| 63 Matakanui will have around 300 of their top, easycare, dual purpose rams available for sale from mid-January. MEAT & WOOL » Matakanui Station Not surprising then that Matakanui supply around 240 bales of their wool to Icebreaker annually and now have a ten year rolling contract which will get them through the foreseeable future. Just as important to their farming system is the Paterson’s determination to breed easycare sheep with a carcasse that meets the mark to get the Alliance Silere contract premium for merino lamb meat. They’re very aware of the effect of warmer winters on footrot and worm numbers and the need for their animals to handle the increased challenges that come with them, while retaining good growth rates. ‘We’re actually challenging them with both footrot and worms. We introduce footrot, and we put them in wormy paddocks, then use their individual samples to select the ones with the best resistance and the highest production with good condition. We’re aiming for all of our rams to have a EBV (Estimated Breeding Value) for worm resistance of over -.5 which allows them to be more easy care and if a farmer runs late with drenching they’ll still be okay,” says Andrew. “With footrot we aim for an EBV with all our rams of -1.0.” Years of careful selection and accurate data recording have gone into all the top meat-producing rams on Matakanui Station, including from the outside genetics they regularly source to achieve the easycare sheep they’re after. They’re part of the Southern Cross Project which means even more testing and data recording than usual, along with access to experimental genetics looking for resistance for other things such as facial eczema. The climatic conditions these sheep are used to, which are generally very dry until they’re fattened under wet conditions under pivots, means they can handle both the extensive grazing in high country pastures and the more intensive high performing grasses. Matakanui will have around 300 of their top, easycare, dual purpose rams available for sale from mid-January.
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