Business Rural North Winter 2021

18 | CAMPAIGN FOR WOOL » Gleniti Romneys Karen Phelps Photos: David & Bill Hume (top) checking ram lambs’ fat cover. Gleniti rams in October, close to selling time. Multi-generational docking team at work. Mothering ability is important – the ewe displaying quiet temperament as lambs are tagged. Proud to support Gleniti Romneys T he passing of Holmes Warren recently has meant the loss of a legend in the breeding of Romneys, says David Hume from Gleniti Romneys. Gleniti had worked closely with Holmes for many years spanning generations and benefited im- mensely from his knowledge. It even partly owes its beginnings to Holmes when David’s father Bill, who started working on Holmes’ farm at the age of 17, took over the unregistered section of the Holmes’ flock in 1969 at Gleniti and, with Holmes’ help and encouragement, fully recorded the flock from that time. Bill and Holmes sold together for some 40 years. When David and wife Sonya took over the farm in 2007 they continued to work closely with Holmes and his son, Michael, who will now carry on his father’s legacy. Located in Pirinoa in Southern Wairarapa, Gleniti is a 280ha property running around 1700 stud ewes, 550 ram hoggets and 720 ewe hoggets. They sell about 300 rams a year. Gleniti targets robust, easy-care sheep that have high fertility and high growth rate with good style medium wool. Although prices are down David and Sonya remain optimistic about the qualities of wool and that it will rebound one day soon. They put recovery down to marketing and edu- cating the public about the benefits of wool. People don’t like plastic but many still don’t seem to realise much synthetic fibre some clothing is made of is plastic and harmful to the environment. Wool on the other hand is warm, biodegradable and renewable. It’s also fire resistant making it a good insulation product. “We haven’t forgotten about wool at Gleniti,” says David. “We still keep a good style and the weight up in our genetics so that when the market turns we are ready to go. At Gleniti anything that is plain or tippy is culled to keep the style good. When you see a line of our sheep it’s all pretty much the same. That’s what we aim for – good uniformity.” Culls head to the works or store and David says Gleniti store lambs are well sought after. The farm also runs 58 R1 and 58 weaners, mainly to tidy up the paddocks after the sheep but also to provide some diversity to the operation. Drought is one current challenge, which has adjusted their breeding focus slightly to respond to more extreme weather conditions. Their sheep have to do okay on low quality feed if that’s all that’s available and feed off their backs a bit until things come right and when they do put on weight again quickly. David says the ground this May has never been so firm and dry. Thankfully grass is green still from sprinklings of rain and he hopes it will come right soon before winter. The farm’s high stocking rate also puts pressure on sheep to identify those that don’t thrive. “Mothering ability is very important. Any ewe that doesn’t stand with her lambs as we tag them is culled. This has resulted in quieter temperament, another aid to easy finishing and tenderness,” says David. He says that after over 50 years of recording there is high accuracy in the breeding values at Gleniti that have been generated by SIL. These breeding values form the basis of the index that have been used at Gleniti for its selection, which has identified the sheep with a balance of produc- tive traits that gives the best return to those using Gleniti rams. Gleniti has also been using testing around 40-50 rams each year using Zoetis’ Sheep- 5Kas an additional selection tool for ram hoggets, which essentially enables Gleniti to “get a genera- tion in front”, says David. “We are hopeful that the DNA analysis, while continuing to hold the benefits of our traditional selection, will make it possible to incorporate other benefits such as longevity, muscularity, tenderness, meat distribution and FE tolerance.” Breeding legend leaves lasting legacy at Gleniti