Making your sheepfarming easier and more profitable.
Let the fittest survive
Sheepfarming in New Zealand is being pushed back into the hill country, or onto land which frequently faces drought. The trend has been towards more extensive farms, less labour, and lower fertiliser input, yet improved productivity is needed from easycare sheep. Climatic stresses require genetics capable of bouncing back quickly.
Tough sheep for tough times
The Wairere environment puts pressure on stock. We are reminded of this when we try running other sheep at Wairere. One example was 350 5-year Perendale ewes purchased in January 2006 for a special client request. These ewes were in extremely good condition (68kg after two days trucking), scanned at 180%, but weaned only 105%. The Wairere Romney ewes weaned 150% in the same season. The wet/cold/mud/wind-chill/high stocking rate at Wairere has been Wairere’s biggest positive factor over the years.
“We don’t feed them up to produce big two-tooth rams, we feed them down to push the non-doers out the bottom”.
Nationally, the Wairere reputation is built around shifting ability and the ability to bounce back after a hard time.
Lambing Percentage
The Wairere (recorded) Romney flock has been analysed by Abacus Biotech for twinning rate versus triplets. Of fifteen flocks analysed, Wairere had the best ratio of more twins/less triplets. We believe that conception rate is only part of the mix for best profitability.
One example was at the most recent South Otago MRDC monitor farm, where Jonathon Bennett compared Wairere to Inverdales. In the drought year of 2008, the Inverdales conceived very well (215%) but weaned only 144% (67% survival) and the ewes were still not in satisfactory condition by mid-summer.
The Waireres scanned 170%, but weaned 146% (86% survival) and the ewes bounced back to be in good condition by February.
We have clients lambing as high as mid 160s, but many feel that their optimum is in the range 130 to 150.
Survivability
Wairere has mated all ewe hoggets since 1966. From 2003, only those which get in lamb have been eligible as replacements. The ewe hoggets, over that 43 year period, have never had a lambing beat. That is the first hurdle cleared towards easycare sheep.
For many years wet dry ewes have been culled. Each recorded ewe is checked each year – how many lambs has she weaned compared to lambs born? How does she look – condition score, dags, udder, feet, wool?
We also check out sire progeny groups, to assess survival rate, and sale/retention ratios for male progeny and female progeny.
Growth rate
This is the key attribute to making sheepfarming easier and more profitable. Faster growing lambs are sold earlier, and therefore require less work. Fast growing ewe lambs provide the option of hogget mating or easier wintering.
We couple a big emphasis on growth rate with carcass analysis, via eye muscle scanning. We scan thousands of ram lambs each year in February and March. Over a 15 year period this has led to a carcass type in strong demand from processors.
We have testimonials also from a number of large-scale specialist finishers who have found Wairere lambs to be superior to many other strains.
Performance Recording
We have 8,000 SIL recorded Romney ewes and 12,000 in multiplier flocks. There are 2,700 SIL recorded composites, and 1,000 in multiplier flocks. The composite terminal sire Wairere Dominator flock has 1,200 ewes.
Big numbers allow heavy culling, and better selection for ram clients.
Animal Health.
Wairere policy is to drench no adult stock, unless emergency conditions require it (8% of ewes drenched in the 2008 drought). The insights gained from this trial work feed into an ongoing program of minimal drenching.
Facial eczema – what is Wairere doing about it?
We used to think of F.E. as a one in ten year occurrence, except for Waikato and North. However, the second hit in two years has convinced us to take action.
This year we leased six top rams from Edward Dinger, the rams which he used in his own breeding program in 2009. Edward farms in the Waikato where the challenge can get as high as 1.2 million spores. He has tested for 23 years, and currently doses at .6 sporidesmin. One year a few of his ram hoggets accidentally got a double dose, but they pulled through.
Edward has a Coopworth flock with an infusion of East Friesian, Texel and Finn dating back to the 1990s.
His sires dominate the national Coopworth sire reference scheme (85 breeders), with twelve out of the top thirty four 1994 – 2008, including the three ranked at the top.
Our decision to go for hybrid vigour was made because the impact of breeding for one main attribute can reduce progress in other desired traits, like growth rate. We have mated over 900 Wairere ewes to the Dinger rams. The ewe lamb progeny will be shifted to an F.E. environment.
Making sheepfarming easier
Our strong emphasis at Wairere on minimal dags and good feet is an ongoing commitment to reducing your workload. The search for sound structure, good muscling, and a consistent type complements performance recording for fertility, growth rate, eye muscle area, and wool.
