Edward had already delayed his retirement eight years earlier, and the Richards were on his ‘first to call’ list of interested parties to take over his life’s work.

Farming 20km east of Taumarunui, the Richards had been long-time clients of Edward’s Mid-North Coopworth Company Coopworth Stud.

“We had probably been one of his biggest clients for eight years straight when Edward first threatened to retire, so we bought ewe hoggets from him in 2005 and 2006 and set up our own recorded flock with those.

“Edward’s stock were always our first choice due to their Facial Eczema tolerance and the excellent lambing percentages they had helped us achieve,” says Ross.

The couple have been on the property since 1993, named after the Battle of Romani that Ruth’s grandfather fought in during World War One. They initially farmed as what today would be the equivalent of equity partners with Ruth’s family. During time Ross and Ruth were able to progressively buy them out.

Hybrid vigour

Prior to using Edward’s Coopworth bloodlines, the Richards had lifted their Romney flock’s lack-lustre 110 per cent lambing performance by introducing rams with 50 per cent East Friesian, 25 per cent Dorset, 25 per cent Texcel genetics. The hybrid vigour and strong fertility characteristics of the Friesians helped push their lambing percentage to 140 per cent.

Once they achieved that hurdle they were quickly asking themselves ‘where to next?’ in terms of not only lifting fertility performance, but also FE tolerance and carcass yields.

Their property initially presented a “feast or famine” challenge to any breed. Sitting across 320m-500m altitude on the edge of the Volcanic Plateau the property’s tough winters are sharpened thanks to a high bluffy ridge running the length of its north-eastern boundary. In winter a large part of the farm is in shade all day, and in frosty weather can stay frozen for days or occasionally weeks.

Conversely, it was traditionally regarded to be summer-safe country, receiving frequent rain from thunderstorms. During the years changes in weather patterns have moderated the winters, and made summers less predictable.

Severe drought

Bringing in Edward’s Coopworth genetics 16 years ago has meant the farm has managed a consistent 150 per cent lambing percentage despite some variable climatic conditions, including severe drought in 2008.

“Because Edward lived relatively close to Ruakura Research centre he would spend an inordinate amount of time there, getting up to speed with the latest research on FE, and applying all he could back home on his stock,” says Ross.

Edward has spent more than 30 years building the flock’s FE tolerance, dosing at progressively higher levels of sporidesmin and measuring its effects. That level has gone as high as 0.62mg/kg live-weight this season, among the highest doses administered across any breed.

Combining the good FE tolerance of Edward’s stud stock with their own flock has meant the Richards have managed to achieve some strong performance gains, despite the challenge high spore counts have bought in some summer-autumn months.

The couple are increasingly focusing upon lifting carcass yield alongside the heavier lamb weights they are also achieving.

Carcass weights

“We have lifted average lamb Carcass Weights including stores from about 12kgCW 10 years ago, to 17kgCW in the last year or two. This has come from the improvements we have made in the farm’s fertility, but also from the genetics in the Coopworths – you pretty much know what they are going to do year in year out, making it easy to plan accordingly.”

The weaning weights also speak volumes about the strong gains made in flock performance. In 2006-2007 the Richards record 165 per cent lambing produced a 22kg weaning weight, and last year that lifted to 30kg.

Ewe efficiency has also improved significantly, lifting from 67 per cent to 81 per cent in terms of kilogram of lambs weaned per kilogram of ewe wintered.

From here the Richards are focusing on breeding stud and commercial stock that can deliver higher yielding carcasses and increased growth rates.

“We are focusing on stud rams that have greater physical robustness, and ability to perform regardless of the worm challenge they face, and our drenching programme helps sort out those that are most worm-tolerant.”

Ram lambs will be drenched at weaning, then left for 10 weeks before a faecal egg count and their next drench, and put on a lower feed regime.

“We are doing that because we want to see which ones can manage the tougher conditions and still grow out well,” says Ross.

He’s found the ones that have come along best have a particularly “meaty” carcass, with a higher level of myomax muscling gene.

“We are targeting those that not only grow well through the feed challenge, but also exhibit a good level of FE tolerance, along with a low FEC and low dag-score. The trick is then getting a balance between good growth rates, and good meat yield, and the two do not always come together.”

Tolerant genetics

Ross believes they are getting closer to achieving that, with even strong meat indices.

“We are getting our indices up to 300-500 on the SIL index – our top meat indices value is 640 – with growth indices ranging from 1500-2000.”

During the last couple of seasons interest has become more widespread in the flock’s FE-tolerant genetics.

“This has included enquiry from Taihape and Hunterville, which have not had big problems with FE in the past, but are experiencing it more frequently.”

With generations of Edward’s stock genetics now in the flock, Ross and Ruth have joined the ranks of the country’s leading FE-tolerant flocks, being members of the FEGold certified group. As a group it is doing much to raise awareness among ram buyers on the value of buying FEGold genetics, while also encouraging other sheep breeders to consider working towards accreditation.

“We are pretty happy about where we sit in terms of a 0.6 dose level, that is right up there, and the feedback we are getting is that our stock are performing well.

“Our clients include some leading Romney breeders seeking to lift their flock’s FE tolerance, which our genetics deliver, along with a boost in productivity. FE tolerance is a key selling point for our stud stock.”