| 33 Mainline’s lambs held their prices The Texel stud comprises 50 purebred ewes of the Dutch breed, and their rams have the Romney flock scanning at around 190%. Hugh de Lacy Sheepmeat prices for the past couple of years have been something of a disaster but the 3000 terminally-sired lambs that North Canterbury’s Mainline Texels sold last November still produced a bigger return for the Stokes family than they did the year before. “We’re proud of the fact that our lambs, from our predominantly Romney flock of ewes, held their prices in spite of the drop in lamb returns generally,” says farm-owner Andrew Stokes whose wife Udette is Mainline Texels’ studmaster. “It goes to show that if we get it right, these Texels will perform, which is a bit of a relief given the way prices have been going in the face of the Australians flooding the global market.” The Texel stud comprises 50 purebred ewes of the Dutch breed, and their rams have the Romney flock scanning at around 190%, with 180% of the big meaty progeny live on the ground. While it’s their meat that have made the Texels such a prominent player in sheepmeat production, Udette also focuses on their wool in the hope that this will eventually pay off when – or if – strongwools ever recover the ground lost over the past half-decade. “We’re definitely seeing more overseas interest in our strongwools, but more marketing is needed to raise their profile on the world stage,” Andrew says. “The price this past season went up about 30c / kg compared to last year – it’s now slightly over $3/ kg - and while that’s not much of an increase, it does hold some promise of a continued rise, and Udette aims to capitalise on that by selecting for wool quality and colour.” The Stokes farm of 780ha runs Galloway and Angus stud herds as well as the 2800-ewe flock, and it’s a diversified operation that also runs 1000 velvetting stags and a flock of ducks. Andrew runs the Angus stud while son Marshall is the Galloways studmaster, each with about 50 recorded cows, and while the Angus cattle are doing well it’s the Galloways that are proving outstanding. The Stokes Galloway herd is the only one in the country being scanned for eye muscle, and it’s revealing an advantage over the likewise scanned Angus herd that’s making the Galloways increasingly attractive to dairy farmers for terminal crossing, Andrew says. “At least on paper the scanning is showing the Galloways as having a distinct eye-muscle advantage over the Angus, and that’s something that dairy farmers are especially conscious of,” he says. And while the cattle and sheep are holding up their end of the farming operation, the velveting stags are also making almost as big a contribution as ever. “The velvet price was back $10 on last year, but that still makes velvet production the most MEAT & WOOL » Mainline Texels “The velvet price was back $10 on last year, but that still makes velvet production the most competitive form of farming compared to everything else we do.” Proud to be associated with Mainline Texels Personal & Professional Service, Farm, Commerical & Business Accountancy Taxation Advice, Financial Returns 6 Blake St, Rangiora PH: 03 313 7824 team@prosser-quirke.co.nz www.prosser-quirke.co.nz 185 KIRK ROAD, TEMPLETON • +64 27 303 1162 • SMRNZ@HOTMAIL.COM SOUTHERN MOTORCYCLE LTD SMALL MOTORCYCLE BUSINESS OFFERING ALL MOTORCYCLE REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE, ON FARM SERVICING competitive form of farming compared to everything else we do,” Andrew says. And then there are the ducks, run by son Daniel, that are sold live to mostly the Canterbury Indian community. Demand there has been shooting up and Daniel’s cranking up the numbers in response.
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