October - November 2009

Spring Lambs, August 2009

Spring marches on, and what a fantastic spring it has turned out to be. Mild weather through August has resulted in the largest docking percentages we have ever achieved. The twining ewes docked 173%, up from 135% last year. This has created some feed challenges which resulted in further de-stocking to accommodate the extra lambs.

On the down side our later lambing hoggets have had to contend with some horrible weather through September and early October, they still have 3 weeks to go before they finish lambing so how much damage is being done will not be known till then. Still it could be worse we could be farming on the Napier Taupo highway, currently closed due to record snowfalls. Will global warming never stop?

The cows started calving on the 25th of September and will continue for another 6 weeks, to date things are going well with no losses in the cows, touch wood. It must be the best time of year on the farm, there is nothing I love more than seeing all the new calves playing around in the lush spring grass.

Our grass covers are at a record high for this time of year, hopefully resulting in some fantastic live weight gains. Grass covers are probably averaging about 1700 kg dry matter/hectare over the whole farm, this as compared to last year where covers were below 1500 kg dry matter/ha. The biggest success we have had has to be on the new techno block where bulls have been run at 4 to the hectare and have had great grass to go into throughout the winter and spring.

Plans for the coming month include finishing the docking and starting to spray the gorse. This winter we planted over 2000 trees, so some time will also be spent continuing fencing off our waterways and river planning for our planting next winter.

We do have some tough decisions to make before Christmas. The rapid appreciation in the New Zealand $ is causing a serious head ache. Bull values are down over $400.00 on last year, and lamb values are for-cast to be down $17.00 a head as well, if the dollar stays where it is. If this is correct it will spell the end of the breeding ewes on the farm. This will be the third year out of four that they have failed to make significant returns to the farm. As an indicator it was shown that it cost the lamb breeder $54.00 per lamb to carry a ewe for 12 months, this season will be the third out of four where store lambs will be sold for less than that value.

Of equal importance my third child, Finn, will be 9 months old on the 21st October. He is just starting to crawl, after a long winter inside we are all looking forward to family outings to Paihia and some successful fishing results. Henry will be 6 on October 19th, will he want to stay 6 for ever and ever?

Roger Ludbrook.

Luxury Lodge Bed and Breakfast Accommodation - Bay of Islands New Zealand
Ludbrook House Exclusive Accommodation

7491 State Highway One, Ohaeawai, Bay of Islands NZ 0211

Telephone 00649 4059 846 - Fax 00649 4059 845 - E-mail info@ludbrook.co.nz

copyright © Ludbrook House: All rights reserved.