Sheep management policy centres on the breeding and finishing of lambs
to maximum potential that seasonal conditions allow and this is achieved
on short, high quality pastures where feed covers rarely exceed 1500kg
DM/ha. Very strong emphasis is given to clover population maintenance in
the sward, with the cornerstone of our grazing management policy being
‘short, fresh and palatable'. Logically it follows our belief is that
good stockmanship is having stock that does well on very little, and
naturally our sheep must be good at foraging.
As with any
genuinely commercial operation, inputs at Rawahi are kept to a bare
minimum and here is a list of inputs we don’t utilise, that we observe
being commonly used by similar breeding operations in this
district:
no
‘off farm’ grazing
no
artificial ‘N’(urea)
no
‘extender’ capsules
no
ram vaccinations or B12 lamb injections.
no
grains and nuts
no
whole flock scanning
no
lambing huts or lambing covers
no
3 lambing beats per day.(max 2)
no
lambing at 700 ewes per man.(min.1500)
no
foot bathing or trimming.
Our view is
that utilising all of these practices would clearly enhance our per head
returns, but would ultimately diminish the value of your ram buying
dollar, by logically producing an inherently weak and input dependent
sheep over time. As breeders providing genetic foundation material to
commercial operations, we see this low input management policy as the
only way to eliminate compromise and maintain the integrity of our
bloodline from generation to generation. Clearly scanning, for example,
makes money in numerous ways, but as breeders, we are more interested in
competitive response, that is ewes capable of weaning at least their
liveweight in lambs while in the company of single bearing dams. There
never will be any adjustment for competitive reality and, obviously, we
sacrifice some performance ourselves in our bid to provide clients this
guarantee of ‘commercial dependability’.
We contend
that in the rush to produce top performance figures, the line between
breeding and feeding has become so blurred that accurate judgement about
individual flock genetic merit, in most cases, is very difficult to
make. SIL’s ACE(Advanced Central Evaluation) is an attempt to remove the
guesswork on this subject, and our excellent performances here indicate
our thinking on this issue is correct. In the final analysis, we remain
convinced that the highest genetic merit belongs to the sheep that cope
with competition and adversity best, simply because any modern sheep
produce well when fed well. Our objective is to produce sheep that are
very strong on constitution (transferability of genetic merit), with our
best example of this adaptability being a client’s ram working to 11yrs
in a rainfall area that gets down to less than 25 inches annually. At
the other end of the scale, clients farming above 1500feet and receiving
over 120inches rainfall, report good and improving results. Amongst
regular clients, it is not unusual to hear that all rams bought in the
last three years are alive and working.
Two of the
figures that highlight the major point of difference on these kinds of
issues, between Rawahi and other comparable operations in the Wairarapa,
are animal health and fertiliser expenditure per ssu. Our 10 yr. average
animal health is $1.91/ssu, which is less than half the average amount
spent by other farmers in the area achieving income per stock unit
equivalent to ours, and is close to the average $1.50/hd spent by store
lamb producers involved in similar Farm Analysis Bureau surveys. Seven
year fertiliser/lime averages just $5.49/su, which comes in at about
half the amount for our category in the survey group and we contend
these two figures highlight some of the unique aspects of our bloodline,
particularly with regard to ‘conversion efficiency’. Also Rawahi is
both drench resistance free and Johnes free, and in the majority of
years we drench 50% less frequently than label recommendation, while
acknowledging it would be good not to drench at all. Worm resilience is
excellent and for the last decade we have subjected all capital stock
lambs to a 10-12 week interval without drenching at post weaning. Lambs
failing this test are culled and this figure can range up to 25%.
Retained stock demonstrates both low maintenance and very good growth
rates.
The sire
side of our breeding policy uses fast growing twin rams that have come
from consistently productive mothers that demonstrate both good milking
ability and maternal instincts, characteristics which are individually
assessed and recorded on the spot at lambing. These characteristics
include a free lambing, in a well-chosen spot in the paddock, of two or
more lambs that are cleaned, active, alert, fed well and kept together
by their caring mother. At weaning all potential sires must have grown
at greater than 330gms/day, while coming from a mother producing at
least 60kg of even weighted lambs from an unscanned and feed unadjusted
environment. We are always very interested in dams weaning 70, 80, and
even 110kgs of lambs in these type of ‘competitive’ conditions, and more
so when they do it year after year. The success of our lambing is based
upon moderate to higher birth weights and the good thick skins we know
we have, both of which contribute to better survivability, particularly
when compared to today’s composites.
We have
further accelerated the overall genetic improvement of the flock through
extensive use of ram lambs as sires, which have made up as many as 70%
of rams used in some earlier years, but now averaging about 30%.
Analysis of the progeny of each individual ram is a constant process
with about 30% of sires getting to work two years and longer. Final
judgement on any ram is usually delayed until his daughter’s lamb as
2ths and many valuable seasons’ related comparisons (drought) are
revealed in subsequent lambings. The fertility potential of 95% of rams
used in the last six years has exceeded 200%, similarly on the dam side,
for the past ten years any ewe whose breeding potential has slipped
below 150% has been culled from the recorded flock, with the dams’ BP of
our own sires being at least 180%. 2ths must scan twins to gain
inclusion in the recorded flock.
Fertility
has been gradually improved to what we consider to be an optimum range
for us of 135-155% lambing, and we stress that all farms and managers do
have an individual balance here that needs to be established and
targeted. However we agree with recent media comment that lambing
percentage is ‘overdone’, chiefly at the expense of just ‘how’ and
‘what’ is being produced. For us, now under average mating conditions,
at least 95% of mixed age ewes and 2ths take the ram in one and a half
cycles, generally at ram to ewe ratios ranging from 1/70 up to 1/130.
Post tupping slackness in rams is regarded as an undesirable weakness,
however good tupping results can be achieved by our rams with ratios up
170/1, even in dry conditions.
Championship quality wool, good carcass, conformation and good feet are
all essential prerequisites for our sires. When we do out cross, we
spread the favourable characteristics of the new outside bloodline back
into our flock with first cross ram lambs, which speeds the favourable
change, while not compromising the constitution of our flock too
significantly. Good feet have average to small basically black claws
that show good separation, which reduces the buildup of material between
them. The ability to self-correct problems, such as scald, means
maintenance isn’t required and DNA testing for foot rot has commenced
recently.
From our
competition wins, we know the wool and carcass genetics we combine
together are amongst the best in New Zealand and each year we have them
assessed by independent professionals. Dave McPherson of Elders Primary
Wool Exporters, who has exhibited the NZ Golden Fleece Champion in nine
of the last sixteen years and has 35 years industry experience, assesses
and types our wool. Recent carcass evaluation is done with ultra sound
scanning by Ian Walsh of Falkirk Genetics. Ian produces an index that
incorporates the muscle to bone to fat ratio of each ram along with an
assessment of the overall physiology of the animal. Evidence of long
term progress in this area has been confirmed with a whole season
average kill out yield in excess of 46%, for 2007 from our own lamb
finishing operation.
The cornerstone of our wool policy is that premium quality
wool can also ‘weigh’ and deliver consistently superior commercial
returns. The quality points in our staple type in terms of formation,
micron (34-37), colour(0-3) and bulk(23-26cc/gm), generate interest from
buyers that translate into consistent above market returns. Other
important features of our fleece quality and staple type are that year
by year, regardless of seasonal conditions, it is likely to produce the
greatest total weight of high quality wool throughout the life of the
sheep. The second important but subtle feature is that it is the type of
wool that will still ‘weigh’ comparatively well, even in drought
conditions.
While the
current market for wool is long overdue for improvement, we contend it
is short-sighted to relegate wool to ‘by product’ status and as a
producer you are obligated to do your best, while never forgetting that
‘quality always sells’ and ‘quality doesn’t cost, it pays!’ Good wool
genetics are highly heritable, so from this standpoint they are easy to
keep right for when market conditions improve and logically, with all
the changes being made to the industry in order to improve grower
returns, that should happen. To a large extent, we believe that at
present our premium quality wool genetics are supplied ‘free’ to
clients, whose commercial priorities realistically lie elsewhere.
Carcass at
Rawahi is a prize-winning article chiefly as a result of several decades
of survival of the fittest and is, despite the farm’s flatness, a
genuine North Island hill country type. We have refined that gradually
over the last fifteen years, where the aim has been to increase
muscularity while leaving fat levels largely unchanged. Fat is nature’s
reserve, which in moderation has many beneficial features that outweigh
it’s drawbacks at the various steps in the production cycle and we
contend that breeder initiatives to remove it are both misguided and
unnatural. Specifically, fat improves meat colour, tenderness and ‘ph’
on the supermarket shelf and it improves a ewes’ chances of getting in
lamb during autumn drought. Recent reseach now proves it is the
essential reserve ingredient for twin bearing ewes to produce sufficient
early lactation when pasture covers are too low(<700kgDm/ha.) at
lambing. Ewes must be able to put on ‘condition’ quickly post weaning
and be capable of holding it through autumn, especially at pasture
‘clean up’ time when they must be able to ‘work’. Fat is
essential.
Proportionately the hindquarters, midriff and head with shoulders of our
sheep should split into thirds to be properly balanced, without excess
length or height being obvious. The all important ‘backend’, where most
of the extra kilos of carcass weight come from, must be rounded and
full. When viewed from above, the back, loin and rib section must give
the impression of width and flatness, both prerequisites that will
maximise eye muscle area. Meat Board market analysis indicates the ideal
cutting carcass is slightly shorter than current average lengths and
belongs to sheep that carry their heads high(...when they had it!)
Usually 80-90% of the lambs we kill grade P or Y at carcass weights up
to 26kgs and typically the average GR of our ram hoggets at 48 weeks is
12-13mm with a range of 5-20mm. We like depth in the ‘barrel’ of our
rams because it’s a sure pointer to constitution. Generally we kill
trade ram lambs at 20kgs cw, with kill out yields up to 52%, and average
season whole flock growth rates of up to 220gms/day, on a grass only
diet.
In terms of outside competitive achievement we have focused
on wool because, unlike sheep showing, it has a genuine commercial
application that is readily transferable to any sheep farmers’ flock.
Over the past decade we have won more than 30 provincial wool
championships along with six NZ Golden Fleece titles. On the carcass
side, in 1993/4 Richmonds conducted the ‘PC Grade Lamb of the Year
Competition’ which was then and still is the biggest event of it’s kind
staged in the North Island, this being won against all other breeds by a
Rawahi client of 20yrs+. Consistently superior growth rates and the
reliable all round finishing qualities of our sheep are demonstrated by
another long term client producing the Wairarapa’s best selling w/f
store lambs on the clear majority of occasions over the last decade. At
the annual ewe fair, ours and clients’ mixed age and 2th ewes are
regularly in the top five prices.
