‘Your Commercial Solution’.

            Rawahi is a flat 550ha farm wintering 7600su in a 65/35 sheep/cattle split with trading and capital stock given feed priority according to seasonal conditions and requirements. Sheep farming on the property started in 1907, with ram breeding commencing in 1924 and the flock now comprises 3300 ewes, which includes 1000 2ths along with 1250 ewe hoggets and 600 ram hoggets.  Area average annual rainfall is 1117mm and the property is prone to excessive north westerly wind which means average conditions are ‘summer dry’. Located at the southern end of the North Island, geographically the farm lies fully exposed to the south, where southerly wind blows directly off Paliser Bay and Cook Strait.

              The farm is divided into 74 paddocks all of which have improved pastures, limited shelter and river water reticulated to them. Pastures generally are replaced 12 yearly with a blend of diploid and tetraploid ryegrass/clover mixes, some popular cultivars being ‘Greenstone’, ‘Aries’ and ‘Pacific’. As a result of lake and river infuence, all paddocks contain variation in soil types, which range from clays, to alluvial silts, to sands and shingle. Because of this variation, despite the farms’ flatness, the majority of the ‘lighter country’ has reduced commercial value.

             Of the 3300 ewes wintered, 1900 are performance recorded on the NZ Animal Breeding Trusts’ Animalplan system which has now been incorporated into Sheep Improvement Ltd.(SIL) This ‘scientific’ and objective measurement information is blended with ‘eye appraisal’ to arrive at a balanced judgement about any and all animals. Performance recording has been practiced for at least 25 years at Rawahi in various forms and it is an evolving process that for the last 18 years has objectively measured and selected for fertility, growth rate and woolweight. ‘How many’ and ‘how much’ is not stresssed to the point that ‘what’ is being produced is overlooked, because quality adds important value, particularly to wool and carcass.

            Management combines more than 50 years experience in sheep breeding and every key policy decision is taken with our ram buyers’ commercial interests in mind. Because Rawahi also conducts bull, steer, lamb finishing and an 80ha cropping programme, managements’ time can only be devoted to what maximises output with minimum input. This is the commercial reality of modern day farming that utilises technology and it is the foundation of business growth, as distinct from a bygone era when extra performance was heavily proportional to extra work. Our objective is to reduce work while improving production performance and output quality.

             Out-crossing is an integral part of any breeding operation and we contend that the genetic variation within the Romney breed is under utilised, thereby placing a question over the current trend to extensive crossbreeding. Our judgement is that composites will improve fertility and facial excma tolerance, however, they are commercially inferior in all other respects, once the benefits of hybrid vigour are removed. In defence of the current trend, it is an integral part of breeding to be taking only what is good, from whatever source, then blending those genetics with ones’ own flock. The relative ‘newness’ of these genetics makes their integrity difficult to determine, while good Romneys demonstrate comparable performance in a greater range of conditions. 

 Each year for the last 18 years we have attempted to source outside blood from managers demonstrating similar commercial performance and philosophy to us, and the Animalplan/SIL system takes a lot of the guesswork out of this. Our preference is for rams from individual operators that are not afraid of the unconventional, when the good outweighs the bad. While sheer weight of numbers helps create selection options in breeding, we believe a talented individuals’ ability cannot always be overlooked in favour of the computer. Management should ultimately have more influence on genetic merit than environment, but the effect of each on flock performance must be scrutinised carefully.

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