"More than 80% of the flock's genetics are contributed by the ram. That's an exciting opportunity to improve your flock's performance. It is one decision farmers are totally in control of."
— Beef & Lamb Genetics
Since getting our eczema genetics sorted many years ago Waimai Romney has put a huge focus on sheep fertility, and now we regularly have rams in the top 5%, across all maternal breeds (New Zealand Maternal Worth( NZMW)) for reproduction (DPCR). Farmers need to appreciate that facial eczema (FE) caused by pasture fungi can suppress lambing percentage through increased barrenness and fewer multiples.
At Waimai Romney we have been mating our hoggets for over 15 years with only those scanned in lamb being retained. We believe this has been a huge driver in improving our sheep fertility, as it identifies those early maturing animals and dry hoggets are sold. This is one of the first selection pressures we put on our young female replacements.
Our 2023-born sires have an average DPCR of 627, which puts them in the top 15% for reproduction.
“Fertility is a huge driver of profitability in a sheep breeding system.”
Waimai Romney have had a huge focus on selecting rams with good survival (DPS), as lamb survival at birth is where a lot of wastage in our sheep systems occurs. It is pointless having a large scanning % if a lot of these lambs are lost through to weaning! Our “conscious customer,” is demanding that we have the highest animal welfare standards and give every animal born not only the best opportunity to survive but to thrive in our natural ecosystem.
Bad survival is a combination of poor structure, poor mothering instincts, poor udder set and teat placement, issues with milk flow, and of course the weather.
“Tagging lambs at birth is an important time at Waimai Romney as we spend time with our ewes on a one-to-one basis and assess their maternal traits. Any poor mothers are recorded and culled, while any lamb that needs assistance, or dies post lambing are recorded as deaths affecting their DPS. Recording lambs at birth is the only way you can guarantee litter size and fate as scanning is not always 100% correct.”
The 2020 sires at Waimai Romney had a DPS average, in the NZMW, in the top 10%.
Growth rate (DPG) is one of the main selection traits we select for at Waimai Romney, but not at the expense of meat. To enable us to do this we have been EMA (eye muscle scanning) all our ram hoggets and selecting those high scanning rams. This has resulted in the selection of sire rams with good growth rates but with plenty of meat over their loin and hind quarters. On average 48% of a lambs carcase is in the rack/rib and leg but this makes up, approximately over 60% of value. It is important ewes have a good spring of rib to enable a large loin and well formed hind quarter to develop.
"If you are serious about buying facial eczema genetics you need to be buying rams from a FeGold member, as they are the best, and you can trust that they have done the hard work for you."
Waimai Romney are one of the pioneers of facial eczema testing, having first started testing using the Ramguard Service in 1986. Today we have tested over 1100 rams and test at 0.6mg/kg of sporidesmin, which puts Waimai Romney at the forefront of eczema genetics in New Zealand. We helped set up the brand FeGold 10 years ago which identifies those breeders who have achieved the highest level of FE Tolerance within their flocks, and are the leaders in facial eczema genetics.
"To not use Facial Eczema tolerant rams in flocks that are likely to be exposed to that disease could be seen as an animal welfare transgression. To do so though is production enhancing."
- Trevor Cook BVSc
Waimai Romney has identified the importance that genetics can make in the management of parasites in our sheep systems and have been faecal egg counting since 2005 making them one of the pioneers in selecting for worm tolerance. In 2018 Waimai Romney became part of the WormFEC Gold brand. WormFEC Gold’s aim is “to identify those breeders who are making progress in breeding for resistance to internal parasites.”
Faecal egg counting has been undertaken using a combination of parasitology egg counting with Gribbles and latterly with WormFEC TM. We put selection pressure on all our ram lambs by not drenching them from weaning in early December through until the end of Febuary where we faecal egg count (FEC) each ram. Any ram that cannot thrive under this regime is drenched and culled out of the mob, irrespective of its breeding values.
No Waimai Romney mixed age ewes are drenched.
Our customer has placed a growing emphasis on reducing chemical usage in our food system, and if Waimai Romney can produce sheep that require less drenching it is not only good for our customer but will also reduce costs and workload to our clients.
Dual Purpose Fec (DPF) of our 2023 sires average 553 which puts them in the top 15% of sires across the country.
Waimai Romney is one of the few sheep studs in the country endeavoring to breed low methane-producing sheep. Over the last three years we have tested 192 rams a year through AgResearch’s PAC (Portable Accumulation Chamber) trailer, which identifies low methane-producing sheep.
At Waimai Romney we believe genetics is the easiest way for commercial sheep farmers to reduce their GHG, and we want to support our clients by making available rams with low-methane EBVs. AgResearch studies suggest that selecting for low-methane sheep means selecting for more efficient sheep – and that means higher production rates.
It is important that all animals have a strong jaw and neck that flow down to smooth shoulders and a straight back. A good sheep has straight legs set squarely under the corners of the body with good feet and strong pasterns.
We make all endeavors to present sale rams that are structurally sound. All sire rams are DNA tested, indicating their susceptibility or otherwise to footrot and scald.
At Waimai Romney we are looking to breed a wedge-shaped sheep of moderate frame that has a nice tight shoulder going back to a good spring of rib, meaty hindquarters, with a well-developed loin over the top. We have started to Dag score and Bareness score our ram hoggets, as we strive to produce low input sheep. Combined with our selection for worm resistance, eczema tolerance and low methane, we believe at Waimai Romney that these traits will all add to the low input sheep of the future.
