The second farm I visited in the Ashburton area is probably my first farm visit that gave cattle a high priority. It has 300 in calf Hereford cattle and 4,500 ewes, 1,200 hoggets. Two thirds of the sheep are Romney's, and the other third are Romneys crossed with a Texel cross East Friesian ram (1/2 Romney, 1/4 texel, 1/4 East Friesian). About 400 replacements are selected from these crossbreds and a cheviot ram is used on these crossbred hoggets. The 800 Romney replacements are not mated. A Suffolk ram is also used on the 1,500 crossbred ewes. They scan at 173%, and start lambing on 20th September. Only 1.2 per cent of their ewe flock are dry. Ewes are fed nearly all grass all winter. Silage and baylage is made for emergencies (dry autumn or heavy prolonged snow fall). Two tooth ewes are on swedes for a couple of months. They are shorn before going on the swedes in late June/July. All ewes are shorn twice a year January and pre lambing. They finish around 85% of lambs (6,000). 1,200-1,500 at weaning. Lambs are weaned between 95 and 100 days. The ewes are weighed and condition scored 7 times each year, pre mating, at mating , ram removal, scanning, pre lambing, tailing and weaning.
The Hereford cattle are nearly all pedigrees and on breedplan. All yearlings are mated to calf as two year olds. All barren heifers and cows are sold. Cows with poor calf or bad calving is also culled. Most animals are sold as bulls or finished. Some surplus in calf heifers are sold. The bulls are sold at 2 year olds on farm. They would start out with maybe around 130 bull calves. They would take around 110-120 through the first winter. Then in October they would do a cull and reduce to 60. The surplus 50-60 would be sold as yearling bulls to dairy farmers. They would then do the next cull in the autumn and sell 40 bulls on farm. Most of the bull clients are hill country farmers. They aim for fertile medium framed animals.
The mixed age ewes are run in a mob of about 2,800 in the winter. Twins are set stocked over lambing. Singles are not, they are in mobs of 600 then they shed out unlambed ewes every couple days and move to other fields. From January to mating, the ewes are divided into mobs according to their BCS - light medium and heavy and are fed accordingly. This is done to try and have the ewes condition as close together as possible at mating and ensures the ewes reach their weight goal of 70kg when they go to the ram. The hogget flock is mated at 47kg and lambed around October 10, three weeks after the adult ewes.
Grassland improvement is done through planting brassicas, 10ha is planted to swedes each year, then kale the next year and new pasture the third year. However the bulk of the pastures are up to 30 or 40 years old.
The second farm I visited in the Ashburton area is probably my first farm visit that gave cattle a high priority. It has 300 in calf Hereford cattle and 4,500 ewes, 1,200 hoggets. Two thirds of the sheep are Romney's, and the other third are Romneys crossed with a Texel cross East Friesian ram (1/2 Romney, 1/4 texel, 1/4 East Friesian). About 400 replacements are selected from these crossbreds and a cheviot ram is used on these crossbred hoggets. The 800 Romney replacements are not mated. A Suffolk ram is also used on the 1,500 crossbred ewes. They scan at 173%, and start lambing on 20th September. Only 1.2 per cent of their ewe flock are dry. Ewes are fed nearly all grass all winter. Silage and baylage is made for emergencies (dry autumn or heavy prolonged snow fall). Two tooth ewes are on swedes for a couple of months. They are shorn before going on the swedes in late June/July. All ewes are shorn twice a year January and pre lambing. They finish around 85% of lambs (6,000). 1,200-1,500 at weaning. Lambs are weaned between 95 and 100 days. The ewes are weighed and condition scored 7 times each year, pre mating, at mating , ram removal, scanning, pre lambing, tailing and weaning. 
The mixed age ewes are run in a mob of about 2,800 in the winter. Twins are set stocked over lambing. Singles are not, they are in mobs of 600 then they shed out unlambed ewes every couple days and move to other fields. From January to mating, the ewes are divided into mobs according to their BCS - light medium and heavy and are fed accordingly. This is done to try and have the ewes condition as close together as possible at mating and ensures the ewes reach their weight goal of 70kg when they go to the ram. The hogget flock is mated at 47kg and lambed around October 10, three weeks after the adult ewes. 
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