66 | Mount Peel’s carefully designed systems Logan and Nicole enjoy farming, and their three children Trelise (10yrs), Max (8yrs), and Matilda (4yrs) love being out on the farm with them. Virginia Wright Logan and Nicole Evans run a 3450 hectare sheep and beef operation called Mt. Peel Limited, split across two blocks in the Hokonui Hills which run east to west across the South Island, about 20 kilometres west of Gore. The 1600 hectare Mt. Peel block sits 100 metres lower above sea-level than the other 1850 hectare block, and the Evans’ farming system is managed accordingly, with their 11,000 ewes and 2700 hoggets split across the two separate blocks. While their approach to farming is to run what Logan calls ‘simple systems’, those systems are nevertheless carefully designed to make the most of what the farm has to offer. The ewes in the lower Mt. Peel block go to a terminal Suffolk or Sufftex ram, lamb early, and are weaned before Christmas. They lamb their hoggets, which go to a maternal Romdale along with the remaining ewes, on the other block, which, as Logan Evans says, keeps things simple. “It’s a couple of weeks later growing on that farm so that works for the lambs and it also splits the workload. It’s about farming the piece of land to the workload and the climate.” Which equally makes good financial sense given that the earlier lambs offer good income before Christmas with 30% to 40% fat off mum, or ‘prime at weaning’. In the last couple of years the Evans reduced their Angus-Hereford beef numbers by 100 to 750, while adding around 500 ewes, to take some of the pressure off their autumn ‘pinch period’. The sheep numbers start reducing by December, with big numbers going to the works in February and March, but only a handful of the cattle stock units which have been carried through the previous winter leave in March, April and May. Going into autumn their numbers remain high with obvious implications. “When you’re feeding 550 18-month-old cattle, they can eat a fair bit getting into May, and coming into autumn we’ve got ewes that need flushing as well as the next crop of calves getting weaned.” MEAT & WOOL » Mount Peel Ltd At Newhaven we believe in accountability. Any animal that can’t earn their keep and perform under a nil-drench regime, no matter what the season throws at them - can pack their bags and move to Wellington. No excuses. Our genetics work hard and actually earn their keep - and are proven through 50 years of selection for low-input traits. Proud to supply genetics to Mount Peel LTD We don’t Breed Bureaucrats... PROUD TO SUPPORT MOUNT PEEL LTD Proudly supporting Mount Peel Ltd
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