Friday, 19 January 2024 08:26

Adapting and evolving

Written by  Staff Reporters
Sheep production systems in New Zealand have adapted and evolved over the past 30 years. Sheep production systems in New Zealand have adapted and evolved over the past 30 years.

Sheep production systems in New Zealand have adapted and evolved over the past 30 years to match the drivers of on-farm income.

While delivering the 2023 Alan Sevier Memorial Lecture at the University of Western Australia Institute of Agriculture, Massey University’s Professor Paul Kenyan explored how research coupled with technology transfer and farmer interaction influenced this evolution. Kenyon says lamb production drove farmer decision making.

“Research coupled with technology transfer and farmer interaction has driven the increases observed in ewe reproductive rate, lamb growth rates and carcass weights at slaughter,” he added. “While the national flock is significantly less than half of its 1980’s size, total industry carcass weight has only dropped by 14 per cent.”

Kenyon explained that the sheep industry in New Zealand was traditionally driven by course wool (above 30 micron) production. “However, with the relative and absolute value of wool falling, coupled with increased shearing costs, farmers have needed to adapt to ensure they remain economically viable – such as opportunities with importing shedding breeds like the Wiltshire.”

The lecture was attended by animal scientists and farmers. It also explored ewe lamb breeding, management to maximise multiple bearing ewe performance, targeted feeding to maximise return, alternative herbages, and efficiency drivers of the New Zealand system.

The evening ended on a light-hearted note, with the institute’s associate director Professor Phil Vercoe – a longtime research collaborator with Kenyon – admonishing his friend for referring to sheep as a ‘lawnmower’.

“If your PhD supervisor (UWA Adjunct Associate Professor Dean Revell) had been in the audience, he’d have gone apoplectic,” Vercoe said. “As you know, his great saying is: ‘Sheep aren’t lawnmowers, they’re mobile biochemical analysers’.”

More like this

Massey study tests impact of solar panels on grass growth

Many farmers have invested in solar energy for dairy sheds or houses, but little hard data exists on the viability of solar panels in open paddocks or the loss of drymatter this may cause. Massey University scientist Dr Sam Wilson is conducting research to get more information about this. Rural News reporter Peter Burke went to investigate.

From Nelson to Dairy Research: Amy Toughey’s Journey

Driven by a lifelong passion for animals, Amy Toughey's journey from juggling three jobs with full-time study to working on cutting-edge dairy research trials shows what happens when hard work meets opportunity - and she's only just getting started.

Featured

'One more push' to eliminate FE

Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling on farmers from all regions to take part in the final season of the Sheep Poo Study aiming to build a clearer picture of how facial eczema (FE) affects farms across New Zealand.

Winston Peters questions Fonterra divestment plan

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has joined the debate around the proposed sale of Fonterra’s consumer and related businesses, demanding answers from the co-operative around its milk supply deal with the buyer, Lactalis.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Quid prod quo?

OPINION: Ageing lefty Chris Trotter reckons that the decision to delay recognition of Palestinian statehood is more than just a fit…

Deadwood

OPINION: A mate of yours truly recently met someone at a BBQ who works at a big consulting firm who spent…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter