| 31 “The genetics that Pamu uses are woolly Romneys, and there may possibly come a time when wool becomes a product that’s in demand, but for right now it’s hard to sell.” RURAL PEOPLE » Te Wharua Station Forestry an important part of the strategy The planting reduced the farm’s carrying capacity to between 11,000 and 12,000 stock units, comprising a high-performing ewe flock and lambs for finishing, as well as breeding cows, trade dairy beef heifers and short-term steers. Mickey says he thought the recovery in prices would come with the increasing use of wool in the insulation of buildings, but it just hasn’t happened. Hugh de Lacy For someone whose name is synonymous with the shearing industry, Alan “Mickey” McDonald is left scratching his head over when, if ever, strongwools will climb up off the pricing floor they’ve been occupying for decades. Mickey, a friend and former fierce competitive shearing rival of the sport’s all-time greatest, Sir David Fagan, manages Pamu’s 1800ha Te Wharua Station in the King Country, north-west of Taumarunui. He had already been on the station, then comprising 1430ha, for three years before Pamu bought it in 2005 and asked him to stay on to run the place, and he’s been there ever since. Pamu added an adjacent 370ha block to Te Wharua in 2007, and it was carrying around 15,000 stock units before the Covid pandemic struck. Since then, though not because of it, Te Wharua has become a farm that not only meets financial and environmental objectives but also aligns with the strategic direction of the Pamu portfolio. The state-owned enterprise has always seen forestry as an important part of its strategy, from a commercial as well as an environmental and sustainability perspective, and planting in some cases is securing the future of farming operations. Over the past two winters a 540ha block of the station that was unsuitable for other purposes, has been planted with a mixture of pinus radiata, coastal redwood, cypress (macrocarpa) and native trees. The planting reduced the farm’s carrying capacity to between 11,000 and 12,000 stock units, comprising a high-performing ewe flock and lambs for finishing, as well as breeding cows, trade dairy beef heifers and short-term steers traded to support the sheep performance and to groom pastures. Sheep numbers include 5100 Romney ewes, all sent to a terminal sire, with replacement stock being brought in from other Pamu properties. Because the lambs remain the key money-maker for Te Wharua, Mickey finds himself growing wool “by default.” “We headed towards a terminal flock to speed up our lamb kill, getting them off to the works to save carrying them through autumn,” Mickey says. “The genetics that Pamu uses are woolly Romneys, and there may possibly come a time when wool becomes a product that’s in demand, but for right now it’s hard to sell.” Compounding the lousy returns for strongwool is the more recent problem of dagging the lengthened tails that sheep have to carry after docking. It’s difficult to find shepherds able to properly dag the sheep’s lengthened tails. In the past the process was simpler, and the sheep could be easily be cleaned up through the undermine and thence out the porthole. The longer tails, however, require a whole new set of skills. As for the wool market itself, Mickey says he thought the recovery in prices would come with the increasing use of wool in the insulation of buildings, but it just hasn’t happened. Never mind wool’s outstanding environmental characteristics, and the huge efforts being made to promote it, “We just haven’t cracked the code to sell enough wool to make a difference,” Mickey says. Locals supporting Local! Proud to support Te Wharua Station
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