42 | MEAT & WOOL » Orari Gorge Station Drench resistance ‘plan b’ needed Set in the South Canterbury foothills, just north of Geraldine, the property is considered summer safe. Richard Loader Drench resistance is the number one concern for many farmers and Orari Gorge Station’s Robert Peacock says as the number of farms with resistance continues to grow a plan b needs to be adopted. Amongst other tools such as cattle to sheep ratios, he says genetics should a big part of that plan B. “Orari Gorge Station has been selecting for resistance and resilience to worms and for less dags for twenty-five years. Breeding sheep for performance by challenging the stock and measuring them under pressure are key objectives for the team at Orari Gorge Station which has 9,000 ewes including 1,200 fully recorded stud ewes across three studs, Romney, RomTex (maternal) and SufTex.” Set in the South Canterbury foothills, just north of Geraldine, the property is considered summer safe and is home to 25,000 stock units comprised of 50% sheep, 25% cattle and 25% deer. Orari Gorge Station has hosted the Beef + Lamb Low Input Progeny Test (BLLIPT) since 2019 with 1,100 ewes mated to 17 rams of different breeds each year with progeny recorded for everything including dags, worm resistance and methane. Robert says the trial has delivered valuable insights. At an individual level there are significant differences between the progeny of the different sires in respect to dag scores, worm counts and growth rates. One of the main reasons Robert wanted Orari Gorge Station to host the BLLIPT was that he and a group of other breeders wanted the trial to be carried out under real farm conditions to actually challenge the stock, as that is the only way to find out which animals can handle the worms and still grow and not get too daggy. “The ability for breeders to measure and select sheep for worm resistance has been available for thirty years when the Low Input Test started but only about thirty breeders were actually doing it. The breeders behind the BLLIPT were hoping this trial would publicise the benefits of selecting for worm resistance along side the usual production traits and therefore encourage other breeders to do the same. The more breeders that can record resistance the greater the genetic pool of resistant rams so everyone can benefit and make faster genetic gain.” The same group of breeders also started up WormFEC Gold to identify breeders that are making good progress with worm resistance and production. To qualify as a WormFEC Gold breeder, a breeder’s flock must average above the national average for both worm resistance and production (the NZ Maternal Worth). They must have also been recording for 8 years or more to prove they are dedicated and haven’t just bought a fancy ram or two and then measured them once. In the last five years since the BLLIPT started, the number of breeders recording Worm resistance has more than doubled and 18 breeders now qualify as a WormFEC Gold Breeder. As well as focusing on high production, Orari Gorge adopted a low drench policy about 30 years ago. “We purposely put the stock under pressure with Breeding quality, high yielding sires with a focus on maternal, multi-trait performance. long intervals between drenches - about ten weeks for lambs - and measure growth rates, dag score and worm resistance. No adult ewes, including two-tooths are ever drenched. We cannot rely on drenches being a long-term solution. Genetics are the best long-term solution.”
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