| 51 Strong summer ram sale expected Flock of hoggets at Earnscleugh Station Inset: Ram fleece. Kim Newth Earnscleugh Station is expecting another good ram sale season over late January and early February 2023, with two sales planned of Ultrafine, Superfine, Icebreaker and Smart sheep. The family-owned farm in Central Otago is renowned for the quality of its merino sheep (stud and flock) and stud cattle. Merino farmers seeking flock improvement value the station’s breeding emphasis on quality wool, high fertility, superior muscling and, more recently, low susceptibility to footrot. For breeders Alistair and Duncan Campbell, it has been very rewarding for their merino stud to be acknowledged as one of the best in New Zealand for this comparatively new footrot EBV. “Our top ram for this trait has solid data across the board; we have sold a lot of his semen around the country,” says Duncan. “It’s being pretty widely used now.” The station’s summer ram sales will be by invitation only with buyers drawing numbered marbles on sale day to determine the order in which rams are picked and with each buyer allocated a certain number of rams. “Everyone gets a good choice of rams.” Earnscleugh Station was the first stud in New Zealand to use breeding values in 1988 and has worked hard through the years to hone the best genetics. An exciting milestone for the Campbells in 2020 was achieving ultra-fine 10-micron fleeces, and they have since made further gains. “We had a 10.6-micron fleece last year before setting a new record this year with a 10.2 fleece - the best we’ve ever had.” The station’s ultrafine merino wool is sought after by Italian high-end clothing and fabric maker Loro Piana, whose representatives have visited Earnscleugh twice this year. Duncan says they are always amazed at how the stud rams are run on the farm’s rugged country, with no special treatment. “We run them as commercially as possible as we believe the ability to forage and constitution is very important - they are not paddock sheep. Loro Piana say we’re the only ones supplying their finest brand from outdoors. Breeding is the key and we’ve been doing it longer than practically anyone else.” Earnscleugh’s poll section, which started in 2000, now makes up the majority of the stud breeding ewes. Selective crossbred genetics have further strengthened the stud stock including Inverdale (Earnscleugh Inverino) and GDF9 genes to drive fertility and Loinmax and Myomas to improve muscling, (now widely spread throughout the stud). MEAT & WOOL » Earnscleugh Genetics With an eye to the future, Earnscleugh’s merino lambs are being tested for methane output for the first time this year. Duncan says the goal is to find out how merino sheep rank against other breeds on this metric. As Duncan points out, the current assumption is that one sheep is much like another yet a merino is quite different to a crossbred sheep, being significantly lighter for a start. “You would think the emissions output would be less but noone has done the work to find out. Hopefully we can find lambs in our group that are low on methane output and use this as a basis to seek further improvement.” EBVs Proudly supporting EARNSCLEUGH GENETICS admin@samuelcontracting.co.nz • Phone: 027 245 4090 Peter 027 433 3522 | (03) 448 6378 | www.peterlyonshearing.co.nz Servicing wool growing clients in Southland, Otago & South Canterbury PETER LYON SHEARING
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