JOHN LINDSAY SINGLE EWE Average birth date: September 2 Average birth weight: 5.5kg Days to slaughter: 67 days Live weight: 41.3kg Slaughter weight: 19.84kg Growth rate per day: 534g TWIN EWE Average birth date: September 2 Average birth weight: 4.75kg Days to slaughter: 81 days Live weight: 39.4kg Slaughter weight: 18.93kg Growth rate per day: 427g Growth rate per day per ewe: 854g TRIPLET EWE Average birth date: September 2 Average birth weight: 4kg Days to slaughter: 81 days Live weight: 39.4kg Slaughter weight: 18.93kg Growth rate per day: 437g Growth rate per day per ewe: 1311g Shepherd Katey Craig at Otiwhiti Station moving a mob of ewes and lambs.
only been there four years. In 2018, 75% of lambs were killed off mum at 19.1kg. Remarkable! In 2019, 85% at 18.5kg was achieved. Average lamb price for 2018 was $141 and for 2019, $152. Works lambs are above 36kg and full weaning takes place mid January. Skim drafting is done. Ryan discussed the key points that help him achieve this. • Maximum use of terminal rams. • Ewe and lamb rotations, fully fed. • Tetraploid grasses for early spring growth, late flowering. • Good ewe condition (CS 4). • Having a mix of cattle (fewer worms). • Drafting from about day 75. I would add another point: Ryan’s aim is for a Poll Dorset x Texel ewe, with rams of that cross bought. Lactation ability is critical, and feeding so that ability can be expressed is also critical. The thing about these factors is that we all know about them and it’s not rocket science. It’s all about execution, making a call and then actually putting it in place. John Lindsay also presented. John runs 1,571ha, including 648ha hill country close to Dipton, with a diverse stock mix
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of sheep (7500 ewes and 2100 hoggets), breeding cows and deer. All up, about 17,000 stock units. John runs an interesting breeding policy. There is a base flock of Wairere ewes that are mated to Polled Dorset x Texel rams carrying the Inverdale gene and Loinmax. This provides Inverdale ewe lambs to a flock mated to terminal sires. The Inverdale flock lambs at 187%, and 84% of lambs are weaned off mum by December 20. Remarkable really. If we take the Wairere flock into the overall average figures, we get to about 50% off mum at over 18kg. How does John do it? He talked about maintaining feed quality by integrating cattle and deer. Pasture grooming needs to start before quality drops off. Lambing management was also important, with staggered lambing. Flats are intensively shepherded and paddocks split with electric fences into mobs of about 40 ewes. Paddocks are shed off at about 5% left to lamb, and numbers shuffled depending on feed – the “Southland Shuffle”. Keeping ewe weights as constant as
possible and focusing on the bottom end was important. Average weight is not a good measure – you can achieve the target average weight but all that means is that half the flock is underweight. Triplets are scanned and set stocked two weeks prior to lambing. Twins are added at about three or four days pre-lamb. Stocking rate is about eight ewes/ha, with a 1500kg cover aimed for. After lambing, cattle are introduced as required, skim drafted every 10 days with a cut-off at 37kg for milk lambs. Balance of weaning is done 20th December. Pasture renewal critical to this operation. There are common themes running through Ryan’s and John’s presentations. A very significant one is the genetic makeup of these high performing flocks, with Polled Dorset featuring. Using a Polled Dorset will increase the size of ewes and probably necessitate removal of wet/dries, but this is a small price to pay. I believe we underestimate the importance of lactation ability and feed intake for its full expression. These two farms and farmers show what is possible.
Country-Wide
October 2020