Tracing its origins back to 1907, the Turanganui stud now consists of 4800 recorded ewes so that all of the sheep on the 1200ha property are stud animals. There are no commercial ewes.
It would be safe to bet the ewes that are running on Turanganui today are a far cry from the ones farmed by Holmes’ grandfather back in the early part of the 20th century.
The Warren family have been among this country’s innovators in sheep breeding. Holmes is often considered to be one of the founders of the North Island Romney, a genetic package that has had a big impact on the productivity of this country’s ewe flock.
Holmes was one of the founding members of the Wairarapa Romney Improvement Group, a group of breeders who banded together in the 1970s to improve the breed.
These breeders have stuck together for more than 40 years and still swap genetics for the betterment of the breed and ultimately the performance of commercial flocks. Certainly Holmes has had a lifetime of improving his own flock.
After leaving school in the 1940s Holmes went to work for the Matthews family on a neighbouring farm. They were running one of the leading studs of the day in which they were lambing an unheard-of 130%. This gave Holmes an insight into what ewes were capable of given the right mix of genetics and management.
Returning to Turanganui in 1948 Holmes could see the potential in their ewes, which at that time were lambing 105%.
“You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to see if you could get a better lambing percentage it’s better for the business.”
He says they have always been working towards increasing the lambing percentage – even when wool was king – because the lambing percentage on Turanganui was important. As he says, lamb has always been worth something, even in the days when the bulk of the farm income was coming from wool.
When Holmes returned to Turanganui the farm was running 1300 ewes of which 700 were studs. He gradually got rid of the commercial ewes and increased the size of the stud flock as the size of the farm increased.
Holmes began keeping production records back in the 1950s and these records enabled him to select the more productive ewes and cull the poorer performing animals.
Being in Southern Wairarapa, Turanganui stud is summer dry. It’s this dry that the Warrens plan for.
Two centre-pivots now offer some security of feed as do specialist dryland crops such as chicory, plantain and red and white clover.
Swede crops are used to grow out the mated hoggets over winter so they are lambing at an average weight of 55kg. The farm compromises five separate blocks, which range from the irrigated flats to steep hill country.
Alongside the ewes the Warren family runs 800 steers and stock manager Simon Dennes describes them as the simplest enterprise on the farm.
They are bought in as weaners in autumn and finished as two-year-olds. In the interim they do a great job managing pasture.
The farm employs Dennes along with three shepherds and a tractor driver-general.
