A planting dream at Te Kano
An ancient kōwhai atop a craggy hill face has inspired a decade-long planting programme at Northburn Vineyard in Central Otago.
Roger Tweeds runs 2300 Romney ewes and 200 hoggets on his 300ha farm near Lawrence, Central Otago.
Tweed's been 30 years on his present farm, a mix of river flats and steep country and typically dry in summer.
He's experimented with a variety of terminal sires over the years, but has settled with the Southdown which he puts across up to 500 ewes in his B flock and all his ewe hoggets.
Tweed says the Southdown makes for easy lambing and what he likes most is that the lambs grow well and come weaning time he has a good product to sell. He reckons with some other terminal sires he's tried, while the lambing percentage was good the growth rate was not and that's what counts!
Tweed says this is especially so with the lambs from the ewe hoggets.
"My place is steep and gets hot in summer. I notice that the Southdown rams and their progeny do well in this environment. I love the Southdown because they just keep on growing," he says.
He selects his B flock ewes based on how the animals look, not on their age. As for weaning, this depends on the state of the lambs.
"The first lambs are generally weaned in mid-December, a mixture of those put to the terminal sire and those from the commercial flock. I don't lamb an early mob as some people do.
"For example, last year I weaned after new year. I don't farm by the calendar, I farm for the betterment of the animals."
Tweed says the Southdown ram produces a "good meaty sheep" and he's especially pleased with the lambs from the hoggets. He reckons the weight these lambs put on sets them aside from some other terminal sire breeds available.
According to the most recent Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, farmer confidence has inched higher, reaching its second highest reading in the last decade.
From 1 October, new livestock movement restrictions will be introduced in parts of Central Otago dealing with infected possums spreading bovine TB to livestock.
Phoebe Scherer, a technical manager from the Bay of Plenty, has won the 2025 Young Grower of the Year national title.
The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.
Award-winning boutique cheese company, Cranky Goat Ltd has gone into voluntary liquidation.
As an independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB finds the goal of complete eradication by 2055 is still valide, feedback is being sought on how to finish the job.
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