Farmer weathers drought to make finals
After years of toiling with drought Hawarden farmer Richard Power is ‘‘definitely pleased’’ to be awarded one of the two spots in the romney section of the New Zealand Ewe Hogget Competition.
‘‘What was especially pleasing was that we have been through three years of drought and still been able to come out the other end and get hoggets that have the ability to stand up to the rest of them. We are thrilled to be where we are but don’t want to go mouthing off before the finals are announced.’’
Power said he looked for structural soundness, true-to-type romneys and good production in his hogget flock. The judges looked at most of the ewe hogget flock in the yards, he said.
‘‘You have to have 80 per cent of the flock - you can cull 20 per cent. We had 95 per cent.’’
‘‘You have to open your books to the judges and have proof of record as far as lambs killed and lamb weights, and show the financials to back up what you are saying.’’
His flock also placed well in the local A&P show hogget competition, he said.
‘‘The other interesting thing was that my brother down in Etterick also made the finals. Neither of us knew the other was going to enter.’’
Only two of the 11 finalists in the ewe hogget competition were from Canterbury. The remainder were eight finalists from Otago and one from Waikato.
Peter Withell of Raywell Farm, Brookside, was the other Cantabrian and was one of two finalists in the crossbred section. It was quite interesting going through the judging process, he said.
‘‘There were three judges and a convener and it was very challenging because they wanted to know why we did what we did and how it integrated into the farm system and why we had the flock the way it was.’’
‘‘It created a lot of discussion afterwards and I think the judges went away having a discussion as well because we are a bit outside of the norm,’’ Withell said.
‘‘We aren’t a traditional sheep and beef property and because of the intensity of irrigated arable mixed farming in Canterbury, we have a lot more options. We grow crops for feed as well as traditional wheat and grass seed and clover.
‘‘So the sheep have to fit in with the system. We don’t usually make hoggets because of the way the farm system is. It is geared around maximising the returns from the arable production. Making hoggets is just one of the options.
‘‘There is going to be a shortage of sheep in the country and we decided we would do that this year. I think the judges saw an evenness in our sheep. And flock production and lambing percentage were the key.’’
The winners of the sections, along with the supreme champion, will be announced at a formal dinner in Cromwell on June 8.
National convener Stephen Rabbidge said the judges travelled from Waikato to Invercargill, to look at hogget flocks. ‘‘The objective of the competition is to select the flock replacements that are likely to be more productive and profitable over their lifetime.’’