| 11 Sale selection takes several months A group of the current year’s ram hoggets, from which some of the 2024 sale rams will be selected. Sue Russell RURAL PEOPLE » Glendonald Station Alan and Raewyn Evans moved from Glendonald Station at Bideford, north-east of Masterton to Patakanui, just south of Martinborough in 2019. Alan manages Patakanui, the smaller of the two properties owned or part owned by Colin Oldfield, and leased in an arrangement which sees he and Raewyn shareholders in the stock and plant on both farms, under the Glendonald Station Ltd business name. One of the first things that happened, when they shifted to Patakanui, was the beginning of an ongoing process of subdivision of paddocks, to better suit their Glendonald South Suffolk Stud which was established by Alan twenty years ago. “Because we operate with smaller mobs, we are gradually setting up Patakanui to suit operating a stud, with smaller and more manageable paddocks. Smaller paddocks are needed due to the smaller mob sizes, particularly with single sire mating,” Alan explains. Alan, along with a casual staff member, Richard Whiteman, who helps him two days most weeks, takes care of all the activity at Patakanui. When Rural North spoke with Alan in June, it was one of the quieter times of the year, with busy times approaching come spring with lambing. Because Patakanui is home to commercial and stud sheep the lambing season is extended, commercial ewes lamb first, then the stud ewes, so Alan is free to tag the stud lambs at birth. Glendonald South Suffolk Stud has approximately 300 stud ewes. An on-farm ram sale has occurred since 2021 in the last week of November. Asked how he makes sale selection Alan says it’s a process that takes several months. The catalogue order is established about six weeks prior to the sale, once this is done, a printed catalogue full of genetic information for each animal is published two to three weeks pre-sale. “I pull out the top group of rams based on SIL ranking, these will be sold at the front of the catalogue, providing they are suitable type wise, and our PGG Wrightson stud stock agent, Tom Suttor also comes to help select the rams. It’s important to me that we don’t just go on the figures as the ram has to look good as well, has to have the conformation, and physical soundness. Because we sell generally in pairs, we aim to have two very similar looking sheep auctioned off together in each lot. It’s a system which works well.” Breeding stud rams is a mix of researched analysis and ‘see what nature delivers’ as each generation is born. Alan understands that variations happen all the time, but also knows the fundamental rule, that if you are making good breeding decisions, the variations will reduce in nature and there will be more similar type sheep as a result. “In our case we want to start with a sheep that doesn’t have any birthing problems and the lambs have to be able to grow from day one. Terminal sires are all about growth. Lambs have to get up and running. Because most of my clients are using them over a maternal breed they get hybrid vigour,” Alan says. This translates hopefully into a large percentage of lambs at weaning which are either killable or able to be sold as heavier stores. He doesn’t normally retain any lamb that weans under 30kg, though seasonal variations come into play. Patakanui is located in a summer dry area, which is conducive to thoroughly testing the constitution of stock. Weaning weight is really our most important selection criteria, however we require lambs continue to grow after weaning, under their own steam, so each one is weighed at weaning and then again in autumn. “I’m not interested in sheep that haven’t grown by then. Commercial farmers need to have terminal sired lambs gone from their properties as soon as possible, preferably well before mating ewes. Colour-wise I’m looking for a darker head. When clients cross them with a maternal breed ewe, they want to be able to see the progeny easily in the mob, and have evenly marked lines of store lambs” Each season about 100 rams are sold, either on sale day or by private sale in the following weeks. Ideally rams stood up for sale are sold on the day. Alan says most of the rams are destined for the Wairarapa and Southern Hawkes Bay. The discussion shifts to any value add for the wool-clip and Alan says of recent times, he is sometimes able to access a contract with Wools of NZ, who buy his wool, given its fine high-bulk nature, and sell it to a customer for use in futon mattresses. Another breeding focus Alan says has been to focus on toughening the stud ewes up. He’s pleased with the inroads that have been made in this direction. “We use the Lincoln University developed DNA testing for sire selection, to rank sheep for their genetic resistance to footrot bacteria, and also cold tolerance which is an aid to lamb survival. I think years ago people just accepted that terminal sires would have bad feet and they were always priced cheaper accordingly as they were replaced regularly, so improving that has been a focus for me. I think the fact that farmers are now prepared to spend good money on terminal sires is partly due to the improved longevity, alongside the fact that sheep meat provides the major proportion of sheep farmers’ incomes. As a registered South Suffolk breeder Alan says he enjoys the opportunity each year to attend the North Island breeders field day in October, at the Feilding saleyards, and it’s South Island equivalent in Canterbury, at Ashburton in November. “We take our best few rams along so the local guys can see them. From that, they might bid at the sale and it’s great to see what other breeders are producing which we might be interested in trying”. APPROX 80 RAMS THURSDAY 21ST NOVEMBER 2024 AT 3PM For all your agricultural requirements. Spraying, cultivations, direct drilling, baling and grain harvesting.
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