| 3 RURAL PEOPLE » Beechdale Farm: Lynley & Nigel Fox Cute sheep part of Woolly business Russell Fredric It was love at first sight when Lynley Fox spotted a picture of a Valais Blacknose sheep on Facebook about eight or so years ago. To her, the bundles of woolly cuteness, unmistakable with their black faces, ears, black patches on their knees, hocks and feet and long spiral horns were irresistible, but they were not being bred in New Zealand. Lynley is no wanna-be farmer. Despite her love of sheep and thinking lambs are the “cutest farm animals about” she has worked with them in commercial farming situations for decades. She and her husband Nigel own a 580 hectare/160 effective dry stock block in Rai Valley, Marlborough. The farm was a dairy unit until May last year when the herd was sold and transported to Southland. Nigel describes the day as bitter-sweet. “We have been here for 16 years and in that time we reached one of our two goals as a dairy farmer. “That was getting our herd’s breeding worth into the top 3% in New Zealand and the other goal was to get a bull into the LIC bull team which we didn’t achieve, although we came very close a few times.” Lynley says her first love has always been sheep. She worked as a shepherd from the age of 15, but upon meeting and marrying Nigel became a dairy farmer. After seeing the Valais sheep on Facebook, an internet search revealed there were none in New Zealand and she vowed if they were ever introduced “I’ve got to have one of them.” In 2017 some frozen embryo’s were imported from England and the following year Lynley bought 15 English Leicester ewes as her foundation ewes and sent them to a breeder who had a pure bred Valais ram. “That’s where it started from really.” Lynley has registered with the Valais Blacknose Sheep Society of New Zealand’s breeding-up programme as a means of her establishing a Valais flock without having to pay about $10,000 for one lamb from a frozen embryo. The first lambs born to the foundation ewes are classed as F1 cross, then their lambs are F2 and so on through the generations. F4 ewes are classed as pure and F5 rams are classed as pure. She now has 55 breeding ewes from F1 to F3 and 58 lambs. “Last year I had another seven F3 ewe lambs born, so hopefully this year I will have a couple of pure bred-ewe lambs born.” Valais originate in the mountains of the Valais French (French) or Wallis (German) area of Switzerland. They are dual-purpose and produce lean meat and coarse fibre with an average micron of 38 in mature sheep and 28 to 30 micron in lambs. The wool has a long staple, growing a total of about 30 centimetres annually. Lynley runs a boutique business, TheWoollySistersNZ, with her sister Carrie Watt. The business has an online shop that sells a range of products including carded and spun wool dyed in a range of colours, blankets and throws and Blister Blockers which are woollen footwear pads. Nigel and Lynley recently bought Homestead Carding, a Marlborough Sounds wool carding business which has two four metre long wool carders. The carding will both streamline TheWoollySistersNZ business as well as meeting demand for carding from customers. “Last year I had another seven F3 ewe lambs born, so hopefully this year I will have a couple of pure bred-ewe lambs born.” The wool from mature Valais sheep has a long staple, growing 30cm annually. Whether you have cattle, horses, dogs or cats, the staff at the Vet Centre in Richmond and Motueka endeavour to treat each animal and client as an individual with personal patient care. Let us help you treat your animals with the quality care they deserve. For a happier, healthier animal, family and lifestyle, come and see us at The Vet Centre, Richmond or Motueka. COMPLETE QUALITY ANIMAL CARE IN THE NELSON & TASMAN REGION www.vetcentre.net.nz 79 Gladstone Road, Richmond 03 544 5566 info@vetcentrerichmond.co.nz RICHMOND MOTUEKA 400d High Street, Motueka 03 528 8459 info@vetcentre.net.nz Proudly supporting Beechdale Farm Marlborough’s Lynley Fox runs a boutique business, TheWoollySistersNZ, with sister Carrie Watt. The business has an online shop that sells a range of products including carded and spun wool dyed in a range of colours, blankets and throws.
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