| 45 “I want a clean sheep that only has to come into the shed for shearing.” RURAL PEOPLE » Rimrock Hills Decade of dedication When Richard Batley took over the management of his family trust’s Rimrock Hills station in the Moawhango Valley, 20km from Taihape on the Taihape-Napier Road, he was docking 7000 lambs from his 5000 Romney and Perendale ewes. Nearly ten years later he’s shrunk his ewe ock to 4400, but he’s docking 7500 lambs, and he’s put the big ef ciency improvement down to some good-fertility Romney rams, and also to Danny Mickleson’s Taihape Tigers. Mickleson farms south of Taihape, and 23 years ago he decided to give his Romney ock a production boost by introducing East Friesian blood for their multiple birth rates and quality of milking. After a while, delighted with the extra production he was getting, Danny started selling rams to local farmers, who were equally pleased with the result. In fact so delighted was one client, Renata Apatu of the 28,000ha Ngamatea Station, that he nicknamed them Taihape Tigers – and the name has stuck ever since. Richard Batley uses his Taihape Tigers genetics to improve the number of lambs killed at weaning, and to get the ewe lamb weights up for hogget mating. Richard took over the management of Rimrock Hills from Hugh Moore, who had made a name for himself by winning the 2013 Supplier of the Year for Ovation New Zealand. Richard was keen to build on Hugh’s successes on the 1320ha farm whose 4400 ewes currently lamb at 147%, while the 1250 replacement hoggets achieve 78% lambing from stock going to the ram. Richard is the fth generation of the Batley family on the farm which also carries 420 cows and Hugh de Lacy RiverleeHerefords&Angus HILL COUNTRY BREED FOR HILL COUNTRY FARMERS Find us on Facebook 2354 Rangiwahia Rd, Rangiwahia, Kimbolton, Manawatu mfcurtis@farmside.co.nz 0272282881 or 06 3282881 • Breed for temperament, structural soundness and fertility • Easy doability, well fleshed carcass with good IMF • All cows commercially run andwinteredwith ewes on hills Bull Sale,13th June 2023,1 pm. heifers, 60 of the latter being R2s covered by low birth-weight Angus bulls, calving at 85%. Richard’s Taihape Tigers today are composites of the Coopworth and Texel, as well as the East Friesian, and Richard’s been selecting them in particular to have bare skin round the anus to minimise crutching and dagging. “I want a clean sheep that only has to come into the shed for shearing,” Richard says. The Taihape Tigers and the Romneys crosses are being introduced as replacements and are gradually taking over the Romney ock, though it still contains some four-, ve- and six-year-old ewes. The value of the Tigers can be seen in earlier weaning times which allowed Richard this year to sell 76% of his male lambs by March 1 at carcase weights averaging 17.9kg. “That’s one of the big ef ciency gains: being able to slaughter the lambs straight off their mums,” Richard says. “We used to battle to get killable lambs at weaning, which we did 90 to 100 days after the lambing start date. “We wean the hoggets 60 to 70 days after lambing to give them a better chance of recovering quickly. “This year we killed 51% of the total male lambs – from hoggets as well as ewes - at weaning, at an average bodyweight of 32 kg, and those remaining on the farm weighed an average of 35kg by March 1,” Richard says. Richard Batley feeding the deer, Harriets on his knee, Stellas standing. The view of Mt Ruapehu, Mount Ngauruhoe and Mt Tongariro is from the highest point on Rimrock Hills station and back paddock.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=