“I bought one ram at the first sale last year and it’s been very impressive,” Roadley said.
“Very easy lambing, very strong once up on the feet and good survivability. Everyone that’s seen them is very impressed with the rib to loin area and the rump.
“For meat to bone ratio they have to be an absolute winner for the whole of the NZ sheep industry so I know I have good potential.”
With 40 ram lambs and 34 ewe lambs on the ground Roadley returned to the sale this year determined to buy the best.
“I sorted out about six and when I got to the sale I knew straight away which one I was gunning for. I only wanted the top.”
While paying $22,000 for the best Roadley also bought a second ram for $6800.
“Last year I paid $5200 for the one pure ram. This year I had to dig a bit deeper as the breed is really showing its worth and farmer confidence in the breed takes off.
“But that’s okay. Every lamb born last year is like a precious little jewel. They will be even more valuable little jewels this year.”
So much so Roadley, a farmer of more than 50 years and a former shearer, chose to shear his first lambs himself.
“I thought these shearers are not good enough for my precious jewels so I better get in and do those ones myself.”
Its a task he might well continue as he grows the Beltex breed in the stud sheep breeding operation he manages for his brother Rex, crossing the Beltex ram with their Texel, Suffolk and Romney ewes and the half Beltex hoggets.
While he’s had a lot of interest up north in his first Beltex lamb drop Roadley decided not to sell yet, instead mating the hoggets this year and maybe looking to having a sale of the two-tooths and some of this year’s lambs later in the year.
“I think I’m a winner. It’s been a long time coming to this, yielding more meat off the bone, in the NZ sheep industry.
“We just have to make sure now farmers get more in the pocket too and it doesn’t all go to the processors.”
Making history for NZ, the highly anticipated Beltex breed, established by Mid Canterbury sheep farmer Blair Gallagher, NZ sheep genetics expert Jock Allison and Canterbury farm consultant John Tavendale, had its first commercial lamb crop in the market this season.
In the first public auction of its kind in this part of the world BeltexNZ offered 16 purebred Beltex rams in 2018, the best of which went under the hammer at $12,000 while the top price of the inaugural sale was a Beltex Suffolk that sold for $15,000.
This year, in a first for NZ, Beltex-cross two-tooth ewes and ewe lambs also went under the hammer along with the 96 rams.
“It really was an amazing sale with 95% of those buying last year returning this year – very pleased with their first progeny on the ground,” Gallagher said.
“It was also a turnaround with confidence growing in the breed and demand this year pushing the purebreds well ahead of the crossbreds.”
The top price of $22,000 was closely followed by the Robinson family from Gore who bought a $21,000 pure Beltex ram with an overall average for the pure Beltex at $8050.
The Beltex-Suffolks averaged $2050 and the Suffolk-Poll Dorset crosses $1700.
The two-tooth ewes and ewe lambs met good demand selling from $600-$1000.
Breed trials are under way with Callaghan Innovation and Landcorp and further trials will start as the ram goes out at Rangiatea this month.
“There’s a lot of (Beltex) sheep out in the industry now. Farmers are realising their value and gaining confidence in the breed and that reflected in the prices they were prepared to pay this year,” Gallagher said.
“There’s some really exciting progeny on the ground and this year they went right across the country from Northland to Southland and for the first time to Hawke’s Bay so we are pretty hopeful of getting more positives back this year.”
Carrfields livestock agent Callum Dunnett said the sale portrayed plenty of spirit and growing confidence with good numbers of commercial farmers really showing interest.
“No one was just looking this year. There were a lot of large, progressive commercial farmers buying. It’s very positive for the meat industry,” Dunnett said.
