Business Rural North Spring 2021

24 | eliminates the mistakes that are prone to occur with manual reading. “We DNA test all the lambs at docking to deter- mine parentage, taking a tissue sample from the ear and matching it with the EID tag. “The lambs are weighed at weaning, and at eight and 12 months.” The Coopworth stud ewes scan up to 200% and lamb at 165%, and the lambs wean at an average weight of 33kg. The original Hinenui Coopworths came from a branch of the pioneering Pakowhai Flock at Gis- borne, one of the first Coopworth studs, and around which much of the breed was established in New Zealand. The Teutenberg family acquired the Makaretu property in 2014 along with its recorded flock of FE- tolerant Romneys, and in 2019 further bolstered its gene base by buying the Puketauru Coopworth Stud sheep from the Abraham family of Feilding, cement- ing a genetic link by ram-swaps between the two studs going back 20 years. The Hinenui Coopworth flock has been FE tested since 1984 and the Romney flock since 1986, and each year since 2010 they have been accredited Gold status under the FE Gold brand, developed a decade ago to carry on the fight against the disease which damages the liver. Hinenui records seven different traits in their flocks under the Sheep Improvement Ltd (SIL) system., and have been developing their Hinenui RomWorth brand of sires for nearly 15 years. “They feature the Coopworth’s fertility and the Romney’s growth, hardiness and bone that com- mercial farmers want,” Ryan says. “The sheep are all run together across the two farms, though we set-stock them in their breeds because at docking time we give them each a dif- ferent tag before merging them again.” Hinenui branches Hugh de Lacy S eventy years after being established as one of the first Coopworth studs in the country, and since bolstered by a Romney stud, Hinenui Genetics has lately branched out into its own Coopworth-Romney cross whose rams it markets as Hinenui RomWorth. Hinenui Genetics is a Gisborne company owned by the Teutenberg family operating two farms, the 430ha Hinenui home farm, at Muraiwai, 20km south of Gisborne, and the 470ha Makaretu farm at Rere, 40km north of the city. Both are medium-to-steep Gisborne hill country blocks, albeit blessed with 10% of flats, and the company’s stated mission is to breed “a ewe that consistently performs in her own lifetime and lifts production for her progeny through genetic gain. “This is achieved by no shepherding at lambing, nil drenching of ewes, and no special treatment through high FE (facial eczema) challenges.” FE is a major health challenge to sheep up the eastern side of the North Island, and instilling resist- ance has been a central goal of Hinenui Genetics’ breeding policies, along with the Five Key (FK) maternal traits at the heart of the recording system. These are reproduction, survival, growth, meat and wool, and Hinenui has been 100% DNA testing its Coopworth flock for them since 2002, currently using Zoetis Genetics and the Shepherd Complete programme. “Zoetis offers 5K and 50K with the Shepherd Complete programme, tests that look at the genetic make-up of the animals, and enhances the accuracy of the existing breeding values,” Ryan Teutenberg says. “The advantage of Shepherd Complete is that it accommodates multi-sire mating programmes, avoids data errors from unplanned matings, and RURAL PEOPLE » Hinenui Genetics Photos: Annabelle, Claire, Ryan and Emily Teutenberg, with Ella, Hamish, Deana, Freddie and Phil Cook. Inquisitive ram Hoggets GISBORNE | 743 Gladstone Rd | 06 867 9405 | gisborne@evs.co.nz WAIROA | 46 Freyberg St | 06 838 6099 | wairoa@evs.co.nz www.evs.co.nz Proud to be supporting Hinenui Genetics Specialist knowledge in farm accounting, farmbusiness administration, personnel recruitment, HRmanagement, investment advice and business advisory services. We celebrate Hinenui Genetics’ success Proud to be the business adviser to Hinenui Genetics for generations 06 869 1234 post@grahamdobson.co.nz 393 Gladstone Road, Gisborne www.grahamdobson.co.nz “They feature the Coopworth’s fertility and the Romney’s growth, hardiness and bone that commercial farmers want.” Coopworth - Romney - RomWorth Proven performance gene ti cs with leading facial eczema tolerance Lucy & Bre � Teutenberg Ryan & Claire Teutenberg Phil & Deana Cook bre � @hinenuigene � cs.co.nz ryanteutenberg@hotmail.com philandde@hotmail.com www.hinenuigene � cs.co.nz o SIL Recorded Flock – NZMW + Meat o DNA Parentage + Genomic Evalua � on o FE Gold status – Tes � ng for FE Tolerance for over 30 years o Nil drenching of ewes