Breeder credits late uncle for hair sheep success
Southland breeder Tim Gow attributes the success of his Shire breed of hair sheep to the expert guidance of his uncle, the late Dr Scott Dolling, who was a prominent Australian animal geneticist.
Continuing poor returns for crossbred wool coupled with the emergence of triple drench resistance is driving an increasing number of sheep farmers to consider making the shift to low-input, no-shear Wiltshires.
Aside from shearing, the costs of crutching, dagging and flystrike are all eliminated with these shedding sheep. Meanwhile, Wiltshires are said to be more resistant and resilient to internal parasites than their wooly counterparts.
Will Pears, stud manager at North Canterbury's Mt Cass Wiltshire stud, says last year's inaugural sale exceeded all expectations in terms of price and interest. He is expecting the same at this year's sale on January 19.
Pears says last year more than 100 buyers from around the country competed strongly for both rams and ewes and feedback from purchasers has been overwhelmingly positive.
One of those buyers was Waimate farmer Tim Mehrtens. He admits it took a leap of faith in buying Wiltshire ewe lambs and rams at the Mt Cass's sale but was rewarded with a good lambing percentage and very good pre-weaning growth rates.
Mehrtens, who farms 215ha of rolling hill country, says the shift to Wiltshire genetics was driven by frustration with poor returns for wool. While he has been buying very good composite ewe lambs, in 2020 the difference between shearing costs and the wool cheque left him $3,500 out of pocket.
The first crop of pure Wiltshire and Wiltshire cross lambs, born last spring, exceeded expectations. Mehrtens says he was pleasantly surprised at the pre-weaning growth rates and their mothering ability.
Forced to wean early due to limited processing space, he says 220 twin male lambs killed out at 17.5 kgCW and a line of Wiltshire cross lambs averaged 17.7 kgCW.
Mehrtens has also noticed that a lot of the first cross lambs have started to shed.
"I'm stoked with the results," he says.
Meat co-operative, Alliance has met with a group of farmer shareholders, who oppose the sale of a controlling stake in the co-op to Irish company Dawn Meats.
Rollovers of quad bikes or ATVs towing calf milk trailers have typically prompted a Safety Alert from Safer Farms, the industry-led organisation dedicated to fostering a safer farming culture across New Zealand.
The Government has announced it has invested $8 million in lower methane dairy genetics research.
A group of Kiwi farmers are urging Alliance farmer-shareholders to vote against a deal that would see the red meat co-operative sell approximately $270 million in shares to Ireland's Dawn Meats.
In a few hundred words it's impossible to adequately describe the outstanding contribution that James Brendan Bolger made to New Zealand since he first entered politics in 1972.
Dawn Meats is set to increase its proposed investment in Alliance Group by up to $25 million following stronger than forecast year-end results by Alliance.
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