Business Rural North Spring 2021

22 | Genetic gains drive Romney resurgence The Hildreth Romney team: Hunter Kyle, Angus Hildreth, Sam Wright, Marcus Hildreth and David Hildreth Russell Fredric F ollowing a period of waning in favour of cross- breeds and composites, Romney sheep have been making a quiet comeback. According to the New Zealand Sheepbreeders As- sociation, despite the proliferation of cross-breeds and composites, Romneys today still make up more than half of the 40 million sheep farmed in New Zealand. Hildreth Romneys co-owner David Hildreth is one of the many Romney breeders who has stuck to his knitting and seen the breed make significant genetic gains over many decades. David farms 800 hectares of North Island hill country with his wife Vanessa. One of their sons, Marcus, is operations manager and oversees stock management, environmental plans and implemen- tation and stud work. Their other son, Angus, a doctor in training, handles the farm’s business strategy and media, while farm consultant John Cannon runs Farmax and helps with the farm’s overall strategy. The Hildreth property lies at an altitude of 400 metres to 650 metres above sea level and bounda- ries the Kaweka Ranges 45 kilometres north-west of Napier. In 2005 the Hildreth’s bought Glenross Station and three years ago added a neighbouring property which originally belonged to David’s grandfather, but was sold in 1942. “We’ve come a full circle; that’s exciting,” David says. David’s father, David senior who is 93, was also delighted to have some of the farm back in family ownership. Glenross Station’s homestead, which David and Vanessa live in, was built in 1879. Hildreth Romneys has been performance recording since 1966; it has 2600 recorded ewes, including 800 facial eczema tolerant ewes and sells RURAL PEOPLE » Hildreth Romneys: David & Vanessa Hildreth more than 1000 rams each year to clients from Whangarei to Gore. One client has bought rams for 40-odd years. The stud is run on a commercial basis and all stock are electronically tagged and the use of a five-way drafter and stick readers has significantly sped up data collection and accuracy. The farm also supports 950 ewe hoggets which are single-sire mated each season. Fertility, survival and growth and structural soundness have been the mainstay of genetic selection in the stud. Selecting the top 1% of rams to breed from while culling the bottom 10% and compounding the resultant genetic gain over the nearly six decades has created a dramatic increase in performance and production of Hildreth Romneys. Weaning weights have increased 4.5 kilograms since 1990 for the same level of feeding, with overall production up $11 an animal. The Romney’s long history combined with highly focused stud breeders has created a superb dual- purpose sheep in New Zealand, David says. “Our focus has been on supplying our clients the best product to ensure they can maximise produc- tivity and profitability. We get a lot of feedback from clients and we are really interested in the perfor- mance of the whole farm system. “Farmers will need to build a farming system that is sustainable, consistent, has biodiversity and envi- ronmentally conducive to modern farming practices. We want to help with that by producing an animal that fits into those systems.” Photos: Ewe and twins and sale rams (bottom). Fertility, survival and growth and structural soundness have been the mainstay of genetic selection in the stud. David Hildreth - 027 468 0281 Marcus Hildreth - 027 353 0405 www.hildrethromneys.co.nz Guaranteed Quality & Performance HILDRETH ROMNEYS