Show Notes
This week on the Head Shepherd podcast we have Ross Richards of Romani Farms, Taumarunui, New Zealand.
Ross farms in a fairly challenging environment. With warm muggy summers and paddocks surrounded by native bush it is hard to produce good wool even on the best of years. Facial eczema has always been around but with the warmer winters we've had recently the spore counts are getting worse.
Ross has spent the last 16 years breeding what he terms a "biologically efficient" sheep to counteract these challenges. Ross has reduced chemical and labour inputs by not dipping or drenching his adult ewes, or treating for facial eczema. He aims to breed to animals that are fit for the environment they are farmed in. Ones that don’t need constant propping up with chemicals or management inputs.
Like many forward thinking ram breeders, once Ross realised his clients were going elsewhere for shedding sheep, Ross began to breed some of his own. Currently they're no match for the efficiency of Ross's Coopworths, but they're well on their way. Ross's initial plan was to breed a terminal that complemented the Coopworth. Ross has some. first cross sheep that are performing exceptionally well, but hybrid vigour is at play there.
Ross says "Why go through the effort of growing wool just to shed it?" and is approaching the hair sheep route, rather than shedding.
Ross is also looking at tail length and dag score. "What's the point in making their tail shorter if you still have to dag it?" Reducing both chemical and labour input is important to Ross and he's aware that come sale time his rams may not be the biggest or shiniest. But the time and effort has gone in to test these animals to the absolute limit to really find the top performers.
Ross is a firm believer in "asking the silly questions," and says it's often younger or external eyes on his business, asking "but why do you do it this way?" which brings in change. This year he has employed a new full time shepherd which he says has made a significant difference to their business.
Ross and Mark run through the once bred heifer system Ross implements on his six different lease blocks. The benefits of using dairy heifers gives him the extra finishing stock he needs without having to over winter too many breeding cows or buy in store stock. This improves his control over the animals (and genetics) but also farm biosecurity which is especially important in these times of M. Bovis.
Ross and Marks passions both align in breeding a sheep with high welfare traits that are both easy and productive to farm. It is a great insight into the mind of a sheep breeder.
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