| 27 Building resilience in Southland The couple are being proactive on tackling parasite resistance. Kim Newth RURAL PEOPLE » Elliot and Janine King In Southland, sheep and beef farmers Elliot and Janine King have been strongly focussed on building resilience in their sheep flock over the past five or six years. The couple are being proactive on tackling parasite resistance, a key concern across rural New Zealand. “A lot of farmers may not even know they have a problem but this has such a big impact on production,” says Elliot. “If we can somehow breed sheep that can handle being under parasite burden and perform, then we’re away. “Personally, I feel we are steadily making progress towards that goal of having higher resilience ewes – we keep chipping away.” Elliot is always on the lookout for sires with potential to drive resilience and genetic gain and is impressed by the quality of rams he’s sourced from Hawke’s Bay studs, such as Hamish de Lautour’s Te Whangai Romneys and Rob Tennent’s Pahiwi stud (Romneys and Suftex). “This year I also bought a Suftex ram from Mount Linton in Otautau – we’ll have lambs from him this year for the first time. Of course, we also use a lot of our own rams too.” The couple’s 308-hectare family farm in the lower Hokonui Hills has been in Elliot’s family for four generations. His parents started breeding South Suffolk sheep back in the 1970s and Elliot is still involved with the local South Suffolk Breeders Club. That history with South Suffolk paved the way to Elliot’s subsequent interest in Suftex, a popular terminal sire sheep breed created by crossing Suffolk sheep with Texels. “We’ve got 2800 ewes – mostly Romneys – but around 240 are stud Suftex ewes. It’s a meat breed - fast growth is the aim. In a good year, we can sell up to 80 Suftex ram 2-tooths over December/January. We also use the ram lambs over our ewes going to a terminal sire.” Lambing for the older ewes starts in early August, with the rest of the flock due to start on 5th September.“We had a good autumn leading into tupping and winter has been pretty kind too. That has helped crops like swede and kale. We’re now hoping for a decent spring, so that we’re well set up for the year. Southland has had two poor spring seasons in a row with a lot of wet weather - we don’t want another one of those.” Elliot and Janine will also be calving some 60 Murray Greys this year. They bought into Murray Grey cattle over a decade ago with a small group of in-calf heifers from Barry McDonald’s renowned Torrisdale stud in Winton and have been back subsequently. Murray Grets area good fit for dairy buyers. Elliot says their yearling bulls sell well at private sale. The breed is known for their hardiness, quiet disposition and good calving ease. Surplus cattle from Elliot and Janine’s farm finds ready buyers in the local home kill market. Meanwhile, the couple’s children continue to move ahead with work and study goals. Hayley, 22, has completed her second year as a teacher at Limehills School in Southland, while Myah, 20, is in her last year at Lincoln University and their son Oliver, 18, is due to start at Lincoln next year. 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& JANINE KING EWL Limited • www.ewl.nz Brent Eaton 027 485 5994 | O ce 027 428 4328 | Email ewl.balfouro ce@gmail.com Silage and Baling contractor servicing the NorthernSouthland District
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