Page 41 - NZ Herefords Magazine 2018

SHEEP SUPPORT CATTLE

Complementing the cattle is a mob of 700 mixed-age
Romney ewes, which are run with a Southdown sire and all
progeny is finished.
Robin says the cross-bred progeny finish well and flock
replacements have been bought in from the past three years
from the same farmer in Aria.
The Romney ewes lamb on average 150%, and he admits
they are the ‘poor cousins’ to the cattle classes in the business.
Drafting of the lambs begins in November, with the last of
the lambs sold in February at an average of 17.5kgCW.
The small Southdown registered stud of 50 ewes means
they breed enough quality rams to use over their own Romney ABOVE: Commercial Romney ewes coming down off the hills near
Inglewood in Taranaki.
flock and sell about 20 rams to clients in the lower North Island.
Robin likes the Southdowns because they are early maturing, BELOW, TOP TO BOTTOM: The awards collected by Robin and
have good growth rates and they “weigh like lead”. Jacqueline Blackwell on display on the office wall; After taking out all
three places in the Hereford class at the 2017 Steak of Origin, Robin
The Southdown ewes run with the commercial Romneys, and Jacqueline Blackwell were awarded the Carcase Challenge
except for at mating and lambing. Cup, which acknowledges their performance with the highest placed
Hereford carcase in the competition.

INDUSTRY ACCOLADES They have started attending NZ Hereford Association herd

The Blackwells have been recognised by their peers and tours and have found that networking invaluable.
industry leaders for how they farm. They recently hosted a visit during the Taranaki herd tour and
A big win, and the first time it’s ever occurred, was taking Jacqueline says people were intrigued by their beef operation in
out all three places in the Hereford class in the annual Steak of the middle of dairy country.
Origin (SOO) competition in 2017.
Jacqueline recalls feeling shocked and overwhelmed at
the time.
“When they were reading out the category award and they
said it was the first time in history someone had taken out all three
places, I then realised it was me. I was in shock,” she recalls.
It’s the scientific side of farming and competitions like the
Steak of Origin that appeal to the Blackwells.
The couple say it’s a matter of putting themselves out there
and it’s good benchmarking for their breeding programme.
“It’s really good to have a breed class now and benchmark
[directly] against the breed,” Jacqueline says.
She had entered the SOO previously, but hadn’t had much
success, however Robin had had more luck with Angus entries.
The clean sweep at SOO last year is not the only accolade
of note the Blackwells have received.
They were early adopters of the Taranaki Regional Council’s
farm plan, which means they have been fencing off waterways
since 1991 and 90% of the main farm waterways have been fenced
off. They have also planted more than 10,000 trees and there are
two fenced 1.5ha blocks of QEII covenants on the property.
In 2014 they entered the inaugural Ballance Farm
Environment Awards in Taranaki and were placed second
overall – winning four of the eight awards on offer that year.
The couple say they got good feedback from the judges
which was very constructive, and the atmosphere very positive.
The categories they won awards for were; The Beef
and Lamb NZ Livestock Award, Taranaki Regional Council
Sustainability Award, Donaghys Farm Stewardship Award, and
the Hill Laboratories Harvest Award.
They have also won the Taranaki Meat and Fibre Farmer of
the Year, Taranaki Regional Council Environmental Award.
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