4 | RURAL PEOPLE » Big Hill Station Elite Romney rams driving improvement Kim Newth Seeking out genetic improvement is always a long game. In Hawke’s Bay, sheep and beef farmer Sam Glazebrook has been patiently waiting to see what comes from spring lambing this season, having purchased 10 rams last year from St Leger Superior Genetics’ Romney stud. At the time of writing lambing was about to start at Big Hill Station, which has been in Sam’s family now for three generations. “This has been our first year mating with these really good rams, so we’re feeling excited to see the progeny on the ground,” says Sam, who is focussed on traits like survival and lamb growth. Sam says another big drawcard of Gisborne’s St Leger stud is that it has one of the largest FE Gold flocks in New Zealand and their elite rams are prized for being highly FE tolerant. He suspects FE may have contributed to low scanning percentages in their two-tooths at Big Hill Station. Moving forward, he’s targeting ongoing genetic gain on FE tolerance. “Andrew Savage [who purchased the St Leger stud in 2015] does a really good job. He doesn’t just breed for facial eczema tolerance but also parasite resistance and those core production traits. Their ewes and rams have such great conformation and structure.” St Leger runs a traditional Gisborne hill country operation, with a sheep to cattle ratio of 60/40. Sam says it’s a good recipe for a property like Big Hill Station. “Our ratio is pretty similar. We’ve got 3500 ewes lambing this year with around 1200 replacement hoggets. We have 335 Angus cows calving including first calving 3 year heifers; 100 R1 and R2 heifer replacements; 200 friesian bulls of each age group as well as some trade steers/heifers and trade hoggets. All up we try and winter around 12,500 stock units.” Sam and his partner Sophie, a lawyer, got married last November. Sophie grew up a city girl in Wellington but is now relishing the opportunity to get stuck in on the farm. “It’s a whole new adventure for her and she’s really keen to learn and get started,” says Sam. Through this summer and autumn, Sam, Sophie and their team will be aiming to try and finish all their lambs. As Sam observes though, that’s entirely dependent on the feed situation and prices. Meanwhile, there have been some big changes in the shepherding team since last year. Their new head shepherd Harrison Wilkshire started at Big Hill Station in April 2025, bringing with him a lot of local farm experience. Junior shepherd Harry Pike started with them this spring. Originally from the UK, Harry worked on another farm for six months before joining Big Hill Station. “We’re lucky that Harrison is so keen and capable and he’s happy to help Harry where needed, whether it’s dogs, horses or general skills. We all work really well together.” Sam and Sophie also plan to recruit a student under the Growing Future Farmers programme this summer. This is a two-year programme dedicated to developing the next generation of skilled farmers through real-world, on-farm training. “It’s really awesome to see all these young people who are keen to get into farming in New Zealand. We want to be a part of that and help kickstart someone into the industry and teach them as much as possible while they’re here.” Ramguard tested at .66 2025 PROUD TO SUPPLY RAMS TO BIG HILL STATION Sam says another big drawcard of Gisborne’s St Leger stud is that it has one of the largest FE Gold flocks in New Zealand.
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