Couple back passion for wool with changeover

08-09-2010 | Not Specified

Four generations of Dyers have farmed Beckford, a property to the south of Waimate.

The original property was settled by the Dyer family in 1899 when the Waikakihi Estate was split up into ballot blocks.

Since then each generation has left its mark, including adding neighbouring land as it has come on to the market.

Henry and Gill Dyer now farm the 519ha of rolling dry land and hill country.

As well as the burgeoning coloured Merino ewe flock and its replacements, Henry and Gill are also running 2800 ultrafine Merino ewes plus all their offspring through the winter. They are also buying in 100 or more yearling steers most springs for finishing through the summer and autumn.

Though prone to the vagaries of summer dries, the property is not traditional Merino country in the truest sense. While for some it might have been too big a gamble, Henry and Gill took the plunge and made the change more than 25 years ago, backing their passion for wool. They decided to ditch the Corriedale ewe flock in favour of a superfine Merino ewe flock based on Forest Range genetics.

The Dyers have been buying rams from Russell and Jeanette Emmerson's Forest Range stud flock ever since.

To speed up the changeover from Corriedales, Henry and Gill also bought the Emmersons' annual draft ewes for several years.

Ten years ago, the Dyers also started a cervical AI programme. They inseminated two-thirds of their ewe flock for four consecutive years, using fresh semen drawn each day from three elite rams bought from Forest Range.

"It proved to be a good exercise, tightening up the variation in the mean fibre diameter (MFD) of the flock and improving the qualities of the wool, including the amount we are now shearing," Henry says.

Ewe hoggets are mid-side sampled before their first shearing and again as two-tooth ewes. Coloured ear tags are used to identify their micron grouping.

The MFD of the mixed-age ewe flock is now hovering around the low 15 microns. The ewe and wether hogget clip is averaging 14.5 microns.

The entire lamb crop is being retained and carried through the winter. Shorn in August, all the wethers and the surplus ewe lambs are finished to 17-18kg carcaseweight. Slaughtered at the Oamaru abattoir through early spring, most of the lambs are being supplied to Christchurch-based exporters Pilot Group Ltd.

The entire merino wool clip is marketed through John Marshall & Co. Mid-winter shorn, the mixed-age ewes are clipping 3.8kg to 4kg (greasy) depending on the season. The hoggets are upwards of 2.8kg each when they are shorn for the first time in August.

"From conversations we have with Peter Crone, the principal, our wool ends up in mainly Italy and latterly, some to China. We consider that we get above market prices without high commission charges."

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