| 31 80 powerful Angus Bulls will be up for auction at Fossil Creek on June 10. MEAT & WOOL » Fossil Creek Angus Rangiatea Stud is bringing many bene ts to New Zealand’s sheep industry with its focus on the Beltex breed – a double-muscled Belgian off-shoot of the Dutch Texel that is delivering impressive results for farmers nationwide. Blair Gallagher was part of the pioneering trio that introduced the breed to New Zealand in 2017, alongside Dr Jock Allison, former head of the Invermay Research Centre in Otago, and John Tavendale, a prominent farm advisor. Following Dr Allison's passing last year, the stud continues under the directorship of Blair and Sara Gallagher, their son Hamish and John. Blair considers that the introduction of Beltex to New Zealand represents a signi cant advancement in sheep breeding, offering farmers a valuable option for improving meat production ef ciency. The breed's double-muscling characteristic leading to higher meat yields, particularly in high-value cuts, translates directly to better returns for farmers. “All our purebred Beltex go to stud breeders and crosses or stabilised crosses go to commercial clients to increase carcass conformation, yield and extra muscling. With increased carcass yield they can drop their live weight at weaning enabling them to get more lambs away. We sell rams throughout New Zealand.” The results have been apparent in his commercial operation: “We used to get 35-40% away at weaning using other terminals. But since using Beltex cross we have been getting 60-80% away at the same rate.” The farm’s ock of 550 includes 120 pure Beltex ewes and the remainder is stabilised Beltex Texel and Beltex Suffolk. Blair says one of the advantages of the Beltex Texels as a terminal sire is they produce white wool and are perfect for going over merinos to prevent black bre to keep the wool white. “We are very adamant that the Beltex remains as a terminal sire.” There is also a registered ock of 280 Cheviot ewes, probably the biggest ock in New Zealand, says Blair. Half are mated to pure Beltex and half to Cheviot. “Cheviots’ traits are vigour, hardiness and small lambs so ease of lambing and the Beltex has small lambs, increased carcass conformation and meat yield making Beltex Cheviots extremely popular for hogget mating.” Now some years down the track the stud is further re ning its approach: for any sheep that doesn't fully shed, Rangiatea introduces a self-shedding sheep over Texel Beltex and Suffolk Beltex crosses. By integrating self-shedding characteristics this addresses a growing concern among sheep farmers - reducing reliance on shearing in an era of declining wool values and increasing shearing costs. By combining the muscling bene ts of Beltex with self-shedding traits, Rangiatea is providing farmers with dual-advantage genetics. Its careful breeding strategy that caters to market demand has helped Rangiatea build a loyal following of clients who return for the stud's biannual sales - the two-tooth sale in November and the ram lamb sale in March. BELTEX DELIVERING IMPRESSIVE RESULTS
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