Hain Romney Breeding Program

Breeding Program

Waikura station was purchased in 1934 by the Hain Family.  Romney sheep have always been part of our grazing policy.

Our sheep have good hindquarters and are sound on their feet and legs while retaining a good Romney lambing percentage.  In the last five years the average lambing is 147% ewes to the ram at docking with a low of 142% and a high of 152%. Of these there is a very low percentage of dries and also a low ratio of triplets. This reduced number of triplets has meant that more lambs have survived in the harsh weather conditions which are common on Waikura. All ewes that are assisted in any way are culled along with their lambs.

Twenty six years ago, and at a dose rate of 5.0, we started testing our rams for Facial Eczema. We have made good progress, and we are now starting to see the benefits of building on this gene pool.  Thirty-three percent of our rams tested from our inner flock had no liver damage, at a dose rate of 4.6 tested under the Ramguard Plan at Ruakura.

We have a policy whereby we only keep twin rams for sale and all single males are sold straight to the works.

The policy of lambing our hogget’s has been very successful and the returns from the extra lambs are a real financial bonus. The hogget’s are all mated to a terminal sire, predominantly Polled Dorset. In 2006 our hogget’s scanned at 106%. It is customary for our first lot of lambs to go to the works in January.

We sell our two tooth’s at the January Matawhero sale and we are always at the fore front and have topped the sale on numerous occasions over the last 40 years including the past three years. In 2006 we achieved the second top price at auction in New Zealand of $133.50.

As well as the sheep we also winter 1000 head of cattle including a large Hereford and Shorthorn stud. We try to run things as any commercial farmer would, we run over 1000 hectares at a stocking rate close to 10 stock units/hectare which is higher than many of our neighbours.

Drenching is something that we don’t enjoy; therefore the ewes are only drenched once each year three weeks prior to the introduction of the ram. Lambs are drenched every five weeks from weaning through to April which is when the ram goes out with the hogget’s.

There are certainly easier ways to make a living however, we enjoy the challenges of improving performance on farm for the benefit of our clients.  Our door is always open if you would like to have a look at our operation at anytime.