Hybrid vigour making significant gains
Middlemarch farmers Andrew and Lynnore Templeton won the supreme award in the 2019 Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards. They recently hosted a field day. Diane Bishop reports.
Hybrid vigour is a bit like getting something for nothing. Andrew and Lynnore Templeton jumped on the bandwagon and are using hybrid vigour to make significant gains in their farming operation.
‘‘It’s a no-brainer, putting two breeds of stock together. The one in the middle is always going to produce more,’’ Andrew said.
The Templetons farm halfbred sheep, merinos and a herd of Friesian-Hereford-Angus cross cows and their progeny at The Rocks Station, an almost 3000ha flat to rolling property on the outskirts of Middlemarch.
They also use Texel and Dorset Down rams over their ewe flock to increase fertility and meat yield. ‘‘We introduced myomax and inverdale genes into our flocks to help offset the challenging autumns and increase flock production,’’ Andrew said.
The couple won the 2019 Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards, and several merit awards: Beef + Lamb New Zealand Livestock Award, Massey University Innovation Award and Norwood Agri-business Management Award, and they recently hosted a field day.
The Templetons were involved in the agricultural industry for many years before they bought their first land 16 years ago.
Andrew worked in the wool industry for 10 years then joined the ASB rural banking team in Otago. Lynnore worked for Merial NZ (now Boehringer Ingelheim) for 16 years, as territory manager for Southland, then South Island business manager.
The couple saved hard to buy their first farm and in February 2003 bought the 80ha Sutton block. In June that year they added the home block and then another two blocks were acquired to form The Rocks Station.
In September 2019, a 78ha neighbouring block was added.
For the first seven years, Lynnore and a farm manager ran the day-to-day operation while Andrew worked off-farm.
In 2007, following the arrival of daughter Ellie, Lynnore left Merial to work on the farm.
Three years later Andrew left the bank and took over the full running of the property. ‘‘The first 10 years we were finding our feet and it’s only in the last six that we felt we’ve got to grips with the property,’’ Andrew said.
A significant amount of work went into improving the business including 160ha of irrigation, 1000ha of regrassing and 40ha of fencing; some to exclude stock from the Taieri River and waterways leaving the property.
‘‘The farm is a work in progress and the goalposts are always moving,’’ Andrew said.
His passion for wool, which has seen him judge the Golden Fleece competition, is a key component in their breeding efforts. They buy replacement merino ewe lambs from Nine Mile Station at Tarras, which are mated to texel rams carrying the inverdale and myomax genes. ‘‘We really like the Texel for its survival, resilience and finer wool and we wanted to enhance meat production,’’ Andrew said.
They mate their halfbred ewes to Dorset Down rams and aim to finish 75 per cent of them at weaning at about 18kg carcass weight. They are also trialling Beltex rams over some ewes and are pleased with the progeny.
They source Friesian-Hereford heifer calves from the dairy industry which they mate to low birthweight Angus bulls.
‘‘It’s great to be able to utilise dairy stock so they’re not going to waste. We get a calf out of them and then kill the heifers and they still grade well.’’
They found the resulting calves – quarter Friesian, quarter Hereford and half Angus – make great breeding cows. ‘‘The threeway-cross cow is turbo charging our production.’’
The best 25 per cent of calves are kept as replacements, the balance sold at weaning or wintered depending on the season.
The aim is to mate FriesianHereford-Angus cross cows to Charolais bulls or another high growth composite breed. The Friesian-Hereford heifers were recently artificially inseminated with a Te Mania stud bull.
The Templetons make a strong team: Andrew’s innovative, bigpicture thinking, coupled with Lynnore’s expertise in animal health and attention to detail.
The developed areas of The Rocks Station are managed with appropriate pasture species for the climate and area. Direct drilling allows for less soil disruption and protects soil moisture; valuable in the Middlemarch climate.
They are also looking at ways to enhance biodiversity. They are keeping some areas of natural landscape and looking at how best to protect ephemeral wetlands and ensure rock and schist formations continue to be home to skinks and geckos. They have introduced more freshwater crayfish into their dams as a water quality barometer and potential future income stream. They are working with Southern Forest in planning a native planting programme in areas where trees and shrubs can establish. Andrew is investigating and planning a series of seepage dams/ wetlands which will be fenced and planted but allow water to naturally seep to lower country, a practice seen in Australia.