I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself, Stewart Morton from Kiwitea, as the new chairperson of Central Suffolk Breeders and thank Barry Lampp for his guidance as chairperson over the past two years. It is a pleasure to be involved in one of the most active breeding groups of it’s kind in New Zealand, with the strength of this group being its member participation. At present the group has about 20 active members out of 50 affiliated members that participate in such activities as Ram Hogget Trials, Sire Service Schemes, Progeny Trials and Information days that occur over the year.

With fixed price contracts from processors suggesting in 12 months time the net farm gate price for a 16kg lamb will be over $70 the outlook for lamb continues to be positive. We urge other breeders to become more involved in the group’s activities not only for the social aspect, but to help cement the Suffolk as New Zealand’s number one terminal sire breed.

Stewart Morton  -Chairperson Central Suffolk Breeders Inc.

‘Food for Thought’ - From the Pen of our Breed Chairman - Bruce Rapley

Spring seems to have sprung in very varying degrees around the country. It would be just wonderful to be able to turn the weather on or off at will. There are a couple of things I would like you to perhaps consider. Firstly, there is a proposed tour to West Australia September 2003, to include the Perth Royal Show. With no Suffolk Tour in NZ next year some of you may like to consider this option. If so, Peter Hampton would like to know of any interest at this early stage. His phone number is 03 308 9840.

Secondly, the Suffolk Breed Committee is planning on having a meeting in January at Ram Sale time (Christchurch). Now is a good time to let us know if any members have comments on the proposed introduction of an Appendix Section in the Flock Book for Suffolks i.e. grading up to purity. This was approved by the members at the last Suffolk Tour in the Waikato, which was attended by approximately 55 people. We realise this proposal will only be of interest to some people. John Cowper, Roger Aitchison or myself would be interested in hearing your views.

The full details and collected data results from the trial are available on the club’s website www.suffolksheep.org.nz. In terms of hogget numbers this year’s trial was the best we have had. Hopefully this reflects club members seeing the value in being part of the trial and having the opportunity to learn more about breeding and performance recording and use. In brief, 41 ram hoggets from 22 different Suffolk studs were run together for 10 weeks at the Kiwitea property of Margaret Brown. The rams were scanned at the beginning and end of the trial and weighed monthly with the final weighing being held on 15^th February 2002.

17 of the rams were singles, 22 twins and 2 were triplets. The average age of the mothers was 3.6 years and the average hogget age at weaning was 14 weeks. To get more accurate results we need to further reduce the average weaning age range to approximately 12 weeks. It was very pleasing to see that the average eye muscle area had improved on the previous trial results so this suggests that we are making real progress in this area.

Results from the Trial: 1^st- H. Quinlivan - Bundanoon 55/01

2^nd - C. Hare- Lymington 119/01

3^rd- W. Bradley- Maunga 42/01

This year the top 8 ranked rams from this trial went onto a progeny trial at Mangatarata Station in the Hawkes Bay. See report below.

Eight top rams from the Ram Hogget Trial were selected for the 2002 progeny trial which commenced on 1^st March 2002. The purpose of the trial was to estimate the breeding value of saleable meat yield from the progeny of these sires. These rams are to be benchmarked against a Suffolk ram ranked 1^st in the Poukawa Elite Lamb Project. See the club’s website at www.suffolksheep.org.nz.

In brief, the trial has been run on the Waipukurau property of Don and Judy MacDonald . These people are highly respected farmers in their area, having been past winners of the Hawkes Bay Farmer of the Year. The MacDonald’s made 350, 5 year old ewes available for the trial and the ram hoggets were single sire mated with 50 ewes each. The ewes scanned 168%. The resulting lambs are to be slaughtered in two groups, singles have already been slaughtered and twins are to be slaughtered on 29 November through Richmond's and data on their growth/ yield will be recorded and analysed.

In accordance with the FFIT funding which the club obtained for this progeny trial, we are holding a progeny trial field day. The purpose of the afternoon is to share with club members and members of the public the purposes and results of the trial. To this end there will be guest speakers and the sires used and the twin lambs still to be slaughtered will be on display at the field day (Details below).

DATE: Tuesday 26^th November.

TIME: 2.30pm

VENUE: Mangatarata Station, 415 Mangatarata Road, Waipukurau - See map below

SPEAKERS: 1) Tim Harty - Richmond's Lamb Marketing Manager

                        2)  Roger Purchase- Massey University - Trial Results

At the conclusion of the field day all club members are invited to a Christmas Social to be held at David Tennent’s home.
To help with catering requirements we need to know whether you will be attending this social so please confirm your attendance by ringing David on 06 855-8154 or emailing him on d.s.tennent@xtra.co.nz by Wednesday 20 November.

One of the conditions of the progeny trial was that owners of the rams had to be prepared to allow club members use of the top ranked rams. Therefore, matings to the top 2 ranked rams will be offered to club members at the Sire Services Scheme to be held on one of the Ram Hogget Trial weigh-in days in February 2003 (Details to follow). The cost for the service will be $30 per straw or per ewe mated naturally. The owners of each of the 2 top ranked rams will decide which mating option they wish to offer and how many ewes they will allow to their ram.

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The annual ram hogget trial is to be held once again, on the Kiwitea property of Margaret Brown. The main purposes of the trial are to:

• provide a means for members to evaluate their own breeding programs;
• provide education on the importance of and experience with performance recording and use;
• establish a more detailed information base so that we can map the overall improvements in the trial results from year to year and use this information to promote the quality of sires produced by CSBC members; and
• provide an opportunity for newer members to meet with and learn from more experienced members.

As one of the purposes of the trial is to provide education on the importance and use of performance recording we are adding a new dimension to this year’s trial. This year we are asking those members who are using SIL recording to select their hoggets for the trial using their data. This will allow us to compare the performance of the rams which have been chosen on SIL performance with those that have been chosen using traditional methods of eye and/or some performance information. Details on this aspect will be supplied to participating members on the initial data sheets.

Trial Details

All members are invited to supply up to 2 ram hoggets to the trial, (new members are welcome to contact their local committee member if they would like help with selection of rams for the trial, see names below) which will operate from 24 November until approximately early March- final date to be confirmed. Once again we are starting the trial in November to get lambs coming straight from their mothers into the trial so that we are therefore measuring their optimum growth period. This year we are introducing a standardized birth date range (see condition 3 ) in an effort to produce more reliable results. You will also notice that the cost per entry has been increased by $10. This is to cover increases in computing and scanning costs.

1. 1 or 2 rams may be entered per breeder.
2. Entry fee is $50 +GST per sheep and must be paid at time of registration. This fee

   covers the cost of drench, dip, hay and grazing, scanning and computing.

3. All rams entering the trial must be born between - 10 August and 10 September

   2002

4. Any vet fees incurred during the trial will be a cost to the owner.
5. All sheep must be presented parasite and disease free, must be from registered flocks and have a current Brucellosis Free Accreditation certificate which must be presented with entry form.
6. Margaret and Richard Brown reserve the right to refuse entry to any rams they may have a specific concern with.
7. All possible care will be taken of the stock while they are in the trial but the Browns will bear no responsibility for problems that may arise during the trial.
8. Insurance of animals is the owner’s responsibility.
9. Animals may not be removed and then returned to the trial.
10. All animals are to be presented unshorn at the trial so that they can all be shorn on the same day.
11. There will be a 2 week stand down period after the rams arrive and before their first weigh in and scan.
12. All rams will receive a Maximiser bolus which are being supplied by Merial.

Members wishing to take part in the trial should fill out the attached entry form/contract and send it back immediately, as ram numbers in the trial are restricted to approximately 40 animals.

and learn more about the very important issue of performance recording, its use and the potential is has to improve your monetary return.

Committee Members - Please feel free to ask them for assistance/ advice.

Bruce Dempsey- 07 895-4571 (Owhango)            Barry Lampp- 06 322-8662 (Taihape)

As stated above, the club will again be running the Sire Services Scheme in conjunction with the Ram Hogget Trial. As usual the purpose of the sire services scheme is to offer all club members access to genetics that they would not normally have access to. In particular, the scheme provides an opportunity for newer members and small flock owners to use top, proven sires.

On the nominated day the sires will be brought together on the Brown’s property at Kiwitea so that members will have the opportunity to view the animals, to decide if they would like to mate some of their ewes to them. The owners of the sires nominate the number of ewes they are prepared to take and then members can book matings for up to 5 ewes per breeders to one sire.(Larger numbers than this can be negotiated with the individual ram owners) The owners of the rams nominate the cost per ewe mated to their ram and then an additional $5 is added. The $5 goes to the club as a means of raising funds for events such as this. This is a great opportunity for members to access new/out-cross genetics. More information will follow about this event in the new year but keep it in mind when you are thinking about your 2003 mating plan.

Club Internet Website

To all those members who have access to the Internet, this is a reminder that the club now has its own professional Website. Our website includes breed, breed promotion and Central Suffolk club details and also provides club members with a means to advertise your flock at the very low cost of $75+gst per year. For your $75, you can have your own farm/ ram sale details entered as well as having the site updated as many times as you like during the year.( A reminder for all those technophobics out there…you do not have to do this job yourself, you supply the information and the work is all done for you by our very able club member, Andy Sims!) Your $75 also allows the club to put advertisements in rural magazines directing potential clients/ stock agents to our website. If you would like to take advantage of this Club promotional initiative go to the site-

and you will find details there on how you can become a site sponsor and while there you can also browse through other club member’s promotional/ marketing entries, they make for really interesting reading.

Are we charging enough for our rams? Two farmers bought a Swaledale ram at auction for 101,000 pounds (NZ. 326,000) – nearly double the previous British record and about the same price as a Ferrari.

18 November- Entries for Ram hogget trial close

20 November- Replies to David Tennent for attendance at Christmas Social

24 November- Ram Hogget hoggets are delivered to the Brown Property Kiwitea

26 November- Progeny Trial Field Day and Christmas Social

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Please return this form by 18 November to:

Margaret Brown
2179 Kimbolton Road
RD 7
Feilding.

- Cheques are to be made out to : Central Suffolk Breeders’ Inc.

- Initial ram information forms will be sent out to participants soon after 18^th November.

 -Any enquiries about the trial and/or Sire Services Scheme should be made to
Margaret Brown - Ph. 06 3289 738

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