Download the October 2007 Newsletter (PDF)

The 2005-2006 farming year will go down as a disappointing one for lamb growth rates and lamb values right across the country. Spring and early summer pasture growth was excellent, but for many, toxin levels in grass during December to mid-April period proved a real inhibitor to lamb growth rates.
 
The Lamb market is making a steady recovery. Major exporting companies are predicting  $58-62/16.5kg lamb next year, with further improvement expected over the next 3 years. The NZ$ depreciating over all currencies will also help.

Parasite Update
Last newsletter I informed you of our decision not to drench M/A ewes (stud and commercial) at all. The ewes were monitored very closely through what was a season of heavy parasite challenge. Eastland Vets have processed the FEC samples. As I write, mid-June the count levels are moderate to low and dropping. The ewes have shown no visible signs of parasite burden. While it is still early days, this has been hugely encouraging. When we get to year 3 of nil drenching M/A ewe flocks then we can be assured of the progress made since beginning to address Parasite resistance and resilience in 1996.

We are also continuing our policy of only dosing young stock if their future potential is going to be inhibited, otherwise the tail end showing parasite effect is being culled right out of the flock.
 

Across Flock Evaluation SIL-ACE
We at St Leger recognised very early the important value of this scheme and the benefits it will bring to our industry. As with most new things there has been a bedding in period. St Leger has taken consideration and time forming the linkages with like-minded breeders, essential to this programme. We begin an A-I Programme with Consultant Veterinarian Trevor Cook next mating season. The reason for A-I, is, individual rams have to be used in multiple flocks in the same season. It will be 3-4 years before there are measurable flock links, but we are unconcerned about this. Our genetic performance benchmarks - fertility; NLB; lamb growth rate and wool weight continue to trend upward. We will keep you informed of our progress.

Carcass Evaluation
Because of the work done with Genequest-Dr George Cruickshank and Craig Hickson and his team at Progressive Meats, we, and you our clients have made outstanding progress with carcass composition and yield, and are now about to get paid for it.

AgResearch in Invermay near Dunedin, have exciting technology. Inner Vision a CT Scanning programme to allow selection of the best yielding and cutting animals for sires.
Our top 100 lamb rams on DPO index will be ultra sound scanned on farm. The best 35-50 of those will be transported to Invermay for CT scanning. We will join with Landcorp who also use Inner Vision to share the transportation and welfare of rams on their long journey to the bottom of the South Island and back home. We are really looking forward to using this tool and taking carcass evaluation to new levels.

Footrot Gene Marker Test
In 1995 Alan Evans, our then Stock manager, and I decided that inspecting the feet of M/A ewes standing on concrete was not thorough enough.

As we had not long purchased a conveyer sheep handler, using it, we turned all the ewes over to view their feet clearly and any with less than perfect feet were culled. At the first inspection 270 ewes were out the door! At this time also Dr Jon Hickford’s Footrot Gene Marker test became available. I explained to Jon what we were doing and his advice was to keep doing our annual foot and udder inspection until we were culling less than 40 ewes per year then start testing. This is our first year of testing.

Blood samples from the top 31 index ram lambs were sent to Lincoln University this autumn.

Given that each animal can only pass on one allele of the gene to their progeny (the progeny’s second allele is received from the other parent)