Southdown Sheep Society, NZ

Click to read article » The Wairoa Star Article – National SouthdownTour 2015

Southdown Ewe wins 2015 Masterton All Breeds Sheep of the Show

Wiri 43/13 (Mangakura 74/11 – Wiri 18/11)

Winton farmer Todd Anderson with his Southdown rams.

Southland farmers Todd and Fleur Anderson sold a southdown ram for $15,000 at their on-farm auction earlier this month.

It was the highest price achieved for a ram across all breeds this year. “It was quite humbling.

“To get that sort of endorsement means we are going in the right direction,” Todd Anderson said.

Southdown rams on Todd Anderson’s Winton property.

Anderson said the terminal sire ram was “definitely the best” he had bred and was exceptionally early maturing with great definition and muscling in the hind- quarters.

“He’s a phenomenal ram with great SIL (Sheep Improvement) figures.”

The ram was bought by leading southdown stud breeder Chris Medlicott, of Waimate.

Medlicott holds the world record price of $16,000 for a Clifton Downs southdown ram which he sold in 2005.

The southdown was renowned for its fast growth rates and early maturing carcass and thrived in dry conditions like those being experienced on the east coast of the South Island. Anderson said being able to finish lambs early in the season was a key driver of profit, after lambing percentage.

“If you can get your lambs away early then you can put the feed into your ewes or other stock.

“There’s huge opportunity for farmers to improve their mean kill date.”

Anderson has always had an affinity with southdowns – the “oldest and purest” sheep breed in the world.

But, they haven’t always been so popular.

Once regarded as a “short and dumpy” sheep, they now have longer leaner frames and yield well.

Anderson established his Tralee Southdown stud in 2002 after he paid good money for 30 ewes at the Charleston stud dispersal sale at Oamaru.

Anderson grew up in Invercargill and worked as a rural finance manager for the BNZ for 10 years but always had a desire to go farming.

He started leasing a small block near Invercargill to run his sheep before buying his 325 hectare property at Kauana, near Winton.

Anderson’s stud now numbers about 200 southdown ewes, but does not farm any commercial sheep – preferring to stick with breeding stud sheep which also includes a romney stud.

“My passion is genetics. Even the dogs in my kennels have to be well bred,” Anderson said.

He isn’t scared to pay for good genetics and in 2003 paid $13,200 for a ram bred by Medlicott.

“I always buy as well as I can.

“I’ve bought a lot of rams off Chris because he has the No 1 southdown stud in the country.”

Anderson used his top southdown ram as a hogget over 24 ewes and was pleased with how his progeny performed. A pair of his sons were placed first in the Merial carcass evaluation class at the Gore A&P Show.

He sold 50 rams at his on-farm auction in early February for an average price of $1240, of which five went to stud breeders and the rest to commercial farmers.

Historically, southdown rams had been mainly mated to romney ewes, but were now used over a wide range of breeds.

Anderson was focused on breeding early maturing southdown rams which performed in a range of environments.

“It’s important to finish lambs early. The sooner they are out the gate you can utilise that dry matter for other stock and it’s not costing you as much to get them to weight.”

Anderson said one of his clients was mating their ewe hoggets to the southdown and lambing them in October and killing 60 per cent of them at 17kg in a weaning draft in January.

He also raves about southdown meat.

“It’s the only [sheep] meat we eat. It has a beautiful texture and it’s a very fine grained meat.”

A new history of the Southdown Sheep in New Zealand and the major influences that led it to its pre-eminent position in NZ meat breeds today has now been published online here on our website.

The publication can be found under the “Features Menu” or by clicking on the following link.

Please note for those that prefer to read on book or paper format, their is currently no paper version so you will need to print each chapter yourself.

Southdown Sheep Society of New Zealand

Hawkes Bay Tour – April 28th – April 30th 2015

Hosted by Stephen & Penny Baker & David Hunt.

Tuesday 28th April:             Arriving

Council Meeting:       10.00 am.

Lunch:                         For Council

Dinner:                       RSA                 7.30 pm

Wednesday 29th April:       Day 1

7.00 am           Breakfast at Fountain Court Motor Inn, Napier

8.20 am           Assemble in Court Yard. Leave 8.30 am Sharp on Bus

10.30 am         Head to Andrew Powdrell’s, 189 Kiwi Valley Road, Wairoa

12.00 pm         Lunch at Andrews

1.00 pm           Depart Andrew’s and head back to Tutira Country Park

2.30 pm           Meet Stephen Cave (HBRC) at Tutira Country Park.  Afternoon tea.

3.30 pm           Back to Napier’s Fountain Court Motor Inn, Napier

6.30 pm           Meet at Gin Trap/Shed 2 for Dinner. To be seated by 7.00 pm for Tea.

Guest Speaker: To be a surprise!

Thursday 30th April:           Day 2

6.00 am           Breakfast at Fountain Court Motor Inn, Napier

7.00 am           Assemble in Court Yard. Leave 7.15 Sharp on Bus

8.15 am           Arrive at Doug Grieve’s Stud, SH 50, Tikokino

9.15 am           Depart for Hamish Bibby’s, 713 Blackburn Road, Ongaonga

10.30 am         Arrive at Hamish Bibby’s.  Smoko and look around

12.00 pm         Depart for Stephen Baker’s, 1004 Longrange Road, Waipukurau

1.00 pm           Lunch

2.00 pm           Tour around David Hunts and S Bakers stud.  Includes tour of lake, wholesale nursery and gardens.

3.00 pm           Drinks and nibbles in the grounds.

Coach departs for flights.

Please note:

Flights departing on the last day of the tour through Napier are:

Napier to Auckland Departing 5.55pm

Napier to Wellington Departing 5.25pm

Napier to Christchurch via Wellington departs 5.25pm

Napier to Christchurch direct depart 6.50pm

We will have everybody back at the airport in time for these flights.

Alternatively, you are welcome to stay another night in Napier and fly out the following day.

SCAN FAN: Canterbury farmer Brent Macaulay is a fan of CT scanning to get the most out of his southdowns. The ram had a CT scan as a ram hogget that helped to get an accurate reading of its internal as well as external virtues.

A Canterbury ram stud breeder has become a convert to CT scanning after selling a southdown ram for $14,000.

Brent Macaulay, from Maclaka stud, Lincoln, was one of two breeders to take the top price honours, with Chris Medlicott’s ram from his Clifton Downs Southdown stud sharing the same price, at the Canterbury A&P Association’s Elite Ram and Ewe Sale last month.

Both breeders sent their sires through a Lincoln University CT scanner as ram hoggets to examine their bone and muscle composition.

Macaulay was so impressed that he will be sending another five or six rams with sires from other southdown breeders for CT scanning in February or March.

He said the results confirmed his thoughts the ram would do well at the sale.

“I thought carcass-wise he was hard to fault and cat scanned him as a ram hogget and he cat scanned well.

“He had the scanning data to meet the eye appraisal which I thought was good hindquarters and loin and that came through the cat scanning as well as being structurally sound.

“I used it for the first time last autumn and now I’m a convert and will use it on my top guys every year. I’m really loving the cat scanning, it’s magnificent and great for the stud breeding industry,” Macaulay said.

Macaulay also CT scanned a ram he thought would be another top animal to find after the results that it had a fat layer not visible to the eye.

The ram, with a 56 per cent carcass yield, will be sold as a flock ram after being ruled out as a top sire animal.

However, the CT scanning backed up the promising traits of Maclaka 14 with a 62 per cent carcass yield which was sold for top money to Blair Robertson, of Merrydowns stud near Gore.

Macaulay said his goal was to build on the CT scanning benchmark set by the ram.

The ram breeder was still recovering from the bidding flush for Maclaka 14 and was taken aback when another of his southdown sires sold for $3800 to ex- lamb drafter Paul Ross, from Mayfield.

Macaulay runs a small stud operation of about 35 ewes on eight hectares in between running a scanning business in the winter and managing the stock at PGGWrightson’s feed research farm near Lincoln. Setting up his stud in 1995, ewes were outsourced initially from Canterbury studs until he built up a base for home breeding.

The sire for Maclaka 14 came from an Australian ram that caught the eye of his father, John, during a southdown tour. John bought the ram a few years ago in partnership with an Australian farmer and sent semen home for his own stud outside of Timaru.

The father and son team often use the same sire line.

Macaulay was sorely tempted to keep Maclaka 14, but its bloodlines were getting a bit cramped at his small operation.

Instead, he reinvested some of its earnings in a small share of Medlicott’s $14,000 ram sold to David Gillespie, whose stud is near Oxford, and John Jebson, at Charing Cross.

Macaulay managed to come to an after-sale arrangement with Gillespie after a syndicate including himself and his dad missed out on the bidding.

“He ended up being a little steep for us and we were bidding on him and he got to $9000 and that was me out, but I managed to chat to the guy who bought him and he offered me a small share,” Macaulay said.

“We are reinvesting into what I thought was the other good ram for the day.”

Meanwhile, Maclaka 14 will be put to good use by Robertson, who plans to put him over 300 ewes at his big stud operation.

Macaulay remains hopeful that in coming years he might be able to call on Robertson for one of its sons to retain its top bloodline in his own stud.

The sale’s $1782 average price per ram fell again this year, down from $1867, and the average ewe price was $234, down from $287, for total sales of $286,725.

TUESDAY 9th DECEMBER, 2014.

Lot 59 Willowhaugh 157/13 $2000.00 Mangaotea Stud
(Replacement Ram)
Lot 60 Willowhaugh 68/13 $6000.00 C.Rapley
Lot 61 Silverdale 146/13 $900.00 Commercial
Lot 62 Silverdale 150/13 $2600.00 C.Deadman
(Replacement Ram)
Lot 63 Wiri 15/13 $900.00 Commercial
Lot 64 Wiri 7/13 Withdrawn
Lot 65 Mangakura 149/13 $800.00 Commercial
Lot 66 Mangakura 134/13 $800.00 Commercial
Lot 67 Rawa 72/13 $3000.00 D.Grieve
Lot 68 Rawa 58/13 $1000.00 Commercial
Lot 69 Moor End 2/13 $900.00 Commercial
Lot 70 Moor End 3/13 $800.00 Commercial
(Replacement Ram – Tw to Lot 69)
Lot 71 Glen Orrin 88/13 $800.00 Commercial
Lot 72 Glen Orrin 147/13 $800.00 Commercial
Lot 73 Te Mara 37/13 Passed
Lot 74 Willowhaugh 122/13 $4500.00 S.G.& P.D.Baker & S.P.& P.J.Innes
Lot 75 Willowhaugh 147/13 Withdrawn
Lot 76 Moor End 51/13 Withdrawn

TOTAL $25,800.00

Average for 14 sold $ 1842.86

Congratulations to Brent Macauley and Chris Medlicott for both achieving the top price of $14,000 for their Southdown rams at the 2014 Canterbury Elite Ram & Ewe Sale held Friday 28 November.  Maclaka 14/13 was sold to the Merrydowns stud and Clifton Downs 324/13 was sold to Dave Gillespie’s  Midlands stud.

SOUTHDOWN RAMS

JL Alexander      3500, 1000

SW Brannigan   0, 900

AC & LK Christey    1000. 900, 800, 900

Dalness – DH King    800, 800, 800

R & J Gill    800, 800

AD Gillespie    1000, 900, 2200,

BC Macauley    14000, 3800

JJ Macauley    1000, 800

CJ Medlicott    1200, 1500, 2000, 1200, 14000, 1700, 5000, 1000

Neville Moorhead    1000, 800, 800

Ike Williams    900, 1500

Phillip & Fiona Williams    800, 1100, 800

Willowhaugh Enterprises Ltd    3000, 4500, 4200, 4200

Sold: 39  Passed: 3  Withdrawn: 7

Average for 39 of $2254 

SOUTHDOWN EWES

CJ Medlicott   450, 450, 450, 475, 600, 725

Sold: 6  Passed: 0 Withdrawn: 0 

Average for 6 of $525

Southdown quality in evidence on stud tour

Published on Otago Daily Times Online News (http://www.odt.co.nz)

Created 16/05/14

About 60 Southdown enthusiasts descended on three North Canterbury stud farms last week to check out the quality of the stock.

First call for the group from throughout New Zealand plus seven representatives from Australia was Jenny Alexandra’s Hursley Downs Stud, just out of Amberley.

The stud was established in 2008 and Ms Alexandra chose Southdown after reading an article saying Alliance wanted a complete lamb, good shoulder, plenty of muscle over the loin and good hindquarter. She now has 120 ewes.

Between 60 and 70 two-tooth rams were sold each year, mainly to North Canterbury hill-country farms. After requests for hogget mating, she decided to identify two-tooths to do the job, rather than sell ram lambs.

Central Southdown Breeders Club president Stuart Brannigan said the tour was a yearly event and included the national body’s annual meeting.

This year was the society’s centenary, although the Southdown had been in Canterbury since 1863, courtesy of the Deans family.

Mr Brannigan was impressed with what he saw at Hursley Downs. ”I have to say the breed has been holding its own in recent years and what I am seeing here suggests it will continue to do so.”

From Amberley, the tour moved on to Phil and Fi Williams’ Omihi Stud. Founded in 2007 in conjunction with Phil’s father, Brian, it had grown steadily from the first 13 ewes bought from Colin and Liz Smith, of Cust, near Oxford.

”We’re now looking at 85 ewes and growing,” Mr Williams said.

The stud sells about 25 rams a season at this stage. After visiting Patoa Farms piggery, near Harwarden, the tour group had lunch at a Waipara winery before moving on to the last and oldest of the North Canterbury studs.

David Gillespie’s Midlands Stud was founded in 2000 and moved to the present 170ha property near Oxford last October, with a commercial flock of Corriedale ewes and 200 Southdown ewes.

The tour also visited farms belonging to Neville Moorhead, Mr Brannigan and Andrew and Louise Christey, all at Southbridge, and Brent Macauley’s farm, near Lincoln.

– by Kit Carson
Farming
Courier Country
© Allied Press Limited 2007. All the material on this page has the protection of international copyright. All rights reserved.

SHOWCASE: Mt Taranaki provides a backdrop to Mangaotea Farm owned by Robin and Jacqueline Blackwell, who enjoyed success in the 2014 Taranaki Farm Environment Awards.

The taste of success in the 2014 Taranaki Ballance Farm Environment Awards has whetted the appetite of Tariki farmers Robin and Jacqueline Blackwell.

PASSIONATE ABOUT FARMING: Robin and Jacqueline Blackwell won four merit prizes in the 2014 Taranaki Farm Environment Awards.

The couple, who own Mangaotea Farm, a multi-faceted operation that includes breeding and selling bulls, dairy grazing and a sheep stud, won four merit prizes in the competition, held in Taranaki this year for the first time.

Now held in 10 regions, the Farm Environment Awards are organised by the New Zealand Farm Environment Trust which formed a partnership last year with the Taranaki Regional Council to bring the contest to Taranaki.

Tikorangi’s Trewithen Farm, owned by Faull Farms and operated by sharemilkers Loie and Tony Penwarden, were the supreme winners.

Contest judges highlighted the Blackwells’ commitment to and passion for Mangaotea Farm, which winters 11,327 stock units on a 90:10 cattle to sheep ratio.

At Mangaotea Farm the Blackwells breed angus, hereford and murray grey bulls and buy jerseys as weaners for their annual on-farm sale. The sale has grown from 60 bulls at their first one 17 years ago to 180 yearlings and two-year-olds at this year’s 18th event on September 18.

As well as breeding bulls, they also graze young dairy stock for long-term clients and operate a southdown stud. Demand for their southdowns rams is so great they can’t breed enough.

After the bull sale, bulls can remain on the property until November 20 when paddocks are shut up so 1500 bales of hay can be made in late summer for winter use on the farm and for sale. They also make 350 bales of silage.

Last year’s drought and this year’s dry spell have been challenging. Last spring they made extra supplement to fill any feed deficit. “I like to have it there in case, to have feed in the bank. We’ll keep doing that,” Robin Blackwell said.

The two dry years have also prompted the couple to investigate ways of harnessing water on the property, where annual rainfall is 1800mm.

The 658ha Mangaotea Farm consists of flat to easy rolling country with some steep ridges and gullies. Its high point is 307m above sea level.

Robin grew up in the Tariki area and in 1980 he took over the original 80ha block of Mangaotea that his father, Maurice, had bought in 1963. The couple have gradually increased the size of their holding, purchasing five neighbouring blocks between 1991 and 2009 and leasing a 215ha adjacent property. Their total effective area is 591ha.

They’ve established infrastructure like fenced drains, laneway and shelter with an eye for ease of management. Four kilometres of fenced laneways across the farm allow stock to be moved easily.

The farm takes its name from the Mangaotea Stream which runs through the property. Fencing and planting the stream began in the 1990s and so far they’ve fenced 14.4km of streambank and planted 3300 plants.

They’re also fencing and planting minor tributaries to keep stock out of waterways. “It saves time and money. We don’t lose stock and we don’t have to clean the drains,” said Jacqueline Blackwell. “Fencing the drains means less work in the long run. We don’t have to spend time clearing them because they don’t get blocked and we never lose stock.”

Robin said riparian fencing and planting was part of any development both because it protected the environment and made wintering of cattle much easier. “Any development is viewed long-term. We do it once and we do it properly.”

They’ve also placed two 1.5ha peat swamp areas with mature kahikatea in a Queen Elizabeth II National Trust covenant and they’re planning to establish covenants on other areas of the farm.

Under a Taranaki Regional Council land management plan, they’ve left erosion-prone land in native vegetation or retired it.

They were persuaded by TRC land management officer Jessica Hyland to enter the Ballance awards.

“We hadn’t thought about it but we thought we’d like to give it a go. We like to push boundaries because it’s good to benchmark against others,” Robin said. “But there’s no such thing as the perfect farm.”

The contest provided an opportunity to step back from their business and look at it objectively. “You get so busy in the day-to-day activities that you don’t always sit back and look at the big picture.”

Despite their success, Jacqueline said their involvement with the contest didn’t feel complete.

“We’re always open to opportunities to showcase what we do and we work well as a team, bouncing ideas off each other. We love to showcase our product and compare it against the rest of the country. We genuinely love what we do.”

The couple want to be in the top 10 per cent of farms for performance. She said with repeat clients in all facets of their business, they believed their customers were satisfied. “We think ahead and think about the consumer and the way they would view our property.”

Robin described the level of competition as impressive. He enjoyed the positive atmosphere of the awards evening and found the stories of other contestants stimulating.

Feedback from the judges highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of their operation. “The weaknesses they mentioned were those areas in the back of our minds where we thought we should be doing more. So we’re acting on suggestions to build strengths in those areas.”

One weakness was the lack of written health and safety documentation which, with just one staff member, they had not developed.

Judges said the way the couple managed their multi-faceted operation was a strength, as was their infrastructure, biodiversity, animal health and sustainability. The judges were impressed with their measures to protect stock health and their awareness of the risk posed by movement of multiple stock classes in and of the property.

In time their adult children want to be part of the business. “Our job is to build the brand and set it up for them to diversify and carry it on,” Jacqueline said.

Daughter Zarrah works on a sheep station in Australia, son Hamish is an earthmoving contractor in Marlborough and Daniel is a software engineer in London.

In the past the couple have succeeded in Beef + Lamb NZ’s Steak of Origin awards, three times as semi-finalists and once as a finalist.

This year is the fourth they have entered the contest. Two angus animals and a murray grey were processed at Taranaki Abattoirs at Stratford in March. Semifinalists will be announced on Monday.

Jacqueline said the couple was thrilled with their success at the awards. They won Beef+ Lamb New Zealand’s livestock award, Hill Laboratories harvest award, Donaghys farm stewardship award, and the Taranaki Regional Council sustainability award.

Their team of supporters, including sole employee Mike Johnson, Merial Ancare territory manager Tony Hammond, PGG Wrightson’s Kim Harrison, CMK’s Brian McFarlane, of Stratford, Taranaki Veterinary Centre vet Craig Hassell, BNZ’s Leean Nelson and Alison Sulzberger and Silver Fern Farms’ Phil Morresey, joined them at the awards evening in New Plymouth earlier this month.