52 | As well as breeding Romneys and Romdales, the stud is in the throes of introducing a 3/4 Romney:1/4 Perendale breed to meet client demand. “We will have ram lambs this spring – our plan at the moment though is to take them through to next year and look at selling two-tooths in a year’s time. We’re keeping the ewe lambs and putting them in the commercial ock. “We’re quite impressed by them. We think there’s opportunity for farmers to buy those as rams and put them over a Perendale to get some Romney, or a Romney to get some Perendale.” Excellent wool quality has long been a priority for this third-generation farmer and wool classer but Eric observes their selection approach also favours key traits like fertility, mothering ability, good feet and longevity. The CARLA test – developed by AgResearch – is being used to gather and track data on immunity to internal parasites. “[And] we’re dag scoring lambs and ewes as well.” To highlight the tremendous potential of quality New Zealand wool, Eric started a farm eece to farm oor carpet initiative in 2020 by making carpet from his own wool in conjunction with NZ Yarn and then laying it in the family homestead at Paerau. Since then, the initiative has spread to homes in Millers Flat, Ohau and Fairlie. He welcomes the Government’s recent $4.5m investment in the Wool Impact programme to help grow export revenues for wool. “It’s great to see that the Government is interested in wool. As we know, it’s such a beautiful product and, as a natural bre, ticks all the right boxes.” MEAT & WOOL » Lammerlaw Romney Stud Lammerlaw stud is proud to be using Wairua Merino Stud rams in breeding halfbreds this year. Farm fleece to farm floor initiative • from page 50
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