Mararoa aims to boost live lamb numbers

Mararoa Station can be dry, unforgiving country.

Manager Tim Smith has adopted a risk managment policy that involves 10,000 lambs being transferred to neighbouring Lynmore Station for finishing each year.

"We can't afford to get caught in a dry year and have nowhere for the lambs to go," Mr Smith said.

He and wife Trish have managed Mararoa Station, a 5540ha rolling hill country property in the Te Anau basin, for state-owned enterprise Landcorp for the past four years.

Scale is no barrier for Mr Smith, who used to manage Landcorp's ewe breeding programme on Kepler Farm and before that the sheep genetics unit at Mount Linton Station.

Mararoa Station is home to 19,000 landmark ewes, which he describes as an "improved romney" comprising three-quarters romney with a touch of east friesian and finn.

While the ewes scan an average 180 per cent, the real challenge is to get more live lambs on the ground, he told more than 100 farmers at a recent field-day on the property. "We have a great in-lamb rate, but we're pretty exposed here," he said.

Mr Smith achieved 130 per cent lambing this year as the late-summer drought took its toll on the lamb crop, but aims to consistently achieve at least 140 per cent.

He has plans to grow more shelterbelts and forestry plantations on Mararoa in an effort to reduce lamb deaths.

About two-thirds of the ewes are mated to landmark rams, which are bought from Landcorp's Freestone Farm at Manapouri.

Mr Smith uses good structurally sound rams that are backed up with high indexes.

"Rams are still cheap.

"If we buy them at $1000 they're only costing us $2 per lamb."

The rest of the ewes are mated to the lamb supreme - a romney, poll dorset, texel composite - which has been bred by Landcorp for improved meat production.

The ewes lamb in early October to coincide with late-spring pasture growth, followed by the hoggets a couple of weeks later.

While about 10,000 lambs are finished on Mararoa Station, another 10,000 are transferred to Lynmore Station at 24 to 30kg liveweight and are finished at 16.5 to 17kg carcass weight.

"We could finish more but we don't want to get caught out in a dry year."

Mr Smith aims to wean 5000 lambs of his "most profitable" lambs off the ewes direct to slaughter.

The ewes and lambs are rotated around the farm to ensure every day is a growing day.

The 1500 in-lamb hoggets are lightly set stocked to lamb among the hinds in the deer unit, which helps maintain pasture quality.

"It's a win-win situation."

The hoggets are mated at 40kg liveweight and the late lambing ensures they reach a target weight of 60kg over the spring.

Mr Smith kills 80 percent of the hogget lambs - which are not tailed - straight off their mothers in a weaning draft at an average 36kg.

Lynmore Station manager Wayne Webb, who takes on 10,000 lambs from Mararoa, runs a short-grass policy to maintain quality.

"Our focus is to get as many lambs away as possible.

"If we let the quality go it's hard to get it back," he said.

The lambs are drenched about three weeks before weaning, which Mr Webb believes adds another couple of kilos.

Getting the lambs away early enables him to finish about 25,000 lambs a season.

Mr Smith said he aims to eventually mate 50 per cent of his ewe flock to terminal sires and capture the Alliance Group's yield payments.

However, he wants to achieve 140 per cent lambing first.

"We need to get a good number of replacments.

"I'd hate to lose our potential number of lambs by going too much to the lamb supreme."

 

- © Fairfax NZ News