Q Is there any reason you hold your sale first in the season?
Our main focus is on high venison growth rates and other traits, like eye muscle and early calving, so our animal selection is not dictated by growing a velvet head and it suits us to have it early.
Q Have you ever had any regrets of focusing your breeding programme on venison rather than velvet or both?
Absolutely not. If you try to seek both, you compromise one of them. We have the risk of being a summer dry property here and we need the animals off early so need the fastest growing animals we can. The genetic progress in red deer growth rates has been significant in the past 20 years.
Q You talk about the potential of dry conditions biting on the station but Northern Southland has been wet this season. How’s that been impacting your operation?
It has condensed the workload between now and Christmas because you need to get all the brassicas in and the earlier you get the young grass in the better.
Q Have you been able to get fertiliser on?
We were very lucky and got fertiliser on at the end of August. I’m doing a lime programme on the hill and that’s been delayed. It’s worked out OK for us.
Q What are you offering at your sire stag sale?
Twenty-four rising two-year-olds with 12-month growth breeding values between 22 and 29.
Q You’ve included a breeding value for Carla in your sale catalogue, which shows the amount of antibodies an animal has to fight against worm larvae. Are you a believer in using the data to help make selection decisions?
Absolutely. It’s one of the tools available.
Q You plan to get as many spikers away so they are not competing with your sheep and cattle for feed. Is it all going to plan so far?
It is. They are coming out a kilo heavier than last year, in about the same time frame, so we’re up to speed with what we expected.
Q When times are tight for sheep farmers, they might delay buying a ram. Is it the same for stags?
It can be but that’s a bit of a short-term fix and you’re probably better with a bob each way because eventually you’ve got to catch up. If you want to maintain good genetics coming through, then you’ve got to keep improving and if farmers want high growth ones then they should come to Fairlight.
