56 | Opportunity to service the hogget lambing market Mt Annan rams. Flynn, Ross and Tracey McCall. Kelly Deeks Staunch Suffolk breeder Ross McCall of Mt Annan Suffolk stud is now trialling Dorper and Wiltshire genetics as he targets burgeoning markets with a black faced terminal sire. Ross has always championed the Suffolk’s blackest face of all the terminal breeds, and one of his breeding goals has always been to keep that nice black face and the pure breed. But now an opportunity to service the hogget lambing market had Ross trialling Dorper rams over his ewe hogget’s last year for easy hogget lambing. “It worked really well last year,” he says. “The idea is to breed a Suffolk cross for the hogget lambing market, with the added bonus of having a bit of shedding in it as well for less crutching. The key is having a terminal sire for all the shedding ewes that are out there now.” Now this season, Ross is trialling the Wiltshire across the ewe hogget’s, to compare it with the Dorper. He is using a ram from Tim and Helen Gow, of Mangapiri Downs organic stud farm, and coming from an organic stud, this ram offers increased worm resistance and he’s never been drenched. “I’ve been looking at a few farms that have been using organic genetics and they look quite good,” Ross says. He has hopes that his Wiltshire trial will keep the Dorper’s honest, and create a black faced terminal sire for the shedding sheep market. “There are a lot of Wiltshire ewes around that might be looking for a terminal sire.” Ross has been breeding Suffolks since the age of 15, when he went into partnership with Horace Murray in Gore. By 18, he bought the flock and went and leased the 240ha family farm at Waikoikoi, West Otago from his uncle. A year later, he bought the farm. He is the fifth generation to farm the property and his son Flynn, 12, is the sixth. Ross sits on the New Zealand Suffolk Breeders Club committee and he and wife Tracey are members of the Otago-Southland Suffolk Breeders Club. They enjoy playing their part to promote the breed and are happy to be able to utilise the latest technologies coming through. MEAT & WOOL » Mt Annan “The idea is to breed a Suffolk cross for the hogget lambing market, with the added bonus of having a bit of shedding in it as well for less crutching.” In Suffolk news, Ross has bought two new rams this year. One, Punchbowl 15-21, from Doug and Jeannie Brown’s Punchbowl stud in Oamaru, was a top seller on the SIL records and boasted a high eye muscle scan as a lamb of more than 30cm. “I used him as a ram lamb, and I knew how well he bred.” The second ram 145-21, from the Hillside Suffolk stud in Nelson, is another ram with good figures, a meaty hindquarter, and an eye muscle scan of more than 30cm as a lamb. He is from a good ram lamb, his mother has produced stud rams, and his sister sold for $1850 at the same sale. “This is all about developing the breed. These rams are at the top of the Suffolk breed with their SIL terminal worth.” Pleased to support Mt Annan Alan Macdonald Jack Perniskie Erin Howes Stephen Kornyei Caleb Macdonald Balclutha “FOR ALL YOUR ANIMAL HEALTH NEEDS.” Clinic-Shop hours 8am - 5.30pm Monday - Friday 24 HOUR EMERGENCY SERVICE AVAILABLE - 03 208 0140 RETAIL & FARM SERVICES FREE DELIVERY Gore: 36 Hokonui Drive, 03 208 0140 | Heriot: 22 Roxburgh Street, 03 204 2255
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