October 2016 - Romani Coopworths

October 2016 - Romani Coopworths ROMANI RAM-ble

Ross and Ruth Richards Taumarunui 07 895 7144 [email protected]

Gidday Everyone. stuff’ so might struggle with it, we will have to see how it goes. www.facebook.com/RomaniCoopworth/ Welcome to the second edition of the ROMANI RAM- ble. We are still new at this newsletter writing lark so please let us know what you think we could improve. The Season: Taumarunui has enjoyed another year of very Our apologies for being so late getting this newsletter reasonable weather, much like the previous year. Last out, we have been holding off until our new website is spring was a bit slow to warm up, but right through ready to launch. It doesn’t help that weather-wise it the summer we got rain whenever we started to look still feels like September here, where has the year for it, and the autumn was warm and very wet. This gone? winter and spring have been mild (only one big dump Website: of snow and few frosts colder than -5) and very wet. We have had 1760 mls rain in the past 12 months, and Our new website is now live and contains a few 1460 so far this year. Our water-table is the highest it photos, general information about our breeding has been in the 25 years we have been here. programme, the latest genetic trend graphs for the The wet and a major lack of sunshine has been hard Romani flock, as well as the latest selection list. on the stock, lambs have grown O.K. but have not got It can be found at www.romanicoopworths.co.nz . much bloom to them. The vets tell me there has been Have a look and tell us what you think of it, especially lots of grass-staggers in cows. if there is something you don’t like or think could be improved.

We would like to add a testimonials page, so if anyone The Flock: who has been using Romani or MNCC genetics for a The autumn produced a huge flush of pasture growth, while would like to contribute a few comments, and I knew we would need to work hard to get it all please send us an email or give us a ring. My thoughts cleaned up by lambing. As a result the ewes and cows would be that other farmers would be most went to work well before tupping, grazing each interested in the impact the genetics have had on the paddock down to the dirt before being moved on. flock, e.g. change in lambing percentage, but also on Our ewes were hardly affected at all, scanning 197% the farmer, e.g. not having to stress about spore – in the MA mob. The 2THs were perhaps pushed a little counts. too hard, scanning 175%, the same as last year. We have also set up a Facebook page, and will try to We are focused very much on physically sound, robust add a few photos and comments about what is animals. They have to have very good feet, and happening sheep-wise through the season. Ross in strong, well placed teeth which meet the top gum in particular is pretty sceptical about this ‘social media the correct place. These are both traits that are O.K. Some fall by the wayside and are culled, and essential in a productive, easy-care ewe, but are traits some thrive. Those that thrive, have a low FEC, low that we have observed are being overlooked in many dag score, are physically sound, high index for growth flocks, including many stud flocks. and meat, and pass the FE test, get chosen to be used in the stud. The heavy culling for these faults has really payed off So if they look a bit smaller and scruffier than rams at this year, we have had few tail-end ewes and a lot less some other studs when you see them, remember, we lame sheep than in the past, despite the very wet have spent 10 months trying to kill them and then conditions. only 2 months trying to make them look presentable! Don't worry, once they are shown a decent feed they Our Breeding Programme: grow out into good strong rams. We are aiming to breed the most productive, sound In March we eye-muscle scanned all the ram lambs to and robust animals we can. F.E. tolerance underpins measure muscularity, and we sent 30 down to Lincoln that, and as the AgResearch F.E. tolerant flock proved, to be CT scanned which enhances the accuracy of the there is absolutely no negative to selecting for FE scanning, and thus the meat index. tolerance. In most cases it is positively correlated to higher production or greater robustness in other This year we have RamGuard tested 30 rams at . traits. 63mg/kg, with a 47% pass rate. Most of those that failed had very slight reactions and would likely have The way we select those to breed from starts with passed at last year’s level. We lifted the dose on treating all ewes the same. There is no preferential RamGuard's recommendation, and appear to have feeding of stud ewes, and apart from tupping and found the right level to separate out the very best lambing they run with the commercial ewes in large sires. It does mean however that the supply of tested mobs. Any ewe, stud or commercial that needs rams will be very tight. drenching is culled. Apart from a squirt of spay-on for the lambs at docking, we have not dipped any sheep for 4 years. The few that get any fly-strike are culled. Achievements: Earlier this year we again entered our commercial ewe We had almost no lambs struck this year, and about lambs in the National Ewe Hogget competition, and 25 ewes, that, when we got them in to treat them, we were very pleased to be judged winner of the large found most had cleared themselves of maggots, only flock category, out of 151 000 hogget’s entered. the stain remained. The Romani flock was also a finalist in the Beef and At weaning the ewe lambs are run together and well Lamb NZ Sheep Industry Awards for Maternal Trait fed, as we want to mate as many as possible. This year Leader for Parasite Resistance. 1075 went to the ram at 42kg minimum, and 850 got in lamb in 4 weeks. We had one out-side link sire that This was deservedly won by the Nikau Coopworth only got 25% of his stud hogget’s in lamb, which was a flock that has been selecting for parasite resistance real disappointment as the rest scanned really well. for many years. We have close genetic links with 135% in the commercials and 155% in those studs. Nikau, and are pleased that as relative newcomers we are right up there with the industry leaders. The ram lambs however get a lot more pressure put on them. This year they were drenched at the end of December, and then not again for 10 weeks, when Genetic Evaluation: they were FEC sampled and then drenched. The B&L Genetics have been upgrading SIL, and this has results ranged from zero to 14 000 eggs per gram. changed the way the SIL analysis is done. Where in They were then left for another 10 weeks before the the past we had the Coopworth Analysis with 100 next drench. Throughout this time and up until the flocks, and other breeds had their separate analysis, main cull is done in September they are fed just there is now a 'whole of SIL' analysis called the New enough to keep them growing. Most come through Zealand Genetic Evaluation which includes 1135 SIL index ≥ 2500 $1 flocks. 500

Within that there is the NZ Maternal Worth analysis SIL index ≥ 2000 to 2500 $1 which includes all maternal flocks on SIL regardless of 300 breed. This means that if any of those flocks includes SIL index ≤ 2000 or 2nd Grade $1 any relatives of sheep in our flock, their information 100 will be used in our analysis. This is mostly a good thing Extra for FE tested as all relevant info is used. Our indexes haven't $300 changed much with the change-over, except the meat indexes which have lifted somewhat.

The NZMW is a standard analysis which is based on 5 core traits, reproduction, survival, growth, adult size and wool. If we want info on other traits we have to ask for it to be added, so we will be using the NZMW+ We plan to start selling in late November. This will M which includes the meat index. We believe this is give us time to have all the hogget lambing data essential as meat is our biggest, most valuable analysed, so that you are seeing the most up-to-date product. If we then want info on FEC or FE we have to indexes possible when you make your selection. ask for that to be added as well. Please let us know by phone or email how many rams You may have seen BLNZ Genetics advertising that the you think you will be wanting so that we can plan average NZMW index for maternal breeds is around accordingly. We will do our best to accommodate 1600, with the top 20% starting at a bit over 2000 and everyone. the top 5% at about 2600. We have few under 2000 We look forward to seeing you in November, in the and a good number over 2600 so we are offering mean-time you are most welcome to ring for a chat. some of the highest ranked rams in the country. We will send out an email notice once we are ready to start selling, probably about the 25th November. Ram Buying: At this stage we have 180 rams available for sale, so Remember, we love talking about sheep almost as there should be a good selection for everyone. much as we love eating them! We plan on presenting you with at least 3 times the number of rams you are looking for, so that you can Ross and Ruth Richards make your selection from those. There will be 3 price brackets based on index, if you let us know in advance you can pick from one bracket or across the three. Also if you have specific traits that you want to focus selection on, we are happy to assist with that.

Rams that have been FE tested have an additional cost of $300. This is to partially recover the approximately $350/head cost of testing.

There may also be a small number of cheaper rams that will be animals that have some slight physical issue, e.g. small black spots on points, smaller stature etc, or an index below 2000.