Wai-iti Romneys

We strongly believe that in order to supply our clients with rams that will deliver ‘the goods’, we need to be constantly challenging our sheep to identify those sheep that cannot thrive under commercial conditions.

Wai-iti ram performance is the product of modern, proven and progressive genetics coupled with good old fashioned stockmanship.

When you buy Wai-iti rams you can be assured:

• No drenching of adult sheep! If it needs drenching, it gets culled. Ewe hoggets receive their last drench when their lambs are docked. This means no pre-tup drench, no capsules or injections. No exceptions! 
• Drench intervals are stretched constantly in ewe and ram hoggets to identify sheep that cannot cope with a worm burden.
• All ewe hoggets are mated. This has always been a part of our system because we believe we owe it to our clients to put this challenge to our replacement stock, particularly as two tooths. Ultimately, it ties in with our mission statement; “ … run under a challenging commercial environment.”
• All our sheep are bred, born and graze here (very rarely some exceptions are made when conditions dictate we must destock and graze off).
• We are largely a commercial farm in that apart from tupping and lambing, all recorded stock are run with the commercials and rotationally grazed keeping selection pressure on constitution. There is no special treatment! We believe in exploiting the old saying, “ … a sheep’s worst enemy is the sheep standing next to it!”
• All lambs are tagged at birth. This does put ewes under pressure, disturbing them at a critical time of ewe-lamb bonding, thus it really does test mothering ability of ewes and survival of lambs.
• Our sheep are stocked at a higher stocking rate than the district average. “You always seem to have too many sheep in each paddock at lambing – that must put real pressure on the ewes!”
• Only the top 35% of rams born are presented for sale. This gives us the ability to cull heavily on animals that just don’t measure up.
• Pressure on two tooths! From tupping onwards, all two tooths are run with MA ewes. This squeezes out a small number of the bottom two tooth ewes that don’t thrive in large mob situations. More importantly, this shows us that over 95% of them are capable of coping in this competitive environment.

Some other points of difference you will find with Wai-iti rams:

• Wool still matters! We still select for fleece quality, style, consistency and weight.
• A member of the nationally renowned Wairarapa Romney Improvement Group (WRIG).
• All Romneys are S.I.L recorded
• When you come to pick your rams you can typically expect a generous selection ratio of 1-10. We don’t pick them for you!
• We offer a 12 month replacement guarantee for soundness and constitution.
• We are hands on management. Zandy and Tim are at the coalface with the stock every day.

Genetic linkages

Wai-iti rams are the product of modern, proven and progressive genetics. Being involved with the Wairarapa Romney Improvement Group (WRIG) for 35 years means we have strong linkages with other like-minded, progressive and large scale Romney breeders.

We are still doing the basics right!

Strict culling across the whole ram and ewe flock for poor structure or shape of feet, white feet, slack pasterns, black spots and jaw formation to name a few.  We make no excuses for sheep that show poor structural attributes.

With the numbers we are running we have the ability to cull heavily on sheep we simply don’t like.

Only the top 35% of rams born make it to sale.

Crossbreds

Available as two-tooths or ram hoggets in March.

Wai-iti Romtex (½ Romney ½ Texel)

Wai-it Romtex rams are predominantly being used as a short term (typically three years) maternal cross. They are unique in that we breed these rams out of our replacement stud Romney ewe hoggets; therefore  the genetic gain available on the female side here is unrivalled. We source top-pick Texel rams from a Texel breeder who also places a high priority on running their stud sheep in large numbers to have the ability to cull heavily on poor performers and animals that show poor structural attributes. Wai-iti Romtex rams are run in the main mob of approximately 1200 ram hoggets at Puketiritiri through Autumn and Winter and have all of the same culling pressures applied to them as the Romneys.

Wai-iti Suftex (½ Texel ½ Suffolk)

A nationally proven and predictable terminal ram. Wai-iti SufTex rams combine the high growth rates and ‘stretch’ of the Suffolk with the muscling and yield attributes of the Texel. We appreciate that one of the biggest hurdles of owning terminal rams is longevity. With this in mind, we rigorously cull the ewe flock for structural faults and only source sires that are at least four-tooth (or older) and can maintain year-round structural soundness.