Business Rural Winter 2021

58 | Corriedale strongly T he rural farming community of Halkett, west of Christchurch, is home to one of the largest Corriedale sheep stud farms in New Zealand – Wilfield. Robin and his wife Pip, along with brother Gavin, founded Wilfield in 1992, and today the premier stud operation on 340ha comprises four different Corriedale studs (Wilfield, Wattlebank, Blythe Downs and Marawha) offering a range of genetics, plus a Suftex stud flock. “The Corriedale sheep has always been a dual purpose sheep - we have developed that further by using technology to advance the breed’s attrib- utes,” says Robin. “Over the past 10 or 20 years, we have made huge improvements. The new Cor- riedale 2.0 is more open headed, more fertile, has a much better mothering ability, finer wool and is resistant to footrot. “All our sheep are DNA tested for footrot resist- ance and we use objective measurement through SIL to identify those with the most profitable attributes. Our goal is to produce sheep of very sound phenotype that will be good productive animals in most farm environments.” Wilfield has long been an innovation frontrun- ner, bringing together good stockmanship with analysis tools and gene marker technology. The stud farm was one of the first to get alongside Dr Jonathan Hickford’s work at Lincoln University to develop a DNA test for footrot resistance some 20 years ago. “Our sheep just don’t get footrot now. The technology produces compounding benefits – the sheep just keep getting better and better.” Wattlebank Stud alone boasts some outstand- ing rams, including Wattlebank 250/17, who ranked as the number one SIL ram in Australia and New Zealand. He has a 1-2 footrot resistance score, superb award winning fine wool – and clipping a large volume of it. “You don’t get a better sheep than him very often – we were very fortunate to be able to breed him.” Unlike strong wool that mostly gets used in the carpet industry, Robin says the Corriedale’s fine mid-micron wool has multiple end uses. It means the market for Corriedale wool has held up reasonably well considering the downturn since the arrival of COVID-19. MEAT & WOOL » Wilfield Corriedale Stud Innovative Corriedale stud farm Wilfield specialises in breeding Corriedale 2.0 rams. Kim Newth “You’re getting around five times as much for the wool compared to cross-breed wool and when you get a Corriedale sheep producing around 170% to 180% pregnancy scanning, you can see why it’s a sought after breed of sheep.” Feedback from clients using Wilfield rams is very positive, with farmers noticing flow-on ben- efits to their flocks through easier lambing, better mothering and better foot control. “The mothering ability is so much better: they have more lambs and they rear them well and that’s where profitability in sheep farming comes from … when you have cross-breed growers wanting to buy your rams it’s a compliment but when they come back to double their order it tells you what they think of them.” Otago ultrasound scanning expert Peter Clulee visited Wilfield recently to conduct muscle scan- ning of Corriedale ram hoggets. “From the Corriedale point of view, he was very glowing about what he saw here. The importance of intramuscular fat is that it gives you more taste in the meat so it’s a sought after attribute. It’s another positive for the Corriedale.” Given all the improvements to the breed, Robin says it is no exaggeration to describe today’s dual purpose Corriedale as the sheep of the future, one that will continue adding value to farm busi- nesses. “You’re getting around five times as much for the wool compared to cross-breed wool and when you get a Corriedale sheep producing around 170% to 180% pregnancy scanning, you can see why it’s a sought after breed of sheep.”