinos have, especially its ability to keep out dust and rain.

“We want to focus on good genetics,” he said.

From nearby Kazakhstan, Merino breeder Kakharman Kuder farms in the Almata, 15km from China’s border. He’s at 2000m above sea level, where temperatures can range from minus 35 degrees Celsius, to plus 35 degrees Celsius.

Kakharman’s 14,000ha farm which he and his brother are involved in, produces ‘Arhar Merino,’ a cross between a wild sheep and a Merino.

During the USSR days they would export to 14 countries. Nowadays, exporting has ground to a halt, but he’d like to see it start again.

50

Merino Review 2020

The day up the Awatere Valley began up at Muller Station, on which the stud began in 2005.

Owners Steve and Mary Satterthwaite spoke to those gathered at the homestead about the importance of breeding quality Merinos, through single trait selection.

“The phenotype is very important, but what you can’t see, is as well,” said Steve, emphasising the need to keep the quality wool side of the industry, but also keep improving the muscle and fat components.

The easy-care factor of a high country sheep which grazes at up to 7000ft, with good feet, is equally as vital.

“Foot rot is one of the biggest impediments for Merinos in New Zealand. If resilience can be improved, this will great for potential expansion of the breed.”

Steve said Merino breeding is improving all the time.

“If we can breed more resilient sheep, that will be good for the industry.”

Chris and Tracey Thomson were on the tour from Strathbogie, North East Victoria in Australia.

With 40 years in the Merino industry, Chris agreed with Steve about the importance of genetic selection, as the demand for quality fine wool in places like Europe is increasing.

He said having access to well-bred rams, with a strong focus on constant genetic improvement, is a key part of this.

The middle section of the day up the Awatere Valley was spent at Middlehurst Station, owned by Willie and Susan Macdonald.

Willie spoke of the genetic shift they have had in the past couple of years, due to the Central Progeny Test driven by NZM and Dr Mark Ferguson.

“We had a change from large frames lacking carcase quality, we needed to change this.”

The Merinos at Middlehurst Station are shorn twice a year, and Willie believes that through genetics they can increase staple length, maintain fleece quality, and improve muscle and fat components.

Stud Merinos from Awatere Valley properties Glenlee Station and Isolation Station were also on display at Blairich Station for the day.

BL AIRICH M E R I N O & POLL MERINOS

127% lambing (10 year average) Heavy cutting, superior, white waterproof wools Conformation, Constitution, Prof itable

Merino Review 2020

51

SECTION • Slug specific

Barkers

True Fleece

Max

Aclima

Icebreaker

Hugo Boss

Untouched World

Reda

Mons

Allbirds

Jigsaw

Talk to our team about branded contract opportunities for your wool.

Northern Regional Manager Nicola Peddie 021 999 251 52

nzmerino.co.nz | discoverzq.com Merino Review 2020

Southern Regional Manager Pete Scarlet 021 309 140

Smartwool