PETERS ROMNEYS & SHEEP STUD
Peters Genetics sheep stud and breeding operation strives to achieve increased survivability, fertility, growth rates, yield grading, and bright white wool across all stock. We have a variety of breeds to suit every farmer whether you're farming for meat, wool, breeding or a combination of all three.
Here, you can learn about our breeding programme, culling policy, and the breeds we have available. If you need any assistance deciding which stock is best for your business or most suitable to your climate, contact any of our key people who will happily discuss your needs and set you in the right direction. After all, your success is our success.
BREEDING STRATEGY
​Peters Genetics sheep are run in large mobs which helps accelerate the selection process for toughness and survivability.
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​Our successful breeding program stems from a strict culling policy.
STRICT CULLING ACROSS ALL BREEDS
Our culling starts at scanning and takes into consideration:
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Fertility. A stud ewe only gets one opportunity to have a single in her life.
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Weaning cut off weight. We weigh the first twenty animals to determine the average weaning weight, and won’t accept anything below the average regardless of its pedigree. A ram lamb at weaning is approx. 32.5-33kg. Stud ewes lambs are slightly below that.
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Eye muscle scan. An ultra-scan measures the amount of eye muscle meat and provides the width, depth of meat, and fat cover. We cull any animal with a low eye muscle scan.
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Pelt thickness test. The thicker the pelt the higher the survivability. We eliminate the thin-skinned animals. The higher the pelt the greater the chance of the lamb surviving harsh conditions which means better value for the farmer.
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LW8 (Live Weight 8) is our next measured target weight. Any animal below the target weight is culled.
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Actuals for the animal are taken into consideration for culling. Actuals include: the weaning weight, growth weight, breeding values, i.e. Parentage, background, whether or not it was reared as a twin or as one.
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Fleece weight after 6months growth. We cull to ensure fleece weights and quality.
PETERS ROMNEYS
At Peters Genetics, our sire rams are purchased from the Waiarapa Romney Improvement Group (WRIG), boasting the best Romney genetics available in New Zealand. The WRIG have been breeding Romneys for the past 40 years focusing on:
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Performance (both individual and whole flock)
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Structural Soundness
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Repeatable lambing performance
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Easy care animals
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Wool volume and quality
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Animal growth rates
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Carcase conformation, meat value and grading
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Internal parasite resilience
The Romney breed has become a popular choice for New Zealand farmers because of the intense selection scrutiny it has faced. They’ve been forced to evolve into an easy care, high yielding stock.
All sheep stock including lambs, are run in large mobs at a high stocking rate enduring harsh winters, and are culled at the sight of defects or weakness.
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The Otago and Southland environment is a rigorous testing ground for our sheep with hot dry summers and long, cold, wet winters.
Our large-scale operation applies a strict culling policy within the stud ewe flock as well as the rams. As a result, our clients are seeing great gains in fertility, lambing percentages, lamb survivability, and weight gain.
HOTSHOT TERMINALS
The Hotshot Terminals are a black faced breed which is a cross between the Suffolk and the Texel. They are what we term a stabilized flock, because we’ve bred them for more than twenty three years culling them heavily for their identifiable black face. The Hotshot Terminal is bred exclusively for meat and early maturity.
They are a popular stock for farmers because of their strong constitution. They’re exposed to hard winters, unreliable rainfall, and they’re driven reasonably hard when it comes to feeding. They’re not on crop.
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In spite of facing these harsh conditions, they perform well at processing – making them cost effective to run and high yielding.
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Hotshot Terminals are culled to guarantee high weaning weight, good growth weight and high eye muscle to maximise the return to the farmer.
Also, they undergo a visual cull in March, in the lead up to the Live Weight 8, we’re they’re assessed for feet defects, worm resistance, pale face, and constitution.
Ram hoggets are wintered on hill blocks of Italian rye grass rape mix. They don’t receive any supplement feed.
ROMNEY-MERINO CROSS
The Romney Texel is a high yielding sheep for meat. They’re treated and processed the same as the other breeds. However, the Romney Texel ewes are normally run on our Middlemarch property, which has a dry climate during the summer months.
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We cull heavily to eliminate foot defects from these rams in order to meet client expectations. They’re reared naturally, are not pampered, and any signs of limping, they’re culled.
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Like the other breeds, we also cull based on weaning weights, LW8, fleece weight, and eye muscle scans.
ROMNEY TEXELS
Peters Genetics are also offering a Romney-Merino cross from a satellite operation they’ve established at Mount Brown, Wanaka, under management of Stacey Anderson.
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All half-bred ram hoggets have been side sampled at shearing and are producing pleasing wool results averaging 23.5 micron.
WOOL TYPES
Our sheep’s wool is graded: strong, medium or fine. Our rams are sorted prior to selling and we cull to maximise fleece weights and eliminate matted fleece. We strive to achieve the brightest white wool possible. However, it is worth noting that wool colour is largely affected by climate. For example, a farm operating in a high rainfall area will not want a sheep with fine wool because the wool will retain water, could turn mushy and that will ultimately cause some discolouration.
RAM SALES
​Prior to sale, we go through each animal’s papers ensuring the rams are accurately matched to the appropriate category and sales price. We’re only selling the top 20% of the flock so when you buy from Peters Genetics, you know you’re getting our best.