Barry and Julie Crawford are not your ordinary sheep farmers.
Not only are they fourth-generation farmers on Rosebank, near Gore, they also use electronic identification (EID) tagging in all their sheep and this step forward in the sheep industry has seen them make the top four of the South Island Farmer of the Year contest.
The Crawfords said they began EID tagging so they could measure and monitor their stock and it had seen the family-run farm going from strength to strength.
The property is a Farm IQ farm and the couple's farming practices revolve around efficiency.
Mrs Crawford said they had been using Farm IQ, which is a farm management system, for the past two years. The system, which had just been released to the public, enabled them to keep all their stock records in one place.
It was a simple system to use, she said.
''It gives us the ability to benchmark against the database.''
What the Crawfords were looking at with the EID and record-keeping was enhancing the information and history of their sheep in New Zealand.
''We are looking at really raising the industry standards. It can add to your bottom line,'' Mrs Crawford said.
They had been EID tagging their lambs for the past six years but had now moved on to tagging their ewes as well.
The EID tags helped the Crawfords make informed decisions because they showed the animals' history, weight records, treatments undergone and forage consumed.
''It is truly a whole new level of farming,'' Mrs Crawford said.
The Crawfords were also involved with some new projects.
These included GrassCo being contracted to measure and record paddock performance.
Mrs Crawford said the project was being run in collaboration with Beef and Lamb New Zealand and records were taken every week.
They were also testing a new system for assessing ewe efficiency that recorded whether a ewe had a single lamb, twins or triplets.
''We looked at other ways of using them [the EID tags]. We have got them, so how can we utilise them?'' she said.
The Crawfords said they were humbled to be named as finalists and they were thrilled their system had been recognised.
The South Island Farmer of the Year first-round judges said the stock at Rosebank were in very good condition and performing to a high standard.
''The business has embraced new technology and used it to good effect to improve outcomes,'' they said.
The Crawfords were ''passionate about the sheep farming industry as a whole and [it was] inspiring to see the status quo challenged and willingness for new concepts to be trialled and introduced.''
The second round of judging at Rosebank will take place this week and the winner of the South Island Farmer of the Year will be announced on November 19.