100 | Lifelong fascination with sheep breeding 2019 Cooptex. Sue Russell A fascination with sheep breeding from a very young age led George Smith to establish a Romney Stud in 1963 on a family farm in Eastern Southland near Wyndham. Today, the farming partnership has recently succeeded to George’s son Hamish and his wife Karen, but George remains active on the farm and continues his passion for the sheep stud breeding enterprise. George’s grandfather John Smith bought ‘Tamlet’, situated on the Wyndham Ridges in 1913 and the property has been in the family ever since with Hamish and Karen’s children representing the 5th generation on the property. From 1910-1944 Tamlet operated as a dairy and sheep farm, however following the war, the shift was made to run it as a sheep property primarily with a small number of beef cattle. George remains passionate about sheep breeding to this very day. Studiously attending to recording traits has underpinned Tamlet’s success both in scale and reputation in ensuing decades. Understanding that genetic gain would only come from serious observation and application of breeding technologies, which continue to evolve through the years, and a dedication to keeping impeccable recording underpins how George has approached his sheep breeding journey. When he first started, there were no systems for recording genetic traits. “I developed my own recording system that could compare all the lambs no matter what their sex, birth rank, or birthdate was. I worked out what weight every lamb would beat 12 weeks of age. How much weight was achieved, along with other key attributes. To help me figure it all out I had to build ready-reckoners and do a lot of long division sums on paper. Fortunately, I always loved maths,” George explains. It wasn’t uncommon to find George studying pages and pages of written recordings spread over the kitchen table and though how genetic progress is recorded has changed into this digital age, the basics of being thorough, consistent and detailed in approach remain the same. Just over a decade after founding the Romney Stud, George established his Coopworth Stud in RURAL SERVICES » Tamlet Sheep Genetics/ Tamlet Farm 1974 and since then other breeds have been added into the mix. Today, Tamlet Sheep Genetics breeds high index performing rams for sale on farm across a number of breeds, including Coopworth, Texel, Romtex, Cooptex and Suftex. A comprehensive array of traits are measured, including Growth, Meat, Reproduction, Survival, Wool, Adult Size, and Dags. George is very much tuned to breeding in and developing further the desirable traits his commercial farmers need, to successfully operate their own sheep farms, notably vigorous growing lambs with excellent survival capability and ability to grow meat well and fast. Tamlet runs ~12 stock units/ha on lovely rolling hills in Eastern Southland where rainfall averages 1100mm each year and winter lasts about 100 days. The farm is positioned 100-200 metres above sea level and enjoys fairly reliable spring, summer and autumn grass growth. The purpose of all the recording George has rigorously undertaken through the years was to compare performance of progeny from one sire to another; to see how family traits evolved. “Some rams would show up significantly desirable traits and really stood out. I think this is one of the aspects of breeding that I most enjoy. Building on the performance data and really narrowing down those ram and ewe combinations that produced outstanding progeny. Animals I knew would perform well under tough commercial conditions was always the aim.” George says that one key point to remember is that 80% of a flock’s genetics comes from the rams used. The genes the rams pass to their offspring determine the potential production and profitability for the commercial farmer, so it’s vital they choose the best genetics to improve the performance of their flock. Using tools like nProve gives a farmer a way to do this. In all, 2,300 ewes inhabit Tamlet farm at any one time. This figure includes the commercial flock. Karen says shifts in market preferences influence the breeding focus. “Traditionally meat has been about yield, however the shift these days is to meat eating quality so we’re having discussions about how to respond to this,” Karen explains. SALES - DWAIN - 027 220 6844 BOOKINGS - OFFICE - 03 204 8455 PICK-UP & DELIVERY SERVICE - OPEN SATURDAYS UNTIL 12 NOON LOAN BIKES AVAILABLE PLUS WE SERVICE OTHER BRANDS FOR AFTER HOURS ENQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT DWAIN DEVEREUX COOPWORTH • COOPTEX • ROMTEX • SUFTEX • TEXEL Tamlet Rams have very high breeding indexes with sale rams ranking in the top 4-10% in NZ for terminal worth (NZTW) and maternal worth+meat (NZMW+M) indexes. George Smith 03 206 4925 Karen Smith 027 333 5612 tamletfarming@gmail.com Tamlet Sheep Genetics High Breeding Index • Terminal & Maternal Sires 2-th Rams for Sale Nov 2024 • Ram Lambs available Mar 2025 Ploughing | Cultivation | Sowing | Spraying Precision Planting Supporting Hamish andGeorge of Tamlet Farm | Direct Drilling | Baleage | Muckspreading Graeme 0274346778 Jordan 0276995259 He’s particularly proud of the fact that progeny from Tamlet’s stud rams grow faster than most and have very high meat yields. “We’re in the top percentage across all desirable traits. There’s never the perfect sheep but our genetics deliver meaningful returns in the commercial situation. It’s always interesting when farmers visit us to see just which sheep they choose and we provide plenty of back-up data on trait performance to assist their decision.” Stud ram lambs are eye-muscle scanned prior to selection with cull ram lambs processed through Alliance who give us meat yields linked to the animal’s EID number. This season we will also receive meat eating-quality data for our animals. These days, sophisticated breeding records are maintained digitally, with data stored on computers and tablets, easily accessible in real time; a far cry from George’s early days as a breeder.
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