46 | Top sheep genetics with balanced traits It is important to have a balanced approach to breeding and that targets single traits. Russell Fredric Farmers picking top sheep genetics with balanced traits will be piqued by Orari Gorge Romney Stud’s variety of top rams available from late November/early December. Located at Orari Gorge Station in the South Canterbury foothills, the stud was established in 1982 with the aim of producing open-faced, structurally sound, easy-care Romneys with good conformation and constitution. The station has been in the same family for nearly 170 years and is currently run by Robert Peacock, the fifth generation. This year Orari Gorge Romney Stud will have available for purchase by private treaty about 150 Romney, 40 Romtex and 40 Suftex rams, Robert says. “The Romney and the Romtex are both run under similar selection policies. We are looking for low input, high performance, naturally resistant and resilient to worms, good maternal traits, good growth and eye muscle.” With more than 60% of North Island farms now experiencing resistance to triple combination drenches, it is clear that genetics are going to play a crucial part in this battle, Robert says. “The drenches aren’t working, it is hard to get staff and the consumers don’t want the chemicals. Dags are also a huge cost to the industry, but they are heritable and can easily be reduced by genetics.” Robert emphasises it is important to have a balanced approach to breeding, targeting single traits “will soon get you in trouble” because a ram that is particularly good at one trait could have a high overall index even if it is bad at a few other traits. “This means the profit you gain from one trait improving will quickly be lost by other traits reducing. Because of this we look at every breeding value and only choose the rams that are good at every trait.” “With nearly 8,000 commercial ewes we are our own biggest client, so we want to get it right.” For five years from Orari Gorge Romney Stud hosted the Beef + Lamb low input progeny test which involved artificial insemination of 1,100 of our commercial ewes to 17 stud rams of all breeds from throughout New Zealand each year. The lambs were carefully put under pressure and every lamb was measured for every possible metric and in the first year went from weaning in early December, right through to late May without a drench. Despite their faecal egg count being over 2000 in February this came down to 700 by late May as their immune system kicked in. “It was quite impressive how powerful the genetics were.” “Having seen the power of it in the progeny test it is a pretty significant part of the tool box combined with other traits as well that you can use.” MEAT & WOOL » Orari Gorge Station “It was quite impressive how powerful the genetics were.” “Having seen the power of it in the progeny test it is a pretty significant part of the tool box.” Orari Gorge Romney Stud has WormFEC Gold accreditation, New Zealand’s leading certification for worm resistant sheep genetics for studs that have been selecting for worm resistance for at least eight years and that qualify under the programme’s criteria. All Orari’s ewes are individually weighed and body condition scored which is an important part of the station’s breeding direction. The stud’s stabilised maternal Romtex rams are popular with farmers wanting some Texel genetics but who don’t want a pure Romney or pure Texel. “They’ve just got that little bit extra meat. We’ve worked pretty hard at the meat on the Romney, but the Romtex just have that little bit more. The Romtex are very good at survival.” PROUDLY SUPPORTING ORARI GORGE STATION
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