Our SHeep

Our Sheep

Our ewes form one of the largest recorded Romney flocks farmed on a single farm in New Zealand. All stock run under commercial conditions, mob- stocked on second class hill country which is summer dry and winter wet.

We have completed over 40 years of SIL recording along with 15 years of our own data collection. This substantial data base has allowed us to select the sheep with the genetic characteristics that we deem desirable and select replacements from them.

We previously tagged lambs at birth but have transitioned to DNA sampling in recent years. We DNA sample all our ewes, rams, and lambs to ensure accurate record keeping. We have recently transitioned from 16k to 50k DNA sampling, with 50k allowing us to see if progeny’s traits throw more toward the sire or dam. This will further highlight progeny with strong genetic merit, allowing us to pass this genetic gain onto you, our clients.

We have the image of the ‘perfect’ sheep in our minds and strive to attain that. One benefit of our flock is that we can cull hard, removing any animals that don’t meet our strict criteria. We place a strong emphasis on hardiness, sound feet, lack of daggs and solid constitution.

Motu-nui rams identified facial eczema (FE) as a growing issue in New Zealand’s sheep industry several years ago, and have started selectively breeding FE resistant rams using FE tested rams and testing the progeny to check their performance under pressure.