NZ addition to Southdown flock

A RAM imported from New Zealand will bolster the breeding capabilities of Ben Hatch’s Three Oaks Southdown stud in Athlone.
Mr Hatch has high hopes for the ram. He chose the animal for his clean head and legs, long deep body, wide loin and terrific hindquarter, faultless structure and exceptionally good feet.
He first saw the ram in July last year at Roddy and Jan McKenzie’s property, Glen Orrin in Masterton on the North Island of New Zealand.
“The reason I went to New Zealand to find a ram is because it has a similar climate to South Gippsland: wet and cold,” Mr Hatch said.
He deliberately looked at the coldest, wettest places in New Zealand and at farms with proven strong lamb survival genetics to ensure success on his farm.
“New Zealand is also doing genetic testing for cold tolerance as well as actively recording lambs in the paddock, which is something I have been doing on my own farm for a number of years,” Mr Hatch said.
“All of my lambs get a score for cold tolerance at birth and only best are retained for the stud.”
When selecting his New Zealand ram, Mr Hatch had around 80, 11 month old sheep to choose from.
Both he and Mr McKenzie agreed the ram chosen was the pick of the bunch. In October, the ram was still the best so Mr Hatch purchased him.
From there, the ram went through a stringent quarantine process involving vet inspections, blood testing, paperwork and plenty of organisation.
Mr Hatch worked with other breeders who had also purchased sheep from New Zealand, in order to fly them at the same time and minimise costs.
Housed in a special crate, the ram was flown into Melbourne on a passenger plane. Once landed, the sheep was thoroughly inspected, but no further quarantine was needed.
Mr Hatch breeds sheep for rapid growth rates and early maturity, low birth weight, ease of finishing and high fertility.
“It is important for a Southdown ram to have these qualities, as a lot of Australian sheep are now breed for high growth indexes,” he said.
“If you mate a high growth rate ram to a high growth rate ewe, you do get big lambs but it is harder to finish them for sale.”
When breeding his Southdowns, Mr Hatch has a strong focus on maintaining the early maturing trait, which ensures his lambs are fit for the abattoir at all weight ranges.
The New Zealand ram will be joined to about one third of Mr Hatch’s 150 Southdown ewe flock this season and offspring will be available over the coming seasons.
He has already had breeders wanting to purchase semen from the ram because of his quality and because he is unrelated to any Southdown ram currently available in Australia.

New blood: Athlone Southdown breeder Ben Hatch is pleased with the ram he recently imported from New Zealand, which will be added to his breeding program.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Feb 24 2015. Filed under Rural News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry