Dream stud Merinosnd

This stud was winning awards and attracting top prices, thanks to a quality sire imported from Australia eight years ago.

A decision in the early 1980s to import a world-famous Merino ram from Australia has paid dividends for Andries du Toit Pienaar’s Diep River stud, near Hanover.

The ram, Barloo 74, combined excellently with Pienaar’s stud sheep, which were producing rich, soft-handling wool.

“The result was a big, well-built, lesspleated animal with medium wool, which was everything the South African Merino industry was dreaming of,” says Pienaar.

The stud has achieved unequalled success at shows this year. The animals dominated the performance-testing show at Goodwood in Cape Town, winning the major award for two rams and two ewes, as well as taking fifth place in the same category and exhibiting 16 other prize winners.

Three weeks later, at the traditional National Merino Championships at Beaufort West, they again won the major award for two rams and three ewes.

“This achievement has never been equalled and ours is the only stud to win the group class (Ciba Geigy award), of two rams and three ewes for two consecutive years,” he says. They also produced many other champions at the same show. In August this year, they sold a ram for the top price of R47 500 at the prestigious Bloemfontein Merino ram sale. This was R500 short of the South African record price, also held by this stud.

They followed this with the sale of a veld ram for a South African record price of R15 000 at the Hanover

Karoo Veld Merino Club sale.

MORE THAN PRIZES

But prizes are only a small indication of what Pienaar, his father and grandfather have achieved in the stud. Visiting expert Neil Garnett, of Collinsville Stud Merinos, Australia, reputed to be the best in the world, said Pienaar’s sheep compared well with those he had seen worldwide.

“My grandfather, Andries du Toit Pienaar, started the stud in 1907 with 30 imported ewes and a ram bought from Charles Adams in Australia. From 1948 to 1982 only selfbred sires were used in the stud,” he says.

His father, Jan Pienaar, a leading breeder and the chairman of the Merino Stud Breeders’ Association, created the stud’s backbone. For many years he

achieved South African record prices for rams with self-bred animals known for their excellent wool qualities.

“In July 1982, Barloo 74 was imported from Australia costing a then record R53 000. My late father spotted the ram and decided Barloo 74 had all the qualities that were needed in his stud.”

BREEDING POLICY

The breeding policy in the stud is to aim at absolute balance and uniformity in the ewes and to provide excellence with the sires. They aim at producing a big, plain-bodied, well-built Merino carrying fleece of medium-strong wool.

Lambing percentages in the stud have never dropped below 140%.

AI is used to a large extent in the stud and this has contributed to the progress made. Only the best rams have been used.

“Usually rams are used from a year old and they are used only twice, before being auctioned. A ram that cannot replace himself in two breeding seasons is not a good prospect,” Pienaar says.

Four hundred stud ewes run on the veld for nine months and are moved into the irrigated lucerne lands after lambing until the lambs are weaned at three months. Ram lambs are allowed to remain on the lucerne lands until they are sold at a year old.

“Five percent of the best rams are withheld until they are two years old, then they are sold at auctions throughout the country. Annually this stud sells 200 rams from the farm. Culling starts at weaning and culls are sent to the abattoir,” he says.

Compiled by experts in the field, dosing and inoculation programmes are used.

Hand shearing is done in February, using local shearers, and Pienaar does his own classing. “Mature ewes yield between 7kg and 9kg wool, which is sent by road to Gqerberha. The wool is between 21 and 22,5 microns and hoggets 19,5 microns.

“The clean yields vary between 63% and 68% depending on conditions. In a good year it goes up to 70%,” he says.

The farm comprises 6 800ha of flat country with 150ha of irrigation lands, 40ha at Deep River, the balance at Merino Park, another farm near Cradock.

This article first appeared in the

30 December 1988 issue of Farmer’s Weekly and has been edited to adhere to the current style of the magazine.

FW ARCHIVE A one-year-old ram, which will be ready for sale within the.next year.