| 21 Perfect conditions for hardy sheep Chris and Annabelle are currently busy preparing for their 12th annual on-farm ram sale. Richard Loader “The Suffolk ram sired the heaviest pre-slaughter liveweight lambs, which went on to be the top carcass weight lambs as well. The second heaviest carcass weight lambs were sired by a Waterton Charollais ram.” MEAT & WOOL » Belmont Stud “You cannot beat NZ Wool it is naturally grown from grass” Main West Coast Road, Yaldhurst, RD 6, Christchurch 7676, New Zealand Phone: +64 3 342 6223 Email: ywlwool@nzwool.com Web: www.nzwool.com Proudly supporting Belmont Stud At its highest point, South Canterbury sheep and beef farm Belmont Station sits 550 metres above sea level, and is home 3200 ewes, of which 450 are from the Waterton stud flocks consisting of Suffolks, South Suffolks, and Charollais. Perendale is the station’s main commercial flock. From the top and on a good day, you can see Banks Peninsula, look out through the MacKenzie Pass and when there’s snow on the hills pick out Mt Cook and Mt Dobson. You can see the Canterbury Plains, Caroline Bay and down towards Waimate. You can also see the bad weather before it hits and because of its views it’s exposed to the elements - perfect conditions for hardy Suffolk, South Suffolk, Charollais sheep. Owned and operated by Chris and Annabelle Hampton, the station sits near the rural township of Cave in the Timaru District, occupying 950ha of steep to rolling country. “It’s reasonably summer safe but gets cold, slow growing in the spring, and snow in the winter,” says Chris. “Everything gets challenged, even ourselves at times.” Chris and Annabelle are currently busy preparing for their 12th annual on-farm ram sale, and this year their daughter Elizabeth will also have a number of her stud Kerry Hill rams available. The sale will be held on Tuesday the 17th of December and will be and outcry auction with an auctioneer, with rams on display in their pens along with all their relevant data from about 1.30pm. “At 3.30pm they will go into a selling ring to be auctioned off, and hopefully everyone will go home with the rams they want,” says Chris. “We expect there will be 32 Suffolks, 16 South Suffolks, 20 Charollais, 10 Charollais Suffolks and Elizabeth will have 5 of her stud Kerry Hill rams. There has been an attendance drop over the last couple of years because of the rural downturn, and farmers hoping they could get another year out of old ‘Cecil’ the ram — which they have done because our rams last a long time. But with a more positive outlook for farming I think there will be quite a few buyers back in the market this year.” Chris and Annabelle have had rams in numerous trials around New Zealand over the years and in the 2023 Duncraigen lamb eating quality trial entered a Suffolk ram and Charollais ram. “The Suffolk ram sired the heaviest pre-slaughter liveweight lambs, which went on to be the top carcass weight lambs as well. The second heaviest carcass weight lambs were sired by a Waterton Charollais ram. There were 54 of the best rams in New Zealand in that trial, and we had the top two in terms of carcass weight, proving the value of the Waterton rams in commercial flocks.” Complementing its ram sales, Chris and Anabelle will also be hosting their third lamb sale in January 2025. “We now sell all our lambs from weaning. We’re being rewarded with our superior genetics and buyers can buy both lambs and rams with confidence.” 11th ANNUAL RAM SALE TUESDAY 17TH DECEMBER 2024 RAMS ON OFFER: 18 PURE CHAROLLAIS • 32 SUFFOLKS 14 SOUTH SUFFOLKS • 8 CHAROLLAIS X SUFFOLKS • 5 KERRY HILLS THE SALE CAN BE VIEWED ON CONTACT CHRIS HAMPTON 027 202 5679 cahampton@xtra.co.nz www.facebook.com/watertonsheepstud/
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=