Purebred ewes on Somes
By Dr Clive Dalton
Finding sheep in UK and
Ireland
Without going back to the official MAF Research files (if anyone would know where to look), this is what Dr Neil Clarke, previously in Ruakura genetics remembers about the flocks he
located that had sheep for purchase, and which agreed to have the required
health tests done for importation to New Zealand. Most of the flocks were small
so in many of them Neil said the choice was very limited.
- Finnish Landrace (UK): Cobb; Cadzow; Animal Breeding Research Organisation (ABRO)' Farmer's Weekly farm (100 ewes).
- Finnish Landrace (Ireland): Department of Agriculture (200 ewe flock).
- East Friesian (UK). 1 flock. (Mummery breeder)
- Oldenburg – White Headed Mutton (UK). 1 flock.
- Oxford Down (UK): ABRO Cold Norton flock.
- Oxford Down (Ireland): 1 flock.
Texels were high on the NZ shopping list when
researching prospects from NZ, but from the flocks Neil visited when he got to UK,
the chance of getting a decent sample of the breed was extremely low as the
sheep were so poor. So with much
overnight communication back to NZ, he persuaded colleagues and bureaucrats to be
allowed to purchase some Oldenburg White Headed Mutton sheep from one flock in
UK as a form of compensation.
Also, his father the late Ted Clarke, former Director at
the Whatawhata Hill Country Research Station and then Director of MAF’s Sheep and Wool Advisory Service before he
retired, always thought the Oldenburg had potential for New Zealand, because it was
very similar to the NZ Romney.
Neil remembers arriving at the single source flock in the west of
Ireland to inspect Oxford Downs, and the farmer was busy gathering up hay
around the paddock left by the baler - on to a donkey cart! The donkey was delighted to stop work while
his boss went to call the sheep.
Purebred ewes on Somes
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| Somes Island 2014. Some old sheep pens still there. Photo Jim Hammonds |
Somes Island in Wellington harbour is about 3km from Petone and
was set up as a maximum quarantine facility for cattle importations, so it didn’t
need much alteration (smaller pens and wooden grating) to cope with sheep.
Livestock officers from MAF’s Animal Health Division’s Wellington region did the stock work on Somes, and were joined by MAF Research technical officers Tim Harvey from MAF Tokanui research farm near Te Awamutu, and Bruce Trust.
The challenge was to get the 104 imported purebred ewes to lamb
safely, and then rear their lambs successfully on their main diet of
concentrate feed as there was very little outside pasture on Somes. It was by no means a natural life for a
sheep in New Zealand!2014 photo of inside animal house on Somes Island, showing the cattle pens which had to be adapted for sheep.
Photo Jim Hammonds
After
their first very successful lambing, the purebreds were mated again with their own breed rams that came with them, to produce a
second lamb crop. So only purebreds were kept and multiplied on Somes and
everything went well with the dedicated care of the staff involved. In fact things went too well and got
ahead of themselves.
 |
| Tim Harvey |
She also had an udder like a cow so one
of LOs made her a bra to prevent injuries. Sadly her out-of-control udder led
to her forced demise which was such a shame after the old girl had come from the
other side of the world to do what sheep are meant to do!
