A planting dream at Te Kano
An ancient kōwhai atop a craggy hill face has inspired a decade-long planting programme at Northburn Vineyard in Central Otago.
Roger Tweeds runs 2300 Romney ewes and 200 hoggets on his 300ha farm near Lawrence, Central Otago.
Tweed's been 30 years on his present farm, a mix of river flats and steep country and typically dry in summer.
He's experimented with a variety of terminal sires over the years, but has settled with the Southdown which he puts across up to 500 ewes in his B flock and all his ewe hoggets.
Tweed says the Southdown makes for easy lambing and what he likes most is that the lambs grow well and come weaning time he has a good product to sell. He reckons with some other terminal sires he's tried, while the lambing percentage was good the growth rate was not and that's what counts!
Tweed says this is especially so with the lambs from the ewe hoggets.
"My place is steep and gets hot in summer. I notice that the Southdown rams and their progeny do well in this environment. I love the Southdown because they just keep on growing," he says.
He selects his B flock ewes based on how the animals look, not on their age. As for weaning, this depends on the state of the lambs.
"The first lambs are generally weaned in mid-December, a mixture of those put to the terminal sire and those from the commercial flock. I don't lamb an early mob as some people do.
"For example, last year I weaned after new year. I don't farm by the calendar, I farm for the betterment of the animals."
Tweed says the Southdown ram produces a "good meaty sheep" and he's especially pleased with the lambs from the hoggets. He reckons the weight these lambs put on sets them aside from some other terminal sire breeds available.
Alliance has announced a series of capital raise roadshow event, starting on 29 September in Tuatapere, Southland.
State farmer Pāmu (Landcorp) has announced a new equity partnership in an effort to support pathways to farm ownership for livestock farm operators.
Following a recent overweight incursion that saw a Mid-Canterbury contractor cop a $12,150 fine, the rural contracting industry is calling time on what they consider to be outdated and unworkable regulations regarding weight and dimensions that they say are impeding their businesses.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says his officials plan to meet their US counterparts every month from now on to better understand how the 15% tariff issue there will play out, and try and get some certainty there for our exporters about the future.
Brett Wotton, an Eastern Bay of Plenty kiwifruit grower and harvest contractor, has won the 2025 Kiwifruit Innovation Award for his work to support lifting fruit quality across the industry.
OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…
OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.