| 29 Farm has exclusive beachfront access Ranworth is ZQRX certified through NZ Merino. Sue Russell RURAL PEOPLE » Ranworth Farm Ross Townshend owns Ranworth Farm, located at Te Akau, 10km north of Raglan harbour, on the West Coast of the North Island. The property extends over 682ha and boasts exclusive beachfront access. The farm was established incrementally and currently operates as a sheep and beef unit. Traditionally it has wintered more than 3,000 mixed age ewes and in excess of 140 cattle. All stock is finished on the farm. Currently 2,800 ewes lambed to 165% at docking, testament to the quality of Ross’s farm managers, Podge who has just left after 19 years, and Asher Hutchings who has just recently taken over. All lambs are processed through Te Kuiti meats premium heavy lamb programme, attracting a premium schedule. The farm is certified to GAP standard to supply to this plan. Ross, who has lived on the farm since 2015, having bought it a decade earlier, says each year he sells some of his capital stock to farmers wanting a sheep with established genetics with a high tolerance to facial eczema. Ranworth is also ZQRX certified through NZ Merino. Ross says he chose to sell his wool clip through that organisation because as far as he’s concerned they are the only ones making a genuine effort to market wool effectively. “I really believe that the way the coarser wool is sold here in New Zealand is appalling. More than half the wool exported is unscoured. We don’t have any value add and this is doing a lot of harm to ourselves as growers. China and India are big buyers of our wool but over there it just gets blended and looses its NZ identity.” The Thursday wool auctions consign wool growers to abysmal returns every Thursday morning. He’s concerned at the huge gap between what growers get per kilogram and the value top quality NZ wool products earn. For example, in 1953 wool was worth £1/pound (roughly $5/kg), now after so many decades wool is worth $3/kg. A square meter of top end wool carpet sells for NZ$600 in UK retail. There is 3kg of wool in the carpet that the grower gets NZ$9 for. “How is that the grower gets 1.5% of the finished goods retail price? It’s going to take some courage, fortitude and determination for those involved in selling and processing wool here to realise any benefits for the sector in valuing our beautiful New Zealand wool quality. We’re not doing things smart at all.” The two farms are directly over the road from each other, with the inland block of 200ha carrying older Romney ewes with terminal sires, while the coastal block is home to 1900 Romney ewes with Romney sires. “We also run steers and occasionally heifers in the local trade. We don’t breed any cattle.” The farm has been put on the market, but to date Ross says the right buyer hasn’t presented. He’s philosophical about this and will keep it operating as it does until such time as a new owner presents. Pasture sits on a limestone base with ash soils and the land has a mix of contour to it. The farm has been maintained to a high standard, with top quality infrastructure in the form of a four-stand woolshed, covered sheep yards, cattle yards, stables and an impressive air strip. A history of being well fertilised has resulted in top quality pasture. Asked whether the farm size is typical of the area, Ross says its probably a little bigger than standard. Ross is very concerned about the fact that recently another farm in the area has been sold to become a forestry block. “That’s an appalling outcome. 1500ha of productive pasture has been bought by a syndicate of overseas owners who are not allowed to grow pine in their own countries. They are growing them for carbon capture, not for timber. This is a dumb thing for NZ to encourage.” Ross has a forestry block with 14ha of pines and a QEII covenanted native bush block of 9ha. He admits to not being a fan of forestry. Working on the farm usually are 3 full-time equivalents plus a couple of casuals. A local gang of shearers come and shear the flock. The main homestead is an impressive five bedroom dwelling and two other homes of three bedrooms each are provided for staff accommodation, with a gem of a two-bedroom cottage nestled on the coast. “We have nearly a 1 ½ km of exclusive coastline so it is a pretty special place to call home.” GRmm Total 25 1 1 24 23 22 21 20 1 1 19 1 1 18 1 1 1 3 17 1 1 1 3 16 1 2 3 15 2 1 1 4 14 1 1 2 1 2 7 13 1 3 2 6 12 1 1 3 1 6 11 1 1 10 1 1 4 2 3 1 12 9 1 12 13 3 1 30 8 1 10 16 4 2 33 7 5 13 9 1 1 29 6 1 18 16 9 44 5 2 6 30 12 1 51 4 1 1 15 47 20 4 88 3 16 52 35 4 107 2 1 0 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35+ Total 1 17 69 90 77 59 53 34 12 10 4 3 1 430 Meat Grade CCS % Weight (kg) $/Kg Value $/CCS Average Weight CH1 18 - 21.9 1 0.23 19.7 6.1 120.17 120.17 19.7 CM2 16 - 17.9 3 0.70 51.1 6.1 311.71 103.9 17.0 FH1 18-21.9 2 0.47 41.9 6.1 255.59 127.8 21.0 FH2 22-25.9 6 1.40 145.3 6.1 886.33 147.72 24.2 H1 18 - 21.9 220 51.16 4,308.0 6.4 27,571.2 125.32 19.6 Category Head Weight Average Net Value Net/Hd Net/Kg In Spec. LAMB 429 8,029.80 18.72 47,576.06 110.90 5.92 56.88% CAPPED 1 28.30 28.30 150.68 150.68 5.32 0.00% Liveweight Average: 43.76 Kg Lamb growth a priority. • Lambs killed at 40kgs and above. • 300gm/day liveweight growth rates achieved on hillcountry • FE testing for 25 years. • FEC testing. • 186% scanning this year. 36th Annual Ram Sale on farm, Tatu Ohura Saturday 16th November 2024
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