New Zealand sheep farmer shares his efficiency secrets

At a ratio of 7,000 sheep to one shepherd and average flock sizes of 3,000 ewes, trouble-free sheep in New Zealand are essential.

Having ewes that lamb outdoors, with minimal attention, is critical for New Zealand farmer Derek Daniell, owner of Wairere Romneys, which is home to 10,000 performance-recorded ewes spread across several sites in Wairarapa, North Island.

Speaking at Wairere UK’s field day, hosted by the Hodgkins family at Locks Farm,West Sussex, Mr Daniell said that just 2% of land at Wairere is flat and much of the terrain is barely accessible on two wheels, so unassisted lambing is a must.

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Sheep at Wairere run in mobs of between 1,500 and 2,000, which puts pressure on the stock.

Mr Daniell said: “Mob stocking gives every opportunity for those that don’t grow as well or shape up to show up. It’s easy to see on the hill system, not so easy to see on good grass.”

However, he does accept this is not really possible in small flocks of 300 or less as the grazing pressure just isn’t there.

Apart from lambing to weaning, sheep are mob stocked and rotated through a series of 90 paddocks totalling 1,070 effective grazing hectares averaging 11-12ha each, where they stay for between two and seven days, depending on amount of feed available.

Three hundred cattle are also included in the grazing rotation and stocked at 11-12 stocking units/ha to aid pasture management.

During winter there is a 100-day rotation for the ewe mobs on grass alone, with swedes, turnips and fodder beet grown to see the hoggets and beef cattle through.

Pasture gets an aerial top dressing in August to boost growth going into spring, said Mr Daniell, who applies 30kg/ha a year of phosphorus, sulphur and nitrogen.

Lime is also applied about once every five years at a rate of 2.5t/ha.

“Seasons can vary hugely, with poor seasons being countered by early sale of surplus stock, grazing off some stock, and aerial application of nitrogen fertiliser in April to promote autumn growth for winter feed. Conversely, in a good season we will buy up to 400 extra cattle to control feed,” he said.

Breeding

When it comes to breeding Mr Daniell’s motto is “keep plenty, cull hard” to ensure he stocks with robust body condition, allowing them to buffer extreme conditions.

Of the 7,300 Romneys, about 75% of ram lambs are culled along with 60% of ewe lambs each year.

“Big numbers allow heavy culling and better selection for ram clients. The search for sound structure, good muscling, and consistent type complements performance recording for fertility, growth rate, eye muscle area and wool,” said Mr Daniell.

Aside from removing those not coping in heavily pressured mobs, Mr Daniell culls for dags, feet and legs as part of his ongoing commitment to production efficiency.

“We always listen to the top commercial farmers to ensure we’re on track with what they perceive to be their priority list of desired improvements, in the form of greater productivity or reduced workload,” added Mr Daniell.

Tupped at seven to eight months old, ewe hoggets have been mated at Wairere since 1966. But from 2003, only those which get in lamb are eligible as replacements; they must also lamb unaided to be retained.

Today, any pedigree New Zealand Romney ewe that has to be touched during lambing is culled along with her lambs.

“This is done to maintain the purity of non-assistance,” he said. 

Performance

A key attribute that makes New Zealand sheep farming more profitable is the lamb’s ability to grow quickly in the early part of spring and summer, before grass growth and quality tail off.

Fast-growing lambs are either sold quickly, are more likely to get in lamb as a hogget, or will overwinter more easily – all of which reduce workload, said Mr Daniell.

Between 6,000 and 7,000 ram lambs are eye-muscle scanned each year between February and March. This measurement is integrated into the SIL index – New Zealand’s equivalent of Signet.

All 10,000 sheep are performance recorded for weaning weight and liveweight at 160 days. Ewe hoggets are also recorded for scanning percentage, while ram hoggets have fleece and pre-tupping weights noted.

While all sheep are brought to a central yard for major stock tasks, the switch to EID tagging – at a cost of NZD30,000-40,000 (£12,500-£16,500) last year – has considerably speeded up these procedures.

“The tags don’t give us any more information as we’ve been performance recording on the farm since 1967, however, it is now much easier to get the info,” said Mr Daniell. (See table below for typical Wairere New Zealand Romney performance.)

“Our high stocking density regime means clients often do better than the average 150% weaned, 32kg liveweight and 18.5kg deadweight because they feed better,” added Mr Daniell.