I was very happy. It was a good clearance and a very good crowd and had a positive feeling about it. We put up 290 rams and 250 sold, which wasn’t too bad considering what is going on.
Q. When we last spoke you said you expected your final ram sale to be an emotional time. Was it?
I was a wee bit sentimental but it is history now and we are working towards these other two sales now.
Q. Are you talking about your upcoming ewe dispersal sales?
Yes, there are two terminal flocks on February 13, the Wharetoa Terminals and the Meatmakers. On February 20 there is the Wharetoa maternal and the Texels. There will be ewes, ram lambs and ewe lambs. It is a complete dispersal sale, everything is being put up. There has been quite a bit of inquiry for the ewes.
Q. Are the inquiries coming from across New Zealand or are they mainly from the South?
It’s New Zealand wide. There are three different groups who might buy them — stud breeders wanting to introduce new blood lines, young guys wanting a good base to start breeding their own rams and perhaps selling a few and there has been inquiry from buyers looking for shedding characteristics and there is quite a large number of these in the Wharetoa maternals and Meatmakers showing shedding characteristics now and they would be a very good base to build up to a shedding sheep.
Q. Have you been selecting for shedding characteristics?
No I haven’t. It has just happened with the Texels, sheep with bare bellies and clear back ends. There is quite a few of them there. We have put a huge amount of effort into breeding maternal and terminal sheep for producing high meat-yielding carcasses and all of those characteristics are throughout the whole yarding. I’m anticipating there will be 2000 sheep on offer over the two days. Another group who might look to buy the ewes is people wanting to breed their own rams.
Q. Your auction was the biggest private on-farm ram sale run by PGG Wrightson in New Zealand so it will surely leave a hole in supply?
Well, people who buy ewes could potentially pick up some of my clients. People can potentially buy a lot of ram lambs at a good price to alter the direction of their flocks.
Q. What do you think will be more emotional, saying goodbye to the rams or the ewes?
It could be the ewes. Once they’re gone, they’re gone, aren’t they? They’ve been my life for 50 years so there will be a bit of a hole there but we are psychologically prepared for that.
Q. Will you be taking any sheep with you when you retire?
Only the ones with names.
