20 | Re-grassing for Iwinui & Titirangi The farm maintains a finishing rate of 18,000 lambs per year. Bernadette Cooney RURAL PEOPLE » Iwinui & Titirangi Stations Sticking to core business and re-grassing silt laden and sodden pasture is the agenda this summer for Hauiti Station, northeast of Gisborne. Cyclone ravaged pasture struggled following persistent rains, so the hope is for warmer weather without the risk of drought says station manager Chris Torkington. “Of 650 ha of flat land, about 30 percent has been saturated and damaged by excess silt,” says Chris. “We’ve done most of our recovery cropping now but there are still about six paddocks, where 20 percent of it, we haven’t been able to touch yet.”. “A lot of our crops have been rain affected and we have water pooling in maize paddocks and chicory paddocks saturated by pooled rainwater.”. Pasture recovery will be slower, and feed still required, but he’s hopeful the turnaround is imminent. Despite the wet early winter, which saw big rains May through to June, July to September was decidedly drier which bode well for early lambers. Heavy rains and lack of sun did impact weaning weights negatively. “Our scanning numbers were slightly less as a result of a tough year too, but survival rates from scans were pretty good,” Chris says. The farm maintains a finishing rate of 18,000 lambs per year from a breeding flock of 5000 breeding ewes, 1500 two-tooths and 2200 hogget. The Romney breeding stock have been crossed with Coopworth for the past two seasons but will return to Romney genetics for the next few years. Wet humid conditions led to a spike in drench resistant, parasitic worms among 13,000 lambs says Chris. “We really want to isolate that during the early stages of summer. So, this year we’re just going to focus on finishing our own stock. Instead of diving in and buying lambs to finish in a good season, we’ll just knuckle down and finish our own stock.” Calving season saw an improvement in survival rates from the stations 415 Hereford/Angus cross breeding cows and heifers. Calving blocks were re-introduced, after a tough season following cyclones Gabrielle and Hale, which forced calving to take place amongst lambing ewes. Not ideal says Chris, so this season they had designated paddocks and better cover from the elements. “Calves had a bit more weight on them this year and better conditioning, “says Chris. Improved growth rates for 780 bulls being finished in preparation for the works were achieved following minor adjustments to operations. “We’re ahead on our kill compared to last year, by about 100 bulls and their condition is well and growth rates are good.” It was the slump in the market for lamb that was most challenging he said. “We finally got our weights back up, and the markets decided to go the wrong way. The fall in sheep meat was dramatic,” Chris says. Hauiti Station covers 2751 ha of which 2529 is effective and incorporates Iwinui and Titirangi Stations, Pukemaewa Station and Seaview in Tolaga Bay. HINENUI 100% SIL Recorded Flocks NZMW + Meat 100% DNA Parentage 5K and 50K Genomic Evaluation Founding FE Gold Members FEC Recording GENETICS Proven Performance Genetics - Leading Facial Eczema Tolerance COOPWORTH - ROMNEY - ROMWORTH Phil and Deana Cook - 027 952 6048 Brett and Lucy Teutenberg - 027 446 3684 Ryan and Claire Teutenberg - 021 610 664 www.hinenuigenetics.co.nz GISBORNE
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