By Judy Barnet, Ag Columnist
Welcome to December.
Ready or not, Christmas is sneaking up on us very quickly! Tomorrow I fly over to New Zealand for a week to catch up with two of my sisters, as well as an uncle (Mum’s brother) and aunt.
The reason for my trip is solely to visit family – we are all getting older and family is what life is all about so I am looking forward to all things Kiwi.
Now, if I was not visiting family I would eat nothing but fish and chips for the week, well, lunch and dinner at least. This would include whitebait, paua,
lobster and crab.
It is hard to beat NZ seafood. I will have to drop a few hints to my sister.
I also expect to see lamb roast on the menu as my sister Paula and her husband Neil purchased a ram from Rosemarkie Shropshire Stud not far from them.
I wrote about my last visit there four years ago. I will have to check my records– surely I haven’t been writing this column for four years!
For the first time ever I am going to travel light. I haven’t packed yet but I am going over with a backpack only, no check in luggage.
Coming back home may a different matter though, as I guarantee I will have to buy a suitcase to carry various items.
I am bound to browse the odd bookstore and antique shop and will find something I just can’t live without. I will definitely be bringing home some chocolate fish and buzz bars and maybe even some whitebait.
The Merino ewes have been busy popping out lambs. These lambs will be first crosses by the Southdown ram and I am looking forward to watching them grow.
It will be interesting to see how long it will take to finish the lambing.
Having late lambs in this case is a bonus for the cottage guests booked to stay through the school holidays.
On Wednesday Dear Richie and I took a trip to Warwick. We planned to leave home at 5am, have our business in Warwick finished by nine, and hopefully be at work before lunch.
Well, like a lot of plans it just didn’t work out.
Calling in for a “quick look” at the pig and calf sale, I spotted the most beautiful two-seat outdoor table and chairs I thought would be perfect to put outside Kermit the Bus.
The table was wrought iron with legs shaped as seahorses. I said to Richie that as we have driven all this way we may as well check out the calves and the pigs.
Dear Richie was not thrilled at the thought of spending the day in Warwick as he had so much to do at home, but by this time it was too late to make the
three hour drive to head into work.
However, he would do anything to keep the peace so we spent a leisurely day at the pig and calf sale, later moving on to the sheep sale.
Well, it keeps me in touch with market trends which is not a bad thing! And the table for two?
It sold for more than what a good porker was fetching and, anyway, my bank account is flat out keeping up with bills at the moment!
Calving Update
Vicky’s calf is doing well and growing nicely. I am still undecided on a name, tossing up between Snow White or Alice. Snow White is self explanatory.
Alice was the beautiful young English WWOOFer who came to stay with us during the drought.
Alice filled me with hope and positivity and if that didn’t work, well, we just drank wine!
Delilah looks as though she may calve any day and Tess also seems to be getting closer every day!
The Ile de France sheep I thought I knew about every breed of sheep in Australia, however, a recent post on the Rare Breed Trust’s Facebook page proved me wrong.
Ile de France Australia was established by Ian McDougall and Trevor Troeth in 2007 at Belmore in Heywood, Victoria.
Although most breeders are in Western Australia, it appears to be a breed that would thrive anywhere in the country. I made a call to Brendan Lamont, an enthusiastic breeder based in WA.
Brendan was introduced to the breed when he attended the WA College of Agriculture in Narrogin from 2016 to 2018. The college had a Suffolk stud and, with other students, Brendan used to help to prepare the sheep for show as well as handling them at country shows around Western Australia.
Teacher Colin Batt brought some of his own sheep, as well as those from the school, down to the Albany Show in 2016. Colin’s sheep were Ile de France.
Brendan said, “I was just amazed how stocky they were and how much meat coverage they had on them. The Albany show was the last show of the year and all the sheep had a little bit of wool on them by this time.
Checking the wool on the Ile de France, I discovered there was fine tiny little crimp formation on the soft white wool.”
These sheep made a huge impression on Brendan and as he was finishing college he talked to Colin's brother, Ray, who was the cattle teacher at the college and also the president of the Ile de France Association.
Colin generously gave him two mated ewes to start with and Brendan registered as a new stud for the breed.
Today Brendan now has thirty ewes and is looking to grow his stud into the future.
The photo with the little twin lambs was taken on the 30th of may, and the other photo of the twin lambs a bit bigger was 14th of August.
Information about the breed 1832 Professor Auguste Yvard crossed a Dishley Leicester ram with some Rambouillet ewes. His aim was to have a sheep that would mature very quickly, with good meat coverage over the carcass and to be able to survive tough conditions (this came from the Dishley Leicester) while having and nice soft, fine wool fleece (Rambouillet were bred from Spanish Merinos). 1840 Mauchamp Merinos were introduced to further improve the wool quality 1875 the breed became known as a Dishley Merino and they were allowed to be shown at agricultural shows in France.
1920 a breed of sheep called the Cotentin was then introduced which improved growth rates of lambs, carcass coverage and yields.
The Cotentin were extremely hardy sheep as they originally come from ocean marsh country, with very low quality feed and water.
1922 the breed is recognised as Ile de France
1933 breeders start to measure and do performance testing on their sheep herds.
They were mainly looking at birth weight and size, growth rates, and carcass development and yield.
1960 breeders concentrate on reproductive traits like twinning, all year breeding cycles and early maturing
The Ile de France is a breed of sheep that is extremely hardy and has an excellent feed conversion rate to be able to survive out in desert conditions.
It has unique carcass qualities and excellent growth rates.
The Ile de France can have carcass yields well over 50 per cent with good quantity fat and marbling throughout.
Having great mothering abilities from a young age, ewes produce vigorous, fast growing lambs and feed their lambs with plenty of milk (recognised as a dairy breed in the US).
By nature, Ile de France have a very small birth weight and size, eliminating any birthing problems.
Lambs grow quickly and mature early.
The breed is also known for all year breeding.
Ile de France also produce a soft white fleece of wool which is unlike typical Downs type wool.
