| 31 MEAT & WOOL » Ballandean Ltd / Elliot King A proud tradition Hardiness and versatility Southland sheep and beef farmers Elliot and Janine King continue to see benefits from their decision to buy into Murray Grey cattle more than a decade ago. Since starting with a small group of in-calf heifers from Barry Macdonald’s renowned Torrisdale Murray Grey Stud in Winton, the couple have been impressed with the consistent performance of this hardy, well-balanced breed. “They are going well for us,” says Elliot. “It makes a big difference if you feed them well through the winter; that way, the yearlings are a bit bigger and can be used over both heifers and cows. We break feed the yearling bulls on fodder beet and, once they get used to it, they’re away. “We sold all 30 yearling bulls that we put up for private sale last October; they went predominantly to dairy buyers. The average price was pretty good too. I deal with one buyer personally and the rest are sold through PGG Wrightson’s stud stock agent, Callum McDonald. We have a good relationship with Callum, who finds good homes for them all.” Murray Greys are a good fit for dairy buyers looking for traits like shorter gestation, low to moderate birth weight and calving ease. On the finishing side, they stack up well on growth and boast valuable carcass attributes. “They have good IMF and go well in the beef market through the likes of the Alliance Pure South Handpicked programme.” Last October, Elliot and Janine purchased two yearling bulls at the annual Torrisdale bull sale. “They were close to being the highest IMF bulls in that sale - we’re looking forward to seeing the results we get from them. We’ve used a lot of Barry’s bulls over the years. He’s one of the most well-known Murray Grey breeders in New Zealand.” Southland had a difficult lambing and calving season last year, being one of the wettest for local farmers. It was a challenging season for Elliot and Janine too. “We kept a close eye on our heifers at calving but the conditions were so tough that unfortunately we still lost a few calves. The weather has come right now but everything is so far behind. Our lambs are doing well but there’s a lot of catching up to do.” The 308-hectare family farm ‘Pahiwi’, on the lower flanks of the Hokonui Hills, has been in Elliot’s family for four generations. Along with the cattle, the farm carries some 2800 ewes and 750 hoggets, predominantly hardy North Island Romneys. “Through December and up to now, it has been drier and warmer and we’ve still been getting rain so there’s plenty of feed,” Elliot observes. “Our biggest concern is if the tap now turns off and it stays hot and dry. We have a long road ahead with the lambs being so far behind.” Meanwhile, the couple’s children are busy with work and study: Hayley, 21, has just started her first job as a qualified teacher at Limehills School in Southland, while Myah, 19, worked on a local dairy farm over the summer before returning to her studies at Lincoln University. Their son Oliver, 16, worked on the family farm over summer and is now back at school in Year 12. Duncan and Amy Scott, of Ballandean Ltd, own and operate Glenloe and Ballandean Dohne Stud from home-base in Southburn, just 10km south-west of Timaru. With a history in the district that tracks back now six generations, the Scott family have been farming since 1882, so there’s very much a feeling of custodianship over the land which, Duncan says, really drives their values. Rural South spoke with Duncan early August and uppermost on his mind was the impact lack of rain had on ewe mating. “The feed was just a little bit late for the ewes premating and when it finally arrived it rained for six weeks. I can only now finally get around the farm, with all the mud,” Duncan says. And with all the rain the shearing round started a month late and extended over six weeks. “This just serves to put everything behind, but we’ve been farming so long now, these factors we can’t control are just something we accept and work around.” On 4 December, Glenloe and Ballandean Stud will present its third annual on-farm Dohne and Wavering Downs Border Leicester ram sale. “I’m a firm believer that its important for buyers to assess the look of an animal first and then refer to the documented performance data.” It’s a day much anticipated by the Scott’s who spend considerable time assessing which sheep to put up for sale. Seeing what each animal fetches in auction is always exciting. Dohne, a breed of South African origin, are considered a true dual-purpose sheep. Duncan’s late father Owen took a shine to the breed having noted their performance in Australia. “He bought the first Dohne rams on to the farm in 2006, with the aim of breeding in lower micron wool, more meat and better fertility which was well achieved.” Asked of the situation of the farm generally, Duncan was pleased to share that the very drawn-out process to renew water consents with ECAN was at last completed, a frustrating and costly time for farmers in the region. “It’s very good to have that process behind us and the certainty it brings. The farm is currently in good health and the stock in great shape. If the sun comes out and the north-westerly wind stays away we’re in for a great spring!” And the conversation with Duncan literally coincided with the first lambs arriving. Lambing percentages run at a healthy 150%, not bad for a finer wool breed sheep. Twin ewe lambs are identified but this doesn’t necessarily mean that single lambing ewes will be culled. It’s just one of the factors that plays into culling decisions. “We also had a very good take in the first mating cycle with 80% of the inlamb ewes lambed. This sets the season up well right from the start because you get weaning over and done with in a tighter time-frame. We lamb the stud ewes a month later to put a gap in proceedings.” Duncan says the outlook currently for the commercial sheep sector is more promising than it has been traditionally, with better meat and wool prices being realised. “Farmers need a break to boost optimism in the industry. It’s been pretty tough for years.” Bee-keeping is another string to the bow. Owen started tending to hives back in 1980 and Duncan says a decision has been now made to extract their own honey. “I’m very confident about this new venture for us as I’m very familiar with the machinery, which we’ve bought from the people who used to do the extracting. The only difference is the machine is going to be on our farm. Once extracted the honey is sold in bulk to a honey processor and packer.” PROUDLY SUPPORTING BALLANDEAN LTD Hamish de Lautour | 027 447 2815 | hamish@tewhangai.co.nz James Brennan | 027 635 4567 | manager@tewhangai.co.nz www.tewhangai.co.nz PROUD TO SUPPLY QUALITY GENETICS TO ELLIOT KING THURSDAY 4TH DECEMBER 2025 Simon Eddington - PGGWrightson 027 590 8612 Keegan Gray - PGGWrightson 027 288 7529 Derek Eaton 027 437 5706 Proudly supporting Elliot King Sue Russell Kim Newth Ballandean Dohne ram hoggets. Murray Greys are a good fit for dairy buyers looking for traits like shorter gestation, low to moderate birth weight and calving ease.
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