22 | Buyers can take their time with Egilshay All breeds of mixed age ewes are wintered on crop. Russell Fredric Alistair McLeod has never embarked on a pilgrimage to Texel. The owner of Egilshay Stud along with his wife Karen, Alistair says “it would be nice to go” to Texel, but the island on the Netherlands coast is not renowned as a holiday destination. “It’s a very harsh climate from the sound of it.” In New Zealand, Texel is intrinsically linked to the namesake meaty sheep breed that has been an important part of the McLeod’s farming life for the past three decades, more recently while farming near Ranfurly. Alistair has been a board member of Texel New Zealand for the past 18 years. Today’s New Zealand Texels are considerably different to their ancestors released from quarantine in 1990, Alister says. “They were originally imported for their meat yield, but we’ve crossed them up with other breeds and bred a ‘New Zealand Texel.’ Breeders have selected for mothering ability, ease of lambing, easy-care sheep and high yielding carcasses.” Because Northern Hemisphere sheep are typically wintered indoors and “mollycoddled,” they may not have all these traits or the resilience of New Zealand Texels, Alistair says. Consequently, some farmers in the United Kingdom have recently realised they can benefit from the 30 years of Kiwi smarts and have bought New Zealand Texels to breed from. Egilshay operates three studs along with a small commercial operation on their 120 hectares of which 50 hectares is irrigated. The studs comprise 200 registered Texel breeding ewes and 70 Texel ewe hoggets, a stabilised Suftex flock of 220 ewes and 70 hoggets and 70 Île-de-France ewes, with the 100 commercial crossbred ewes producing early season lambs. Egilshay sells about 90 two-tooth rams privately on-farm each season which, without the pressure of an auction, means buyers can take their time and make well-considered decisions, with the help of Alistair and Karen’s guidance if needed. MEAT & WOOL » Egilshay Texels “It’s a nice opportunity for clients to come along, to see all the animals together, have a good discussion with their ram breeder, make their choices and just chew the fat really.” This year, Egilshay has swapped and shared five Texel rams with other stud breeders from Dannevirke to Southland, with the goal of having connectedness between the studs while diversifying the genetics. “You can measure how well your rams breed in different flocks and environments, as this is measured then evaluated on SIL (Sheep Improvement Limited).” All the breeds sold by Egilshay offer rams that will produce progeny with “a good meaty carcass and with good growth rates” Alistair says. “That’s what all these breeds deliver. With having meat-bred sheep you’re getting pretty PANKHURST Contracting LTD 35 Greta Road, Greta Valley E: d.pankhurst.nz@gmail.com David 027 433 7004 Ben 027 677 5882 Diane 027 224 3595 15a Hokonui Drive, Gore PO Box 172, Gore 9740 Phone: 03 208 9240 Email: admin@ocr.co.nz www.ocr.co.nz Pleased to support Egilshay Texels Mike Millard | Rose Johnston | Emma Hewitson | Sarah Collie muscly progeny.” Egilshay is currently breeding a line of Texels that have very little wool and are actively shedding, and from this line is selling rams to breeders who are breeding away from wool and looking to increase their carcass yields. Alistair says the introduction of Texel to New Zealand was a catalyst for farmers to focus on increasing meat yield, at a time when 13kg to 14kg carcasses were the norm and Romneys and Perendales the dominant breed. “It definitely has done that, and Texels continue to have a very strong influence in cross-breeding programmes throughout the sheep industry.” Shearing and Crutching services Jay 027 4449158 or 034449165 jayamy.stringershearingltd@gmail.com Proud to support EgilshayTexels
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