Those NZ sheep did look good but will have to put on 50kg to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with their new flock mates. The sheep revolution in Mexico is in stark contrast to that experienced in this country and the United Kingdom. The predicted rapid increase in demand for lamb in Central and Latin America was behind the urgency to lift the genetic quality. Surely that presents an opportunity for NZ but does sending thousands of sheep to the Americas just stifle that opportunity?
To see 30kg store lambs fetching £55 in the UK was sobering, especially when at that time the currency rate was equivalent to $NZ134.50 and those farmers were complaining about the poor returns. For these farmers, however, reducing costs is the pathway to more profit rather than increasing production. The well-announced prospect of reduced subsidies was not provoking the level of concern I had expected but maybe I was associating with farmers that are responding to the change.
It is when among sheep and beef farmers on UK soil that the vital need for biosecurity in NZ becomes apparent. The array of diseases British sheep in particular get that aren’t present in this country make our biosecurity controls absolutely vital. However, the multitude of supplements that are pumped into UK livestock without supporting evidence could well be gobbling up more profit than the cost of disease.
British farmers are also hampered by a smaller array of medicines to treat diseases and deficiencies. Several vaccines and trace element supplements that are standard inputs in NZ are just not available in the UK. This situation made me feel New Zealanders don’t quite appreciate how favourable our farming environment is and that actions are generally taken to support the industry.
The quad bike debacle aside, legislation for farming is largely supportive. In countries in which farming is not a major economic force more rules are being made in the interests of the wider community rather than specifically for farming.
Nevertheless, preparing for winter was under way for those foreign flocks. The concept of taking enough pasture into winter to set-up for spring was poorly understood, but one that must be learnt if greater reliance on pasture is to be successful.
When feed supplements are so readily available setting-up to do it solely with pasture was proving hard to imagine.
While discussing this need with overseas farmers I couldn’t help but think that the impact of spring at home is so influenced by available pasture. I was getting reports of lots of rain, which prompted memories of spring 2010. The extreme effects of that spring were blamed on the incessant rain over lambing yet those effects were really the outcome of a very long and dry autumn. My mantra of never coming out of winter with more pasture cover or body condition than was taken into winter was indeed true that year.
Not enough pasture cover and ewe condition at the start of winter only got worse by lambing so regardless of the weather many newborn lambs were going to be sluggish at birth. The weather factor exaggerated that effect and sluggish lambs did not survive the rain.
Like 2010 we have had a winter of old this year – wet and cold. The affect of these conspiring factors caused havoc in 2010 but it seems in 2015 this combination has become thankfully uncoupled. One would hope this is an outcome of learning from the past.
Setting-up for winter is one of the most protective actions farmers can take and is the only tool to buffer the effects of adverse weather. What farmers experience now is very much influenced by what they did last autumn.
Lamb finishing the Mexican way.
