Southdown Sheep Society, NZ

By PAT DEAVOLL – NZ Farmer

Waimate southdown stud breeder believes stockmanship plus record keeping, pedigree and understanding what is behind the animal.

Topping ram sales provides undeniable satisfaction for Chris Medlicott, only bettered by producing fertile commercial southdowns, writes Pat Deavoll.

A top price of $16,000 for a southdown ram at the Christchurch Ram and Ewe Fair is just the icing on the cake for stud breeder Chris Medlicott. Record sale prices are satisfying, but remain secondary to the Waimate farmer’s main drive of producing top commercial sheep.

Southdown stud breeder Chris Medlicott had the top price at the recent Christchurch ram sale for his southdown ram Clifton Downs-279-14.

Even so there is no doubt Medlicott is good at what he does. Since 1997 he has consistently topped the sales, and in 2003, and again in 2005, broke the world record for the price paid for a sheep.

“A lot of the guys I sell rams to were getting 400 lambs off mum a few years ago, and now they are getting 900 lambs. I take more pleasure out of that than the record prices my rams make,” he says.

Clifton Downs-279-14 (which topped the Christchurch sale this year) was sought after by several southdown breeders with commercial operations, Medlicott says.

“They all said he was the ram they wanted, which I got a buzz out of. They were bidding up to $10,000, then the price got too high and they fell off. Todd and Fleur Anderson (of Winton) bought him.

“The bidders reckoned he was the ideal flock ram. His progeny would have enough condition at 14 kilograms to be marketable to the works, but have the conformation to take them through to 21 kilograms if necessary.”

A lot of high growth rate sheep are too lean and not prime enough to go to the works at 14kg, Medlicott says. The commercial farmer needs lots of options because climactic factors like drought or a cold winter can cause delays in fattening lambs.

Medlicott has recently merged his own southdown stud, Tasvic Downs, into the Clifton Downs stud, which he took over from his father Bill in 2003.

“Tasvic Downs doesn’t exist now but in saying that Clifton Downs-279-14 was out of a Tasvic ewe.”

Clifton Downs Stud was started by the partnership of Medlicott’s grandfather Jack, and his father Bill. They were entering the Smithfield lamb competitions, but couldn’t find the terminal sires to produce lambs to do well, says Medlicott. So they started their own southdown stud which grew to become one of the leading flocks in New Zealand.

Friends visiting from Australia in the 1970s had bought a ewe at a dispersal sale at the renowned Punchbowl Stud outside Oamaru. The ewe cost $400, a considerable sum of money in those days. It was given to Medlicott, aged 15 at the time, as a thankyou for his family’s hospitality.

For a stud to be registered, 10 ewes were needed so Medlicott was given another ewe by southdown breeder John Macaulay, and his father gave him the other eight.

“Instead of studying for school cert I was busy looking up pedigrees,” he says.

“I kept building up the numbers and in 1992 got a first prize at the Christchurch A&P Show, and the second highest price for a ram at the sale that year. The ram (Tasvic-27-90) sold for $3400 and was exported to America.”

Since then Medlicott has twice topped $16,000 for a ram and reached about $14,000 “a few times.”

Southdowns rank well ahead of other breeds at the sales, Medlicott says.

“Southdown breeders are not frightened to stand up and spend money on a top ram. The Andersons have bought a lot of expensive rams off me. And one of the families who gave me my first ewe is buying semen off this ram. It will be going to the AI station next week. So the purchaser has made an investment for his flock but is also able to sell semen all around the world.”

He says there has been interest in the ram from South America, and the animals “easy-doing” type will be ideal for the native grasses its progeny will be expected to feed on. The ram has good muscle and good growth but has a “soft handle,” Medlicott says. By this he means the animal has a soft muscle, with an even cover, and a little bit of subcutaneous fat.

“The world has become “anti-fat,” and New Zealand sheep too lean. There still needs to be a degree of fat for an animal to function, he says.

“I feel there has been too much emphasis on growth and leanness in the past. I’m interested in a sheep that will grow as well as put down muscle, so a farmer in drought conditions or a cold winter like Southland’s been through, still has the ability to fight off the elements and have a product at the end of the day. You can get this through genetics, but it’s also important to use stockmanship. There needs to be balance.”

Medlicott has been cat-scanning his rams, and strategically mating the best with a fattier-type ewe. There have been trials done in Australia where a sheep with moderate growth, good handling, conformation and “easy doing” has been getting as good as or better growth rates in extreme conditions as really lean sheep.

“The other thing that is interesting about Clifton Downs-279-14 is that although he wasn’t the highest scanner, he had a very good hindquarter and a reasonable eye muscle area (EMA). I’ve EMA’d all my rams and finding that the highest cat scans are not quite as high as the EMA scans. My theory is that there might be more intramuscular fat in some of the higher muscled animals. I think we need intramuscular fat – we’ve seen it in the beef world – for the animal to survive and taste good. As ram breeders, I think we need to study what’s going on in the beef world and makes some informed decisions.”

Southdowns were very popular in the 1950s and 1960s but by the 1970s had become over-fat and lost ground. Medlicott says his grandfather was selling 180 rams a season in the 1960s. A decade later it had got so bad, one year he only sold seven rams.

“Breeding southdowns in the 1970s and 1980s, you wondered why you did it. I got rubbished by mates, but I could still see a future in them.”

As a stud breeder, Medlicott feels he must always be thinking ahead to where the market is to be profitable. And change needs to be fronted by the leading farmers and breeders.

“I’m always trying to go the next step – think where the industry is going and try and anticipate it.”

These days southdowns are a popular terminal choice. For good early maturity and “out the gate in a hurry” efficiency they take a lot of beating, Medlicott says. They have created a niche for themselves in Southland, Canterbury and Hawkes Bay.

“It comes down to their consumption of dry matter to output efficiency.”

Medlicott doesn’t use estimated breeding valuations (EBVs); I’m “outside the square,” he says.

“I am very interested in EBVs and have been told by my peers I should be on Sheep Improvement Ltd (SIL), but I’m not. SIL is rewarding extreme growth and leanness and I think this is promoting the wrong animals.”

“For me it’s stockmanship plus record keeping and pedigree and understanding what is behind the animal.”

Medlicott thinks his ewes are the most important part of his flock. A lot of breeders get wrapped up in their rams, he says, but the maternal lines are essential. Ewes with “a whole lot of good breeding in the background” will keep on performing

His stud is only about 20 per cent of his income, but it is his passion.

Bu JILL GALLOWAY, NZ Farmer

In 65 years of farming southdown sheep, Wattie Gray had never seen one of his ewes give birth to a set of quaduplets.

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That was until last week, when  he and daughter Janet Gray came across the brood on the family’s Manawatu farm in Rongotea.

“The southdown ewe is only a two-tooth [2-year-old] and these are her first lambs. She was heavily pregnant and I thought perhaps big twins, but I came out and there were four lambs,” said Janet Gray.

Janet Gray cradles the quads

“The ewe that had the four live lambs did really well. Two lambs were slightly bigger, but they were a pretty even size.  All were born alive, stood up and were in good condition.”

She and her father said they had seen triplets before, but the quads were a new thing.

Some breeds of sheep produced quads and even quintuplets, but four was a rarity among the southdown breed, she said.

All the lambs had survived and were sprightly  at more than a week old, but Janet Gray said she had mothered two of the four lambs on to two ewes whose own offspring had died.

“It takes pressure off the ewe that had all four – now she only has twins to worry about, and they are the smaller lambs.”

The ewe had three ram lambs and one ewe lamb, which had all been given  small, fleecy covers  to help keep them warm.

“The covers are made out of wool. They are not water-proof, but they keep the lambs warm against the cool wind. The southdown lambs are born with little wool on them. So the covers give them a helping hand.”

She said most lambs born at the stud farm were given such covers.

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

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.”

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.

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.

Southdown breeder Lachlan Elliot established his Lammermoor stud in 2005.

When Duncan Elliot was a young boy, all he wanted was a shearing hand-piece.

Forget the PlayStation games and other electronic gizmos that his contemporaries desired, he was firmly focused on farming.

Now 16, Duncan, from Lammermoor Station, Paerau, in the south of the Maniototo, started crutching when he was 10 and began shearing his own sheep last year. He, his elder brother Lachlan (20) and sister Brooke (22) have inherited a family passion for the land, and for purebred sheep.

The Elliot family has been on Lammermoor Station since the 1920s and the 5200ha property is now farmed by John and Susan Elliot with their children.

Duncan, who has a Romney stud, and Lachlan, who has a Southdown stud, both with the Lammermoor prefix, were now third-generation stud breeders on both sides of their family.

It had always been an interest for the pair and while it was a passion, it was also very much a business.

Lachlan and Duncan began selling their current crop of rams last week, preferring to sell privately rather than at auction. Both breeds were also used over some of the halfbred and merino ewes on the station.

The Paerau area was known for its very harsh winters, with plenty of frosts and snow, and hot, dry Central Otago summers. It was a testing environment for sheep, which shifted well out of the district, they said.

Asked whether there was any sibling rivalry, Lachlan diplomatically explained there was ”always brotherly competition”.

”But then we both agree a Southdown across a Romney is a bloody good lamb,” he said.

Lachlan established his Southdown stud in 2005, purchasing 14 ewes from Leo Christey’s Mapua stud at Southbridge.

An opportunity later arose to buy fellow Maniototo stud breeder John Mulholland’s stud and numbers had slowly grown to about 270 breeding ewes.

The Southdown is the oldest of the terminal sire breeds in the UK and originated from the native sheep which roamed the South Downs in the south of England for hundreds of years. It was developed into a fixed type in the 18th century.

The first Southdown stud flock in New Zealand was founded in 1863 and the Southdown Society was formed in 1926.

The opportunity to own one of the few Southdown studs in the area was a drawcard for Lachlan, who was also attracted to the breed by it being a good early-lambing sheep, with an ability to finish quickly.

He was looking to sell about 80 rams a year but hoped in the future to build that up to 140 as he continued to increase ewe numbers, while not compromising quality.

He was trying to breed good, structurally sound, well-muscled sheep with the ability to ”get lambs away straight from mum”, but with the frame and length to be able to grow them out to a 21kg-23kg lamb later on.

Lachlan, who has sold rams as far afield as Canterbury and Southland and throughout the Maniototo, said his goal was to breed good, commercial rams for farmers.

He recently returned from a year-long stint overseas, spending time working on a farm in East Sussex, near where the Southdown breed originated. Their New Zealand counterparts were much bigger and with a lot more length to them, he said.

Farming in general in the UK was very different from New Zealand, and he reckoned the UK livestock farming systems were ”probably 50 years” behind those in New Zealand.

Handling stock was not easy; there were no sheep-handling facilities like sheep yards or shearing sheds, and moving stock was also an issue. Traditional breeds were still very much at the forefront, he said.

Duncan’s foray into stud breeding began in 2007, with the purchase of nine Romney ewes from Ron Jones, of Matarae Station, near Middlemarch, and about a dozen from Mr Mulholland. He now had about 100 breeding ewes, most of which were home-bred.

He was enthusiastic about his recent purchase of two rams from Blair and Sally Robertson’s Merrydowns stud at Waikoikoi, which included the top-priced lot of $3200 at the Robertsons’ annual sale last month.

Those acquisitions would bring different genetics, more meat and good wool to his flock, he said.

When it came to breeding, Duncan was focused on fertility, wool, meat production, conformation and maternal ability.

He admitted he was particularly passionate about wool, which was something of a family tradition.

Lammermoor Station has long been renowned for the ultrafine merino wool it produces.

Lammermoor wool, including Romney fleece – John and Susan Elliot used to have a Romney stud – has won many Otago and local fleece competitions, along with national Golden Fleece awards.

Duncan has already experienced success in fleece competitions, including being runner-up in the crossbred section of the Golden Fleece.

This year, he was selling about 30 rams and hoped to raise the number of rams available for sale.

At the same time, he wanted to ”keep the quality up, and the wool and have meat in the right places”. He aimed to produce as even a line of rams as possible.

Both Lachlan and Duncan were involved in all aspects of stud breeding, from looking after their client base to keeping up the paperwork.

Duncan reckoned having his own stud had taught him a lot about sheep. Attending other ram sales and viewing other breeders’ sheep proved useful for comparison..

A boarder at John McGlashan College, Dunedin, he headed home most weekends. Lambing was timed to coincide with holidays.

Several years ago, his ewes were lambing in 30cm of snow, yet the lambs were quickly up and about.

”They’re good lambers, good mothers. The lambs are born and they run.”

Once he left school, he hoped to initially either work on farms in Australia or head to Canada to be a hunting guide.

While the brothers had never been forced into stud breeding, or farming, their mother was delighted they had the interest, particularly at such a young age, and such an understanding of livestock.

Asked about the future of the sheep industry, Lachlan said it needed ”a bit of a shake-up” and he believed farmers needed to ”stick together”. Duncan reckoned farmers should ”get the basics right and stick with traditional breeds”.