An unyielding resolve

When Braden and Robyn Cooper took over their Matakitaki farm they bought the existing flock of 750 Perendale ewes, which are slowly being replaced with the Ben Nevis genetics that are half Romney, quarter Finn and quarter Texel. They buy from the One Stop Ram Shop and Robyn Cooper says the mix of breeds has worked well for Ben Nevis.

“We shear the lambs ourselves so check them all for feet, black spots, constitution and anything we don’t like we chuck out. As ewes they go into a terminal mob and if we still don’t like them they’ll go down the road.

“We’re hell of a fussy with the sheep too. We udder check them and tag them if they’re not handling the winter. Those ewes are put in a preferential paddock and if they ever end up in that mob again, we cull them.”

All ewes are body condition scored and the poorer ones given the chance to improve condition with preferential feeding, especially those that have raised triplets.

One of the Coopers’ goals is lifting lamb yields at Matakitaki. This is because they graded at 50% compared with more than 80% at Ben Nevis and lambs off the Pasja yielded just 30%. They’re not sure why they were so low but aim to change it.

The entire flock at Matakitaki is being mated to a terminal sire with the aim of producing as many lambs for finishing as possible, with replacements sourced from Ben Nevis.

Spring growth is late kicking in on both farms so rams go out on April 25 for a lambing start about September 20 and peaking about October 1. Ewes come down off the steep hill on April 10 for a quick flush before mating and in the past two years ewes at Matakitaki have scanned 180% and 172% respectively. After scanning, ewes with triplets head back to Ben Nevis where they can be well looked after through winter, while those with twins get the better pasture on the flats at Matakitaki and the singles head back to the hills.

Though scanning results are good, lamb wastage at Matakitaki has been high and the end result at tailing in the past two years has been 137% and 135% respectively. One of the problems the couple have had is a high number of cast ewes and sleepy sickness, which is lessening now as they build up stock numbers and change the genetics of the flock. It’s also one of the reasons they have needed their tenants to monitor the flock daily.

At Ben Nevis lamb wastage is slightly less at 18% from their usual scanning of about 150%. Robyn says that’s mainly from spring storms that can wreak havoc during lambing. 

She recalls their worst lambing, in 2008, when 500ml of cold, southerly rain took its toll and they achieved about 138% at tailing.

Weaning takes place in late January and February with 520 sold prime off the ewes and averaging 18kg CW. Everything over 36.5kg liveweight (LW) was drafted and that group averaged 41.38kg. It’s a big lift from their first lambing on the property the year before when they drafted 106 lambs straight off the ewes that averaged a carcaseweight of 16.5kg from 40kg LW.

Red riddance

Adding to the Coopers’ workload are the 100 Red hinds and their progeny, which is one of the reasons they intend to quit them. Poorer returns and the environmental impact from churning up the paddocks and muddying the streams has contributed to their decision.

“One of our issues is trying to reduce the number of mobs,” Robyn Cooper says. “So if they’re not working, get rid of them.”