34 | David Bell’s focus on sheep genetics David decided to break with decades of tradition, moving away from pure Corriedales to quarter-breds. Lindy Andrews MEAT & WOOL » David Bell With 34 years of irrigation expertise and as Reinke dealers since 2000, Ray Mayne Hose and Fittings, based in Ashburton, offers design, sales, installation, and maintenance for all your irrigation needs. As CropX distributors for the South Island, we’re bringing cutting-edge soil monitoring and irrigation technology to farmers, shaping the future of agriculture. We proudly support Ardamine Farms and David Bell with Reinke irrigation systems, known for durability, high-strength steel, and innovative features like the Hook & Receiver Joint. With weather-resistant control panels, Reinke sets the standard for quality and longevity. Advancing Irrigation with Innovation and Expertise 03 308 6022 30 JB Cullen Drive Ashburton Business Estate RIÀ FH#UD\PD\QH FR Q] ZZZ UD\PD\QH FR Q] Ardamine Farms’ focus on sheep genetics is proving a winner, delivering the trifecta of footrot resistance, lamb production and fine micron wool. David Bell took over running the 420-ha Dorie farm – which lies just south of the Rakaia River – seven years ago, after the death of his father Ian. “It’s always been a sheep farm,” says David. “The Corriedale ewe flock was started by my grandfather, Ray.” With time, David decided to break with decades of tradition, moving away from pure Corriedales to quarter-breds. “I was wanting to change to a different breed to lift production – and decrease labour – but didn’t want to sacrifice our wool, with its 26-micron average.” Unsure what his options were, David reached out to Mark Ferguson at neXtgen Agri with a list of specific breeding objectives to incorporate into Ardamine’s ewes. With Mark’s help, David purchased quarter bred rams that offered the wool quality, low input traits and footrot resistance he was looking for. Robust animal health was critical to achieving his goals. “Some of it was simple stuff like breeding values for dag scores and faecal egg counts. Because of the labour involved with dags and drench resistance being an issue in the sheep industry we needed to make sure we were taking steps to overcome these issues through genetics.” A huge amount of work has also gone into footrot, he says. “That has been pretty cool. The rams have gone through a footrot challenge and then foot scored to see how they have held up. This data is then combined and turned into a breeding value that we can use to select on.” The 25 per cent Corriedale/75 per cent quarter breds are currently producing a 23-to-24-micron average, which David says will get finer as he continues to refine his breeding. “We are aiming for as fine as we can go without sacrificing other traits so I’d say we will end up in the early 20s.” Currently Ardamine wool is sold in Melbourne, but as new generations of ewes produce a finer product he is hoping for a profitable contract with New Zealand Merino. “It will take another three years and there won’t be any full Corriedale ewes left as the flock stabilises more towards the quarter bred.” “We have two mobs, including a terminal mob that we put Suffolk rams over that we source from Foulden Hill genetics. “We have 2800 ewes and about 850 hoggets. About half of those get mated and about two thirds will get in lamb.” With considerable success already behind him, David – the third generation to farm Ardamine - nonetheless has a considerable amount of work ahead. “I’d like to get more hoggets up to weight and get them in lamb, as well as keeping on producing productive fine-wooled ewes,” he says. “I’ll also focus on continuing the low input genetics, while producing good fine wool.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=