Southdown Sheep Society, NZ

The Canterbury A&P Association Elite Ram and Ewe Sale, held Friday 27 November, attracted a quality line up, with 231 Rams and 11 Ewes entered into the sale. With 144 rams selling, the average sale price was $1861 and $250 for ewes with 6 selling; …Elite Ram and Ewe Sale Results

The Canterbury A&P Association Elite Ram and Ewe Sale, held Friday 27 November, attracted a quality line up, with 231 Rams and 11 Ewes entered into the sale. With 144 rams selling, the average sale price was $1861 and $250 for ewes with 6 selling; total sales of $269,500 were recorded.

The highest price was reached by a Clifton Downs Southdown Ram (Chris Medlicott, Waimate), selling for $16,000.

Other top prices were as follows: Corriedale – $2900 (Wattlebank, GR and RW Wilson, West Melton); Hampshire – $3100 (Blue View, Gudex Family, Ashburton); Romney – $2400 (Gatton Park, DA & SJ Wyllie, Ashburton); Poll Dorset – $2000 (Brooklands, A&P McIlraith, Leeston); Border Leicester – $4000 (Hermiston, GJ Letham, Ashburton); Texel – $4000 (Hemingford, SEJ & V Holland, Culverden); South Suffolk – $4200 (Inver, SJ Sinclair, Ashburton); Suffolk – $6700 (Stoneylea, AW & JH Adams, Christchurch).

Anthony Cox, Stud Stock Rural Livestock and Canterbury A&P Association Sheep Committee Member, said that the results were positive.

“There were a few less rams sold this year, but given the current industry climate it was a very positive result with the average selling price up on last year.

“The standard was very high and good rams were sought after. It was great to see that those rams that didn’t go to stud duty were able to be purchased by commercial buyers for a very reasonable price.”

TIM CRONSHAW – NZ Farmer

Southdowns made nearly a clean sweep of the sheep meat breed titles at the Canterbury A  P Show.

Apart from a suffolk winning the Miss Canterbury ewe hogget competition, owned by Simon Howard, the southdowns had their own way.

Winner of the all-breeds super ewe meat breed championship was a southdown ewe and triplets bred by Woodbourne daughter and father team, Christina and Ian Jordan. The class is based on performance figures and judges interpretation of their structure.

The Jordans, who have run their stud since 1956, claimed the title with the ewe’s mid-August born triplet lambs carrying a collective carcass weight of more than 100 kilograms. They also won the supreme meat sheep of the show ribbon with the same ewe and triplets.

“This year was a better result for us than last year because we didn’t win the meat sheep then after winning it four years in a row before,” said Christina Jordan. “It’s been a very good result for us and we have had a good show.”

She said the stud’s long breeding programme could be credited for the success along with their efforts to breed structurally sound and well muscled sheep using estimated breeding values.

This was their sixth all-breed meat title. The Jordans also won the trifecta ribbon with three southdown ram hoggets.

Dave Gillespie and Phil Williams won the southdown champion ram title and the best carcass meat breed sheep of the show with a southdown ram they bought off the Jordans two years ago for $16,000 at the Christchurch ram sale. The ram was paired with the Jordans’ championship ewe to win the all-breeds pair title.

The all-breed supreme wool animal of the show title was won by father and son Allan and Simon Paterson, from Ranfurly, with a two year old poll merino ram.

This was the first time they had shown the ram with a 19.5 micron fleece last shorn a year ago and measuring about 150mm in length. The fleece will eventually be bound for the active wear market.

“He’s got pretty good wool on an excellent carcass and he’s a good conformation ram built like a crossbred sheep with merino wool on him. He will probably cut 12 kilograms of wool when we take him home.”

The ram was the great grandson of their previous winner of the title.

Paterson said the Armidale Merino Stud, established also in 1956, was a family operation on a farm that had been in the family since the 1880s on high country blocks with other blocks on rolling hill country.

“We are pretty passionate about the industry and we have been here for a long time.”

Among the other wool sheep winners was Parnham Hill Stud’s  James Hoban from Culverden who took the all-breeds super ewe wool breed title with an eight year-old corriedale ewe with triplets at foot.

In other events, the Mint Lamb Competition was won by Hawarden’s Andrew Sidey with a texel cross poll dorset lamb. Sidey is a regular exhibitor of corriedales at the show each year. The highest yield award was won by Paul Gardner – last year’s competition winner. The overall winner was decided on a culmination of yield, tender testing and taste.

Southdown

(Judge(s)): Todd Anderson
Sandra Howard – Associate Judge
Mark Copeland, Simon Howard – Merial Alliance Class

Ram, over 18 months, shorn. (7):
Gillespie/Williams 1, Jordan I M & C A 2, Gillespie/Jebson/Macaulay 3.

Alliance NZ Ltd Ram, under 18 months, shorn – winner receives the CENTRAL (17):
Christey A C & L K , Gillespie A D , Christey A C & L K , Jordan I M & C A 1, Medlicott Chris J 2, Medlicott Chris J 3.

Alliance NZ Ltd & Merial Ancare Quality Meat Yield Class, two Rams, (9):
Jordan I M & C A 1, Medlicott Chris J 2, Williams P G, F C 3, Medlicott Chris J 4, Christey A C & L K 5, Gillespie A D 6.

Champion Southdown Ram : 
Gillespie/Williams.

JOHN DEANS SOUTHDOWN SHEEP TERRINE. 
Canterbury A&P Association trophy awarded to John Deans in 1884:
Gillespie/Williams.

Reserve Champion Southdown Ram :
I M & C A Jordan.

Ewe, over 30 months, shorn, and her suckling lamb(s). (5):
Jordan I M & C A 1, Christey A C & L K 2, Jordan I M & C A 3.

Ewe, 18 to 30 months, shorn and her suckling lamb(s). (1):
Jordan I M & C A 1.

Essential Nutrition Ewe, under 18 months, shorn. (10):
Williams P G, F C , Moorhead N J , Moorhead N J , Medlicott Chris J 1, Williams P G, F C 2, Medlicott Chris J 3.

Allflex NZ Ltd Pair of Ewes, under 18 months, shorn. (8):
Medlicott Chris J 1, Christey A C & L K 2, Williams P G, F C 3.

Champion Southdown Ewe. Winner receives the Perpetual Trophy – JARMAN CUP.:
Jordan I M & C A.

Reserve Champion Southdown Ewe :
Chris J Medlicott.

Supreme Champion Southdown :
I M & C A Jordan.

Most Points Southdown Section – winner receives the JAMES DEANS CHALLENGE SHIELD.:
I M & C A Jordan.

Allflex Best Carcase Southdown. Allflex kindly donate a $50 voucher.:
Gillespie/Williams.

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.

[KGVID poster=”http://www.southdownsheep.org.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/grey-vid-thumb2.jpg” width=”580″ height=”330″]http://file2.stuff.co.nz/622/12512622.mp4[/KGVID]

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

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.