Although dairy cattle now graze the flats of Buscot Station near Omarama, Merino sheep continue to be an important part of the farming operation.
Since the property’s owner Richard Gloag began installing pivot irrigation at Buscot in 2006, the farm has been transformed. The 350 hectares of once brown Hieracium infested flats along the Omarama-Twizel Road and over the hills in the Ahuriri basin now grow rye grass and clover all year round. Grazing dairy cows is the single biggest income source for the station. However Merino meat and wool still contribute well over half of the station’s income.
Buscot’s Merino hoggets drew national attention this year when they won the New Zealand Sheep Breeders Association’s annual New Zealand Ewe Hogget competition. The objective of the competition is to encourage farmers to produce productive and profitable hoggets as replacements for their ewe flocks.
Richard won the fine wool class of the ewe hogget competition in 2006 and 2007. But 2009 was the first time Merinos have won the competition outright since it was established 12 years ago.
Twenty flocks of various breeds made the finals. The judges commented the top flocks were very good but the Buscot hoggets were exceptional, especially considering the class of stock and class of country.
Buscot Key Facts:
Breeding objective: produce big framed heavy fleece cutting dual purpose merino ewes.
Scanning % ewes 140-150
Lambing % ewes 105-110
Wool production 2009 (greasy) 30722 kg @ $8.10/kg net
Ewes 5.2 kg/head, 18 ave micron, $42/head net
Hoggets 3.6 kg/head, 16.5 ave micron, $30/head net
Lamb production 2009
2600 lambs, 18.3kg ave weight, $101 net
The climate at Buscot is extreme--the summers are very hot and dry while the winters are cold and frosty. It is traditional sheep farming country and Buscot has farmed Merino half bred ewes since it was established in 1916.
Richard is the fourth generation of the Munro-Gloag family to farm the property. Each generation has sought to improve the property but the 2300 hectare property was economically marginal until large scale irrigation was developed.
Buscot gained access to irrigation water when the Benmore Irrigation Company secured rights to extract four cumecs of water from the Ohau River. Buscot is a shareholder in the company and one of six properties in the Omarama/Twizel area to have access to the water. The water consent was secured in 1998 and construction began in early 2005.
The irrigation helps ensure the hoggets are well fed all year round. The lambs are born on the 1700 hectares of dry hill country but are weaned down on the irrigated flats. They are moved back up into the hills for the autumn then in late autumn go back under pivots until the grass runs out and they go on to turnips and grass with Lucerne balage. In spring the lambs are culled, shorn and put back on the pivots until the grass comes away again on the hill country. The hoggets are also used as a tool to eat off sprayed out paddocks.
Eight hundred replacement ewe hoggets go into the breeding flock. The cull ewe hoggets and wether hoggets are sent to Canterbury Meat Packers for meat production.
Alan Paterson of Armidale Merino Stud supplies mixed age rams to Buscot and this is part of Richard’s success. Alan classes all the sheep so knows exactly what sort of rams Richard needs. The sheep are classed into three lines:
• The main line
• Cull ewes to be mated with a Border Lester terminal sire
• Heavy skin sheep that need to be plained up
The judges commented a number of contestants had unsuitable rams sent to them but didn’t send them back to the breeder.
“It is so important to make sure the ram breeder is on the same wave length as the grower. Richard liaises closely with his breeder and that is important,” said the judges.
Since installing the pivot irrigation the ewe numbers have been cut back in favour of the more profitable dairy grazers. A dairy conversion of 450 hectares is also going through the consent process as well. However Richard believes Merinos will always be part of the Buscot farming business.
“Merino sheep suit the dry hill country and I am very passionate about the fibre they produce. They will always have a place on Buscot,” says Richard.
Richard also takes a keen interest in what happens beyond the farm gate. His Border Leister Merino meat has been a finalist in the Glammies--a competition to find the best tasting lamb in the country. This year he also travelled to Italy as a Biella ambassador to study how New Zealand Merino fibre, including Buscot’s Merino, is processed into exclusive men’s suiting.
“I really enjoy working with merinos and I think merino has a big future in New Zealand farming as a dual purpose sheep breed.”
>> Click here for information about Armidale Merino Stud
>> Click here for information about the NZ Sheep Breeders Association
