80 | Sam and Liz Barton’s long hot summer Dry crossings throughout the farm. This area has been fenced off with the help of the Pomahaka River Care Group. Russell Fredric MEAT & WOOL » Sam and Liz Barton Facing a long hot summer for the second year in a row, West Otago sheep and beef farmer Sam Barton is not complaining. Instead, he feels gutted for North Island farmers suffering from the devastation left by Cyclone Gabrielle and comments on a Snapchat post he saw suggesting Government assistance for drought relief was needed. “We have nothing to worry about compared to what they are going through. I think there’s some other priorities right now.” Married to Liz, for Sam and his stock the simple luxury of morning dew on the ground is like gold. Their farm is located inland at Moa Flat, on rolling hill country, and lies at an altitude ranging from 350 to 750 metres above sea level. “Even last night, I don’t think anyone else got it, but the outside table had a full layer of water over it. All the gravel was damp, there was zero dust, there was dew over every blade of grass on the farm, [even though] there was no rain in the gauge.” “We’ve also luckily been in a predicament this year where the location of thunder plumps have been very handy, it’s been right above us.” Sam not only loves what he does, but also where he lives and works and describes the location as reliable, fertile country. “First of all, as far as productivity, land production, I think it’s one of the hot spots in the country and because of our position geographically; we are in a central area, so we are not going to get affected by those coastal problems.” The farm covers 553 hectares of which 330 is cultivated with the balance comprising hill country or gullies. It supports 3350 Romdale breeding ewes, 900 hoggets, 40 rams and 75 Angus, Angus/Hereford breeding cows. Sam has been able to increase the ewe and hogget numbers by 150 in total due to the ewes’ body condition score consistently increasing which he attributes to improving fertility, better management, strong hybrid vigour and overall genetic improvement. There has also been another helpful element, albeit out of his control. “The weather has been kind in the last three or four years allowing us to meet that equilibrium of feed and supply demand.”Perendale’s have been a favoured sheep breed, but this year pure Romney genetics have been used across the Romdales. “We basically go for five or six years and then it will be a complete swap over to going back down the Perendale path.”However, he would consider having Romney genetics becoming dominant because of their better temperament, although “that little bit of Perendale is really cool, it’s doing A straight up direct approach to breeding better sheep Followus on Facebook | Rob Tennent 06 855 4943 or 027 932 1034 Proud to supply hill country Romney genetics to Liz and Sam Barton JORDAN BRAND Contracting Ltd 022 435 8077 Proudly supporting Sam & Liz Barton some pretty awesome things here.”Specifically, this includes their visual appearance, with a very clean face and ears and a compact, but solid frame that is, thick, deep and well-muscled. On the cattle side, calves are weaned and sent off as stores on the same day to reduce winter grazing management and soil burden. “Generally, in the last wee while it’s been pretty good money averaging over the last five years about $810 or so for the heifer’s and steers.” Proud to supply Genetics to Sam and Liz Barton David Giddings 027 229 9760 George Giddings 027 656 3323 www.meadowslea.co.nz
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