| 15 RURAL PEOPLE » Ben Dawson: Waihau Terminal Sires Sue Russell When you have had an association with buying sheep since the age of 9, even at the relatively young age of 25, you have accrued a world of understanding as to what goes into making a great sheep breed. Such is the case with Hawke’s Bay Suftex sheep stud owner Ben Dawson, who at this age is considered young to be operating his SIL recorded sheep stud, Waihau Terminal Sires. For Ben, the connection with Suftex in particular comes down to an innate liking of the black face. He tells the story of how it all began, those years ago. “When I was 9 I had the chance to buy 40 Suffolk sheep from my uncle. He has a Suffolk stud at Geraldine. Then after leaving school I went to Lincoln University and graduated with a Bachelor of Agri-Business and Food Marketing. It was during this time that I met Guy Martin and I started working for him. He has a 400 ewe Suftex stud and I was able to buy a few more ewes from him.” At the time Ben left university an opportunity for his parents to lease a 550 hectare block over the road from their family dairy farm came up. Ben has now been back in familiar territory for five years, managing the commercial sheep and beef lease block on behalf of his parents and continuing to breed suftex sheep. In Novemeber 2022, a neighbouring farm was put out for tender to lease. Ben and his partner Molly were successful in their bid for this block and took over on the 1st of March – two weeks after Cyclone Gabrielle had altered the effective hectares of this block from 226 to 201 hectares and leaving no paddock fully stock proof. The stud flock was moved from the home farm to this new lease block, seizing the opportunity to grow. This year, Ben is lambing 450 stud ewes and 120 hoggets. All the ewes are set stocked and every day Ben goes out to tag the newborns, weigh each lamb and observe their vigour at birth. Ben says one of the things he most enjoys about having his own block and flock is that it is just him out there everyday, recording the lambs, monitoring their growth and seeing which ewes are producing the best progeny. Guy Martin visits the stud to independently assess quality and increase structural soundness within the flock. Ben says this is important as he wants an objective eye looking at the sheep and lambs. “It takes away the natural bias I could have towards one sheep over another.” Asked what his breeding aims are, Ben says he wants to breed reliable, well-rounded sheep for commercial purposes, focusing on structural soundness, survival, and longevity. “You see a lot of studs chasing high data, high growth but that’s not what I’m aiming for. Longevity is something that is important. While I want plenty of growth, the lambs must be able to survive in order to see the results of high growth on the scales.” Lambing occurs in waves, with an AI mob who started lambing on 28th August, taking three days from go to whoa to complete lambing. The balance of lambs are born from fifth September to early October. The recorded flock is a mix of Suffolk and Suftex ewes being mated by Suftex and Beltex rams. Scanning sits at around 170% with a 145-150%weaning rate strictly 90-100 days later. Ben is especially proud of this weaning rate as it is well above the average for terminal sheep flocks. Once weaned, these lambs stay on the farm with frequent sorting for culls based on constitution, dag score, growth, and type. Coming up on 16th November will be the annual ram sale, the first on farm sale at the new lease block after a few years of auctions at the Stortford Lodge sale yards. “We sold 100 rams the last two years with the idea of having 200 available next year. I’ve been very pleased with the price we’ve received.” Another focus is to put pressure on the ram lambs for animal health traits including worm tolerance and Facial Eczema. Ben says he has been affected somewhat by introducing rams from the South Island to the flock which are vulnerable to facial eczema. “There’s an old saying that you should never buy sheep south of where your farm is located and it would seem there’s some truth in that.” With an aim to breed low input terminal sheep who can produce plenty of output. Ben says he has spent a lot of time looking for new genetics. “Visiting other studs is always a good thing. Last year Guy Martin and I visited Waikato and Northland studs.” Ben bought 44 Suftex ewes out of Ashgrove in Northland, 40 Suftex two-tooths from Raymond Harre in Pio Pio, as well as recently aquiring 80 Suftex ewes from nearby farm, Brancott Station. Establishing a stud from scratch has been a journey, and one Ben says has been extremely rewarding and grateful for the connections he has made along the way. Sheep farmers, he says, traditionally remain quite loyal to their source of genetics, but he is hoping as the stud continues to build plenty of solid breeding value data, new interest will be generated from commercial sheep farmers to purchase his genetics. Ram sale information and updates can be found by following Waihau Terminal Sires on Facebook. “You see a lot of studs chasing high data, high growth but that’s not what I’m aiming for.” We are proud to be associated with Ben and his Black Face Terminal Ram Farming Operation Guy Martin: 027 538 3741 Email: guy@lcl.org.nz Genetic Selection Sheep & Beef Proudly Supplying Ben Dawson Suftex LIVESTOCK CONFIRMATION LTD LCL Livestock Confirmation Ltd Hawke’s Bay Suftex sheep stud owner Ben Dawson has had a liking for the black face sheep since buying some Suffolk sheep from an uncle when he was only nine years of age. The Waihau Terminal Sires ram sales will be held on farm on November 16. Young breeder proud of stud journey
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=