​To all my clients and the wider community of sheep breeders.
 
Introduction
The year 2020 will go down in history as very eventful for many unfortunate events.  These events, including climate change may well be the new normal.  For me personally, 2020 has also been very eventful and at times, traumatic.  Details to follow.
 
Changes at Kikitangeo
I am stepping back from the management of the Kikitangeo Farm.  My three daughters will take over the overall management of the farm, part of which has been in the family for 146 years.  The Romney Stud was founded 98 years ago.
 
Sale of the Stud
It was hoped that the stud would continue under a stud manager whom I had trained for two and a half years.  Unfortunately, Connor resigned in April and we were unable to find a replacement, so in the interests of my health, it has been decided to sell the stud.  Initially, this was very disappointing, but now I am quite comfortable with the decision.  The 2020 Annual Ram Sale will continue, provided we are at the appropriate Covid levels.
 
We plan to sell all sound ewes from between 2016 and 2018 at a dispersal sale on 24 February 2021.  We haven’t yet decided if we will also sell the ewes born 2015.  We will retain the old ewes to maintain a remnant of the stud to breed our own rams.  We may retain a small number of 2th ewes – not more than 30 - so there could be between 350-400 ewes for sale.  It is also planned to sell this year’s ewe lambs at a later date.
 
The season at Kikitangeo
The spring was dry last year and in November, we were facing a very serious drought.  Fortunately, we had useful rains in December, but from January on, it was very dry with only 34mls being recorded over the Jan-March period.  Only 58mls fell in April.  The spring crops failed.  However, there were several positive aspects that I have never seen before.  Normally, we have a major fly problem starting late September, through to the end of April.  Sometimes, we spray the sheep twice.  Invariably we lose the odd sheep, because they find a place to hide.  The last season was unbelievable for the absence of all flies, including the annoying house flies.  We only saw two cases of slight fly strike.  The second positive was stock health.  Stock health was the best I have seen in my farming experience.  There was virtually no pneumonia and the lambs, in spite of rubbish grass and a minimum of drought stricken crops, were remarkably healthy.  Normally lambs are coughing over the whole autumn – early winter period and sometimes into spring.  This whole season there was minimal coughing.  The net result is that all lambs have been in the best health they have been for many decades.
 
A kind offer
I was very moved to receive a phone call from a fellow ram breeder, Eric Laurenson from Fairlie (who has bought sires over recent years), offering grazing for my ram lambs since he had heard that we were in a drought situation.  Eric indicated there would be no charge for grazing.  Serious consideration was given to this offer.  I also knew other Romney breeders I have known for many decades would help out.  Eventually, I decided not to take up this offer, which would have cost $20,000 in transport, mainly because the lambs were healthy under the drought conditions.  Eric’s generous offer demonstrated a fine spirit of comradeship.
 
Progress in breeding for worm resistance
This programme is growing at an ever increasing pace.  The measure for worm resistance in the SIL programme known as DPF, is a combination of several measurements.  In layman’s term, on the DPF measurement 0.00 is an average figure.  A minus figure would indicate an animal is worse than average for worm resistance, and an above average would have a positive number.  The 2017 born rams had an average DPF of 558, with 21 over 800, and 3 over 900.  Two years later, this year’s sale rams have an average DPF of 716 with 180 over 800, 70 over 900, and 17 over 1000.  One young sire with 28 sons, had 16 of 1000 plus.  This rate of improvement would be considered impressive by any measure.
 
Negative theories
Over many years, a theory has been constantly advanced by responsible advisors in the sheep world that breeding for worm resistance would have a negative impact on productive traits, especially growth.  Especially this has been the case with Beef & Lamb sponsored Wormwise presentations that have been conducted country wide.  This theory is that “breeding for worm resistance would involve the immune system which would require energy, and this energy would be diverted away from productive traits – especially growth”.  I have called this a theory because to become a fact, trials would need to be conducted with sheep with a high degree of resistance to worm challenges.  Such sheep haven’t been available for trial work.  Unfortunately this theory has, over many years, been advanced as a fact, and it is now generally accepted as a fact.  After 34 years of collecting and analyzing faecal worm egg counts from around 25,000 dung samples, I have not noted any negative effects, in fact I believe the opposite to be the case, as growth figures on my SIL reports have been positive.  An independent person will assess the data to see if my assessment is correct.
 
This year’s lambing
The number of multiple births was significantly lower this year, not I believe due to the drought (because the ewes were in better than average condition), but because of the presence in the pasture of the toxin Zearaleone, which suppresses ovulation rates.  This toxin is produced by fungi, Fusarium, and possibly other fungi.  The effects of this toxin results in fewer multiple births, especially in young ewes, and I believe that early in the season when toxin levels are high, some of these young ewes will fail to ovulate altogether.
 
The net result is a lot of late lambs, when the toxin decreases and the younger ewes start ovulation.  All fungi are present in dominant ryegrass pasture and not present in crops and clover.  We had a dream run at lambing with fine weather and few lamb deaths.  At docking, I have never seen the ewes in such good condition.  All the lambs are doing extremely well and the usual large number of very average lambs is virtually non-existent this year.  I can’t explain why this is so.
 
This year’s sale rams
 I am extremely pleased with the sale rams this year.  Currently, there are about 200 rams in the sale mob, out of a total of 450, and these will have to be reduced to a number that we think will sell.  It always feels like a waste of good genetics to think that a lot of good sheep will have to go to the works.
 
Finally, I wish you all good health and a prosperous season.

​Greetings to you all
 
What a difference a year can make.  With the ups and downs – mostly downs – of sheep meat prices over the past 50 years it now appears that both mutton and lamb have settled down on a higher plane.  I am particularly surprised to see the old ewe prices at a high level where even the dog tuckers are making near to $100.  It would seem that with declining sheep numbers worldwide, lamb has become a ‘top of the market’ product unaffected by base meat products like poultry and pork. 
This season at Kikitangeo has been basically good with unfortunately a very wet late winter period.  Virtually no lamb losses due to the weather.
 
Once again we have struggled with our ram lambs over the late summer-autumn period.  There were around 3% losses mainly due to pneumonia and other fungal problems which are associated with the warm humid conditions.  Pneumonia often referred to as the viral pneumonia by farmers, although no longer the problem of the past, is still present as is evidenced by the high percentage of pleurisy cases found when lambs are killed at the works.  (Pneumonia causes abscesses in the lungs and when these abscesses are adjacent to the ribs they cause the lungs to be fused to the rib cage which is then diagnosed as pleurisy).  I believe that the fact that pneumonia is less severe over recent years is because sheep are developing a degree of immunity to the disease.  We only select sires that show no signs of the disease over the critical period.  I am also wondering if the stronger immune system that we are developing in our sheep to combat worm challenges is also having a desirable impact.
 
Because we have always applied pressure to our ewes over lambing in addition to the negative environment – the lambs wean lighter than on most stud properties, but this is not genetic.  Also because of Autumn ‘ill thrift’ on my property my winter live weights are also much lighter than on virtually all other ram breeding operations.  These light weights are again not genetic but environmental.  Under these circumstances I believe the growth figures produced by SIL are compromised.  If ram lambs reach 40kg by mid June they will generally grow out to be of acceptable size and weight by sale time.  I feel that this environmental pressure plus the pressure of minimal or no drenching is overall resulting in a strain of sheep which have stronger constitutions, able to thrive in any environment.
 
Worm FEC Group
In June of last year a number of ram breeders breeding for worm resistance decided to form a group to promote the breeding for worm resistance, and trade mark themselves as genuine people breeding sheep for this trait working with scientists using approved protocols.  Those breeders who meet criteria set by the committee and scientists will be known as Worm FEC gold members, similar to the FE Gold standard for the top breeders for facial eczema.  Unlike the high standard set for FE Gold, the standard for Worm FEC Gold has been set fairly low to enable enough breeders to join, to ensure the group is financially viable.  I have no doubt that this standard will rise rapidly as fears of drench resistance increases, and farmers become more aware of the genetic option.
 
Johne’s Disease
This disease is now widespread throughout New Zealand, in both cattle and sheep.  To ensure that rams do not die prematurely, we have vaccinated all lambs at weaning last year  It is a costly vaccine and may not be economic for commercial use.
 
FE Testing
This year 28 rams have been tested between .50 and .60mg kg, most of which will be for sale.  The cost of this is around $7,000.
 
Progress at Kikitangeo for the worm resistance trait
After 31 years of selecting for worm resistance the rate of progress seems to be accelerating at an ever increasing rate.  Our policy on drenching is initially only drenching the bottom 10% of ram lambs in mid January to give them every opportunity to grow.  The rest of the ram lambs are sampled around mid January, and when the results are available (normally about 3 weeks later) those lambs with the highest counts – over 7000 – are drenched along with other lambs that are not thriving through other causes.  This process is followed throughout the summer-autumn period. The DPF figures provided by SIL (Sheep Improvement Ltd) gives an overall rating for worm resistance, with 0 being the New Zealand average with a minus figure indicating sheep that are more susceptible to worms and a plus figure being resistant.  Thus a sheep with +200 would have a moderate degree of resistance whereas -200 would indicate a fairly susceptible animal.  It took me 24 years to reach an average DPF of 310 with only 12% exceeding 500.  In the past six years (2017) the average has reached over 600 with 10% exceeding 750.  This year 3 rams have exceeded 900 with top ram hitting 983.  The average figure has been reduced because three outside sires were used that had little worm resistance.  I believe that sheep reaching a DPF of 600 would be totally resistant to worms in areas of New Zealand where the barbers pole worm is not the dominant worm species.  Probably a DPF of 800 may be required to give total immunity to the most severe barbers pole worm challenge.  Having reached the DPF mark of 900, I see no reason why we cannot breed sheep that average that mark.  All of this has been like sailing a ship in unchartered waters, as the outcomes have been unknown.  
 
This year’s rams
In spite of the worm challenge being high this year with regular rain and humid conditions the rams have done better that usual, with the winter weights being up several kilos.  At this stage the rams are growing at a rapid rate and carrying more condition.  (Often rams at sale time are only in forward store condition).  Because they have been better this year, we have more to select from and currently there are around 190 up to sale standard.  However they have yet to be passed by a vet and have their feet rated, with some being culled for foot structure.  I also like to have a back up of rams in case some of my regular buyers miss out.  (There is always the risk with an auction of a big operator arriving unexpectedly and buying a large number of rams).  At this stage there appears to be more interest in Kikitangeo rams so extra rams; 15-20 will be offered.
 
Kikitangeo staff
My eldest daughter and son-in-law have just returned from 13 months overseas and Greg Ward will continue to work part time on the property.  I have taken on a new lad, Connor Edwards, who last year graduated after 4 years from Lincoln.  He has assisted me over the past year with the stud side of the operation.  Fortunately he has the makings of a top stockman where he has a natural ability and combined with his academic abilities and contacts with scientists should prove to be a great asset for the stud operation.  Todd Johnson also a valued member of the team has now been with me for a number of years will carry on assisting with management and helping in the stud when required.
 
Wishing you all the best for the coming season.
 
 
Gordon Levet
October 2018

​Greetings to all
 
Season
It has been a most unusual season in my area 80km north of Auckland City – but regrettably within the city’s boundary (this has been a source of much anguish as we see our rates siphoned off to central city projects while there are still 700km unsealed roads and these lack basic maintenance).  We had a normal summer until March when we had 324mls of rainfall which was followed by a very wet April with 375mls.  This amounts to half our average annual rainfall.  As a result, there was excellent growing conditions and an abundance of grass.  This in turn ensured the sheep in particular were not grazing at ground level, which in the north, harbours a range of fungi, many of which product health threatening toxins.  Facial Eczema was at low levels, with no clinical animals.  Pneumonia – commonly known as viral pneumonia – may have been present but there were no very sick lambs and no deaths.  This contrasts greatly with 2007 when we lost 8% of our ram lambs with an equal number of ‘walking skeletons’, and the whole mob struggled to gain weight between weaning and winter weighing (15 June 2017).  Five years ago, 10% of ram lambs weighted lighter in June than when they were weighed at weaning in December.  The average weight gain for that year from weaning to winter weighing was abysmal.  This problem has nothing to do with the genetics, but has everything to do with the lambs consuming a cocktail of toxins which thrive in moist humid conditions.  These include the toxin Zearalenone, produced by a fungi known as Fusarium, which has been found by Ruakura Research to reduce lambing percentages by 20% by supressing ovulation rates.  I believe that this toxin can prevent ewes ovulating altogether and perhaps having very late lambs once the toxin decreases later in the tupping cycles.  There are a few more ewes scanning multiples this year.  I will be interested to see if the multiple rates vary between ewe mating mobs which is a sure indication of the presence of this toxin.  Last year, there was a threefold difference in the rate of multiples between the top and bottom mating mobs.  Forty years ago Ruakura found that there was a very significant difference in the presence of Zearalenone between paddocks (the fungi that produces Zearalenone is present throughout New Zealand, but is more evident where warm humid conditions prevail.  Obviously this poison impacts on the SIL computer generated figures and some sheep will be favoured or disadvantaged depending upon the level of toxins consumed in different paddocks.
 
Dam Performance
I have just spent $1100 to obtain an update of the SIL computer generated performance figures relating to all my ewes.  I did this because I decided to reduce the number of ewes from about 920 to about 750, so will drop the ewes with the lower figures.  These figures are very comprehensive and because of my tagging system, all ewes fall into sire groups, so it is most interesting to see how the daughters of various sires are performing.  700 or so ewes will be sufficient to make good genetic progress and will produce sufficient ram lambs to give clients a good selection to pick from.  In the north, there are so few sheep the demand for rams is very limited.  There is little sense in producing good rams that finish up in the dog tucker paddock.
 
Ram Breeder Forum
Over the past four years, Beef and Lamb Genetics has organised ram breeder forums.  This year I attended my third forum Napier in late June.  It was a good opportunity to meet up with other breeders and scientists.  The whole focus of the conference was on performance and subjects like structural soundness, physical and wool qualities were never mentioned.  However, in the open forums there was considerable emphasis on the importance of breeding for disease resistance including parasite resistance.  I left with the feeling that the gulf between the academics that are directing performance programmes and the average ram breeder is considerable, and causes me some concern.
 
Worm FEC Group formed
You may have noticed that I called a meeting of ram breeders who are breeding for worm resistance using scientifically approved protocols.  There have been an average of just over 30 breeders breeding for the worm resistant trait over the past 27 years.  Romney, Perendale, Coopworth and Composites are the main breeds involved.  However, most breeders have not stuck with it and very few have been breeding for this trait for more than 20 years.  It is hoped the new group will combine their resources to promote the concept of enhancing the immune system to control worm challenges.
 
Worm Resistance Progress
Following last year’s success of having 88% of sale rams that had never been drenched, three faecal egg counts were taken last year and only those with very high counts were drenched.  This year there were two faecal egg counts taken.  They were never drenched before the first count taken around 20th January where the average was 4,129 with the highest count reaching 22,225 eggs per gram.  Only a handful of lambs with the highest counts were drenched, with the remainder being sampled on 27th February.  Because there was a considerable delay in receiving the worm count results I decided to drench all lambs on the 19th March – their first drench.  This decision was made as the conditions were most favourable for an explosion of worm numbers because of regular warm rains.  The day after drenching, the results arrived and showed a significant drop in faecal egg counts to an average of 1,154.  So in fact the lambs did not require drenching with their own immune systems bringing the challenge under control.  On analysing these figures, 85% of lambs had significant reductions in FEC from the first count.  5% remained about the same, with only 10% having increases from the first to second count.  The biggest decrease was from 10,780 to 840.  Basically, after 30 years of selecting the best for this trait, the battle has been virtually won.  All that remains is to consolidate the gains to a point where the vast majority of lambs are protected by the immune system from even the most severe of worm challenges.  In the last SIL ranking of sires for worm resistance, where the top 100 sires from all ram breeders involved in the Worm FEC programme were ranked, Kikitangeo had 5 of the top 6 and 12 of the top 16.
 
This year’s rams
For the first time in 6 years, we do not have a sire dominating the rams for sale.  6 years ago, KIKI G323-09 was dominant and over the past 2 years KIKI K815-12 has been a most prominent sire.  K815-12 has also bred top daughters which, at this stage, are showing top figures.  So this year, we have new sires, all by G323-09 and K815-12 plus several top sires from John Reeves and Keith Abbott.
 
At weaning time, I was disappointed with the weights and put this down to the fact that the majority of ewes were run on our mountain country, where the grass was less than desirable and the prevalence of cattle ticks on both ewes and lambs didn’t help.  Since weaning they have stayed healthy and grown better than for many years in spite of minimal drenching.  Plenty of grass with a minimum of hot humid days over the February/March period helped.
 
At winter weighing they averaged 4.6kg better than the previous year.  I like to have the lambs 40kg or better by June to look the part by sale time.  Last year we had about 120 in this category but this year there are about 320.  This year, they look healthier with no coughing and are carrying more condition, so after shearing, I expect them to grow out well.  All this means is that there should be many more to select the same rams from, with an overall higher standard.  Sadly, with ewe numbers continuing to fall, I fear that many good worm resistant and FE tolerant rams may not find a home.  With a very wet winter, the wool on the thighs and bellies has rotted off at about half staple.
 
All this wet weather has given the feet a strong challenge.  There has only been the odd lamb with a limp but we have had several cases of foot abscesses.  These foot abscesses respond well to a shot of antibiotic.
 
Drenching Practices
I would urge all my clients to limit their drenching programmes.  For those farming where the Barbers Pole worm is not a problem, I believe that for the first generation lambs by my sires would perhaps only require one drench.  With second generation lambs I believe drenching could be dispensed with.  However, where the Barbers Pole worm is present, I would advise more caution.  With passing generations, the drenching programme should be reduced and perhaps only drenching those lambs that obviously show signs of parasitism.
 
Rural Delivery TV Visit
We had a visit by this team in late June.  It rained the whole time, so I do not know how it will turn out.  I do not know when this will be on screen.  Rural Delivery is screened on TV1 at 7.00am on Saturday mornings.
 
Trish and I wish you all the best for lambing and the coming season.
 
Gordon Levet
August 2017

​Greetings to all
 
THE SHEEP INDUSTRY
After better prices about 3 years ago and a lot of positive rhetoric from the meat processors, particularly with our future in the Chinese marketplace, recent returns have been disappointing – some would say disastrous.  The whole situation is exacerbated by the high dollar, ever increasing compliance costs and in some cases, disastrous losses from FE.  As farmers, we are ever hopeful that things will improve even though these hopes seem to defy reality.  Nevertheless, when we compare our country with other regions of the world, we still have a lot to be thankful for.
 
The season in the North, the summer, autumn and winter have been amongst the best for farming for many years.  FE has not been a problem, not because the FE spores were not present, but because with an abundance of grass, stock were grazing above where the spores were present (most spores are found only a few millimetres above the ground level with few above 50mm or 1 inch).  I only saw a couple of Suffolks with clinical signs.
 
As a consequence of a favourable summer, the ewes went to the ram in better condition than normal (in most seasons the ewes are only in store condition at tupping).  In addition, we grazed our two and four tooths on alternate pasture species – chicory and plantain – to try to reduce the impact of Zearalenone on ovulation rates.
 
This year, 14 sires were used in 14 different paddocks.  Four outside sires were used, two each from Keith Abbott and John Reeves.  Two of these were ‘link’ sires used in our three flocks.  In using these outside sires, I am taking a backward step for worm resistance, but gaining FE tolerance.  The two rams purchased from Keith and John are both by one of my sires, so the loss of worm resistance is not great.  I also used three ram lambs, each receiving around 60 ewes.  In total just over 900 stud ewes were mated.
 
The lambing has been mainly trouble free with around 0.5% of bearings.  Although the number of multiples was significantly higher this year, there was a very significant variation between sires.  This variation indicates different levels of Zearalenone in different mating paddocks. Although a final lambing percentage is not available at this stage, I am generally satisfied as my ewes are never mated in top condition, are never drenched, and subjected to Zearalenone.
 
Over the past several years, I have been fortunate enough to have used two top sires.  It has been my experience over a lifetime of breeding with a flock size of 700 – 900 ewes, that 2 or 3 outstanding sires will emerge each decade – as judged by the performance of their daughters and physical attributes – to be exceptional sires that have a considerable impact on the whole flock.  In most cases, these sires leave either outstanding sons or daughters.  Occasionally they will produce both.  Over recent sires my most outstanding sire has been G323-09 (the K strain).  He not only had by far the highest percentage of sons sold of any sire every year, but also had the top sons in the sale  He also left top daughters that are now having a big impact on the whole flock.  His son, K815-13, is also an outstanding sire but more especially as a producer of top sons.  His first crop of daughters are producing a high percentage of twins, have great udders and are very good mothers (his progeny have a G on their tag and are known as the G strain).  On the performance side, K815-13 has a high ranking in most areas.  Since 1986, all sires are ranked in production and disease traits, a total of 186 sires.  So K815-13 is ranked 4th for the overall index, 18th for growth, 4th for FE and 2nd for worm resistance.  This ranking is out of 186 sires.  His wool weight is about average, but is of top quality.  The feet of the sons of K815-13 and his sire, G323-09 are exceptional.  The impact of these two sires on my flock will be very significant.  In this year’s mating the sons of G323-09 and K815-13 dominated with a total of 8.
 
On this day of penning this newsletter, I received the performance records of this year’s 2015 rams.  The sons of K815-13 are outstanding.  He had 99 sons out of a total of 487.  On the overall index, which covers all production, survival and disease traits (worm resistance and FE), this sire had the top 12 ranking and 16 of the top 20.  On the worm resistance ranking, he had the top 4 placings and 11 of the top 20.  On growth, he was not quite as dominant, but was still above average with 7 sons in the top 20.  Worm resistance is measured as a minus, so rams with the biggest minus are the most resistant.  Over the past few years, we have had a few rams – fewer than 10 – reaching better than -60.00.  This year, for the first time, we achieved -70.00 with 11 rams being over this mark.  The top ranked ram reached -74.65.  It would seem that worm resistance in this flock is now increasing fairly rapidly.
 
THIS YEAR'S RAMS
In spite of weaning weights being disappointing – many ewes running on our mountain, low fertility country, they have not suffered from ill thrift over the autumn months.  The effects of pneumonia have been minimal, a far cry from the problems this disease posed in yesteryear.  We believe our flock is now relatively resistant to pneumonia, probably a result of natural selection and the worm resistance programme I am involved in (the immune system is involved in both these health problems).  As a result of the healthy autumn, many more rams suitable for sale will be available for sale selection, resulting in an overall higher standard.
 
NEVER DRENCHED
For the first time, I will be offering for sale rams that have never in their lifetime been drenched.  At this stage there could be upward of 80% of rams that fall into the “never drenched” category.  All this information, including actual faecal egg counts will feature in this year’s catalogue.
 
This has been achieved in 30 years of intensive breeding for this resistance trait.  Over that period, I estimate that 30,000 dung samples have been taken at an actual cost in today’s value of around $200,000.  This cost does not include my time, which at $20 an hour would be in the vicinity of a further $30,000.  Nevertheless, it has been worth it, as it has been a great learning experience, and the success achieved is icing on the cake. 
 
Back to this year’s rams.  I fully expect that the wool quality will be exceptional and with more to choose from the foot ranking will go up a notch.
 
SALE RAMS
This year’s Ram Sale will be held on Wednesday, 7 December.  There will be approximately 120 rams catalogued.  However, there will be a further approximately 30 rams available for sale after the auction at prices similar to the auction rates.  Some of these rams will have excellent figures.
 
Over the years, because I am isolated from the primary sheep breeding areas, a number of very good rams, which would be of a much higher standard than many farmers use finish up in the killer paddock.  If any farmer or agent introduces a new client to my sale, there will be an extra commission available.
 
OTHER ISSUES
 
Auckland City – currently the Local Bodies Commission is holding a series of meeting to listen to the opinions of people in my area with regard to Northern Rodney leaving the “Super City”.  After 6 years of Auckland governance, it would appear that even more people support the ‘leave’ movement.  However, the odds of that happening is not great, as we are up against a city that needs our rates for Auckland’s infrastructure woes, and the Government seem obsessed with the concept that  “the bigger, the better” is the way forward for local governance.  The growing power of bureaucracy is of real concern.  Sadly, there has been a power shift from our democratically elected representatives to unelected officials, who in some cases abuse the power they possess.
 
Article writing
 
I have established a very good rapport with Jon Morgan, Chief Editor of the NZ Farmer, who has printed a number of articles I have penned.  It would seem that they have struck a chord with at least some readers.  I have received a very good response to my article on Stockmanship, a skill not recognised or understood by many in the academic world.  The problem is finding the time to write these articles.  I have a number of other topics in mind, but time is the problem.
 
Spring is the time of new life, so I wish you all the best for the coming season.
 
Gordon Levet
September 2016

​An excellent result was achieved at our recent annual sale of Romney rams.
 
Of the consignment of 109 rams, 103 were sold for an average of $1,008.  Buyers from Northland to Southland made purchases with 20% of rams going to the South Island.  A top price of $6,000 was paid by Nelson ram breeder Peter Moore of the Rosedale Stud.  This FE tested sire (0.55mg) was ranked 1st for DPO (the overall index covering all production and disease traits), 4th for growth and 19th for worm resistance, where 350 rams were evaluated.
 
The result was very gratifying, but also surprising when considered against a background of abysmal lamb prices and poor results from most other ram auctions.  I believe there is a growing awareness by both ram breeders and sheep farmers in general that breeding for worm resistance is both desirable and achievable.  The long held view that this worm resistance trait comes at a cost to production traits is ill founded, as our best sire for worm resistance is also our best sire for production traits.

Top priced ram, G208-14  -  $6,000 - with purchaser Peter Moore of Rosedale Stud and breeder, Gordon Levet of Kikitangeo

In our region the summer was reasonable and the ewes went to the ram in fair rather than top condition.  Thus far the winter has been fantastic with good grass growth throughout.  Most unusually the winter rainfall has been well below average which has resulted in no pasture damage through pugging.  The odd monarch butterfly has been seen in the garden and caterpillars are present on the swan plants.  Mid July, this is incredible.  Water levels are low and many dams are not yet full, which leads to some apprehension as to what the summer will deliver.

Animal health has also been exceptional.  Summer/Autumn ill thrift in the lambs has been minimal with virtually no coughing and only the odd case of pneumonia which has not been severe.  Normally I have a battle to get my ram lambs through the autumn period alive, let along gaining weight.  About three years ago 10% of ram lambs were lighter at June weighing than they were at weaning 6 months earlier.  This year all lambs were above weaning weights and some had gained 25 kilos which is virtually unprecedented on my property.  The overall result is that winter weights are up about 6 kilos on recent years.  In most years a lot of lambs with very good backgrounds and worm resistance do not make the cut for the sale because of autumn ill thrift.  Not so this year as I will have about double the ram lambs to select from, so the final line-up will be exceptional.  Unfortunately because of low ewe numbers in the North there is only limited demand so many rams with good backgrounds and disease resistance will not find homes, and will be destined for slaughter.

One of the positive aspects of farming sheep in my area of high challenges; (from disease and parasites) is that it is basically a case of the ‘survival of the fittest’.  Add to this the fact that lambs are only drenched when worms reach life threatening levels (4000 to 40000 eggs per gram of dung) and you have an overall mix that will breed tougher sheep that can thrive even under severe challenges.

PNEUMONIA
Pneumonia in the past was a major problem, with even in a good season 5% losses would be expected from February through to April.  Add another 10% of lambs that just survived, but were permanently affected.  Over the past decade pneumonia has been on the decline to a point where there was only the odd case of mild pneumonia this year.  I believe that we now have a fair degree of resistance to this disease due to natural selection and the breeding practices I have been following.  Scientists acknowledge that there are genetic factors regarding pneumonia so it is possible to breed for resistance.  Over the past decade the tape worm problem has disappeared.

FACIAL ECZEMA TOLERANCE
This last season 13 rams were tested at 0.50 with 11 coming through with nil reactions and two having a marginal and slight reaction.  This would indicate that about 85% of lambs would pass the test.  This year we will probably test to 0.55 or 0.58 depending on expert advice.  This is one of the hardest things I have to do, pouring poison down the throats of my top rams.  In this year’s mating, 4 rams were used from other flocks; Reeves and Abbott that have been FE tested to 0.60 (the ultimate test for FE is 0.60).

NZ FARMER
I have a good working relationship with Jon Morgan the editor of the NZ Farmer who has already printed about three of my articles and has agreed to publish further articles.  However this all takes time, so any further contributions will only occur as time permits.  The article on the toxin zearalenone which suppresses ovulation rates in ewes over the late summer months created considerable interest as most farmers in the North were unaware of this toxin produced by a fungi which is present in the pasture.  In the article I suggested grazing ewes on alternate species like crops, chicory etc. prior to mating, particularly the young ewes.  This year I followed my own advice and grazed my two tooths on a brassica crop a fortnight prior to mating.  During mating they were back on pasture probably high on zearalenone levels.  The results were interesting.  90% of the crop fed two tooths took the ram in the first 17 days.  Only 50% of the 4 tooths took the ram over that same period, and the older aged ewes averaged around 70%.  What did surprise me was that the return rate over the next 17 days varied greatly.  The 2 tooths had a return rate of 10% the 4 tooths 22% the 6 tooths 14% and the older ewes were at 9%.  As a result of this information we plan to have sufficient alternative plant species to graze all our ewes on prior to mating in next year’s mating.

WORKING WITH SCIENTISTS
I continue to work closely with Dr Jon Hickford at Lincoln and Dr John McEwan of Invermay.  Both are using blood and tissue samples from Kikitangeo sheep in their search for genes and increasing their research in the DNA field.

WORM RESISTANCE PROGRAMME
We are continuing to make significant progress in this field.  I believe that this progress is accelerating at an increasing rate.  We are now at a stage where a high percentage of lambs can survive and thrive without drenching.  I am confident that those clients using my sires for the first time could cut out drenching by half with this progeny.  In the second generation the drenching programme would be further reduced.  It is of considerable interest that Sainsbury’s, the UK supermarket chain has contributed £200,000 towards the promotion and breeding for worm resistance in New Zealand.  This year’s data on the faecal egg counts on this year’s ram lambs feature in the 'Articles' section of the website.

WORM STAR GENE
About eight years ago, the discovery of a gene known as the ‘worm star gene’ was heralded as a major breakthrough.  From memory, sheep carrying a double copy of the gene would, on average, have 20% resistance to worms (one copy would give 10%).  Commercial interests took over the marketing of this technology.  Many ram breeders became involved in breeding for this gene, which I am sure would have pleased their clients.  However, there were other factors which meant that sheep could carry two copies of the gene but actually have no resistance to worms.

Scientific opinion now is that there is little, if any, benefits provided by this gene in breeding for worm resistance.  Breeders using this option, despite the best of intentions, have been misled.

It is interesting that the protocols set up by Dr Tom Watson from Ruakura for Kikitangeo to breed for worm resistance nearly 30 years ago, are still regarded as the best to breed for worm resistance.

2015 RAM SALE DATE
This year’s ram sale is scheduled for Wednesday 2 December 2015.

100 to 120 top Romney rams will be offered for sale, the number depending upon enquiries prior to cataloguing.  A limited number of Romney rams will be available after the sale.  A usual line up on Suffolk, Southdown and Texel cross will also be auctioned.

And in conclusion, although lamb prices have been extremely disappointing this year I feel the long term future for sheep prices are good.  As far as the Kikitangeo stud is concerned I feel we are now achieving the results that I have always been aiming for; a flock of high quality, productive and disease resistant sheep.

I wish all my clients, and readers of these ramblings all the best for the coming season.

Best regards
Gordon Levet
 

November, 2014

At Kikitangeo we have had a very kind mild winter.  The spring has been most unusual in that it has been relatively cold, but with sufficient rain to dispel fears of an early drought.  The drought last summer which devastated much of the west coast of Northland basically started about 20km north of our property, so we only had a normal dry period.  The ewes at mating were only average to better than store condition, but not fat.

Pneumonia  
Commonly known as viral pneumonia, this disease has been devastating at Kikitangeo since the 1950’s.  However, over the past 5 to 10 years, t has become much less of a problem, and this year was barely noticeable.  I put this down to three factors.  First, in all probability seasonable conditions were probably less favourable.  Secondly, we believe that the flock has developed a degree of natural immunity with only the best survivors making it into the breeding flock.  We have also been careful in only selecting sires from those least affected by this disease.  Thirdly, it is possible that the work I am doing to breed sheep with an immune system to combat the worm challenge could have an impact on the pneumonia bugs and the secondary infections that do the real damage.  After all, the immune system is the common factor in controlling all disease and internal parasite challenges.

Dunedin Conference for Ram Breeders  
I attended this 2 day seminar for two reasons.  First, Beef & Lamb fronted up with $500 to help defray travel expenses for North Island breeders.  Secondly, it gave me an opportunity to meet with other breeders and scientists.  I was surprised at how many people, including Coopworth and Perendale breeders who approached me either to commend me for the work I am doing in breeding for disease resistance, or to quiz me on various aspects of breeding.  Dr John McEwan of Invermay, whom I am working closely with on the “Worm FEC” programme, spoke with me on two matters.  First, he has a young lady coming out from Ireland to work on new aspects of parasite research and wants my assistance in working with her.  Secondly he has a very bright young graduate, a Dr Catherine McRae, who is going to be working I the pneumonia field.  I had a lengthy discussion with her, particularly with the history of the disease and the research that various scientists have undertaken over the last 40 years.

This year’s lambing  
After an excellent lambing 2 years ago, the last 2 lambing’s have been very disappointing.  The pattern over the last 2 years has seen lower than expected results from our 2 tooth ewes.  Few twins, lots of later lambers, and more dries than there should be (about 8%).  The second lambers – 4 tooth’s – showed the same tendencies but less pronounced than the 2 tooth’s.  Ewes 6 tooth and older were fine, with only 7 dries out of 410 ewes, or 1.7%.  I put the problem down to a toxin known as zyearalenone.  This toxin is produced by a fungi known as fusarium, and similar to other toxin producing fungi, is found in traditional pasture during the late summer-autumn period.  This toxin suppresses ovulation rate which increases the dry ewe percentage and reduced twinning rates.  If the toxin is at high levels over a prolonged period, then I believe ewes stop cycling.  I am hoping to have an article in the NZ Farmer in the next few weeks.

This year’s rams  
Pneumonia has been on the decrease over recent years, with little evidence of it this year.  At Kikitangeo, we have great difficulty putting weight on our ram lambs from February through to May.  This year some bug hit them in late May, causing them to get the scours and lose weight.  $500 was spent with the vets trying to find some answers.  Nothing significant was found.  The rams eventually recovered but lost body weight takes months to restore.  At this stage they are OK and in good condition. I am delighted with the overall quality of this year’s sale rams.  I am very happy with the wool quality.  Lance Pagani and Malcolm Todd – PGG Wrightson’s wool experts – were also so impressed they created a new quality score for two sheep this being “7+ excellence”.  The following is their comments on the wool:

“The wool on this year’s sale rams is exceptional in every respect, with excellent colour and brightness, combined with bold solid locks, the bulkiness of the fleece is ensured.  This type of wool, together with its water shedding ability is a guarantee that the fleece has lasting qualities.  No yellowing was apparent in spite of a wet spring.  With the evenness across the whole consignment, it would be difficult to achieve further improvement.  This ensures that these Kiki rams will breed consistently for wool qualities”

Down Rams - Unfortunately, we have only one Southdown ram and six Suffolk rams for sale this year.  However, we have a number of Texel sired rams out of Suffolk and Southdown ewes.  We are impressed with their meat qualities, their hardiness and the quality of their feet.  A high proportion of their feet are in the “A” and “A+” categories.

Farming publications  
I have established a good rapport with Jon Morgan, editor of NZ Farmer and he is prepared to look at a series of articles I will write over future months – as time permits.

Finally, I am hoping that the cool spring will extend into summer, which should result in a better sheep environment with a lesser challenge from all the fungi that thrive under hot, damp and humid conditions.

Best regards
Gordon Levet

October, 2013

What an amazing winter we have had!  I can remember back 60 years and cannot recall any winter so mild and storm and frost free.  Ideal for all parasites and fungi to winter over and be in a strong position to be a problem over the summer and autumn months.

My father believed the seasons followed cycles.  For instance, virtually every summer over the 1950’s was excessively wet, followed by wet winters where pugging was a major.

This year’s sale rams With a larger drop of lambs last year and fewer autumn/winter deaths from pneumonia and Yersinia, we have more rams to select from.  Starting with over 400, we are now down to around 160 hopefuls, but there will be further culling for the likes of feet, teeth etc, and the vet always finds a few testicle abnormalities.  Although I always have a problem getting the hoggets to an acceptable body weight, the feedback I am receiving from clients is that they ‘grow out’ to be the equal in size and body weight to comparable rams from other breeders in spite of the fact that they may be 20 kilograms at the point of sale.  At least clients know that they have been subjected to considerable pressure at Kikitangeo.

As usual, we will finish up with 100-120 rams for auction.  Overall, I am delighted with the quality, especially the quality and style of the wool.  There are potentially a number of rams suitable for stud sires.

This year’s sale is scheduled for Wednesday, 4th December commencing at 12 noon.

Pneumonia Commonly known as viral pneumonia, this disease is a common problem throughout New Zealand.  Like many other health and parasite problems, pneumonia is most severe in hot humid environments, and as you move south, it is a much lesser issue.  Indeed, in most South Island areas, it is relatively benign with perhaps only a pause in growth.  Deaths from this disease on my property generally average between 4% and 5% - much less this year.  Trials in the north of Auckland region have shown up to 95% of lambs slaughtered in April-May show some lung damage.  In my worst year some decades ago, we lost 10% of lambs over the late summer/autumn period.

I always believed that there was a genetic factor to this disease.  I proved this to my own satisfaction about 15 years ago when I kept a record of all lamb deaths – over the February/April period – and those that had to have antibiotics in an endeavour to keep them alive (AB treatment when the early symptoms appear has proved very effective).  When these dead and AB treated animals were put into their sire groups, there was a very noticeable difference between sires, and incidentally my most worm resistant sire also had less affected progeny.  Over the past decade or so, any sires selected for the stud had to have shown no effects of pneumonia over the critical late summer/autumn period.  Over recent years, this disease has appeared to be less severe and I believe that a degree of resistance is being bred into the flock.

Dr Jon Hickford, a leading scientist at Lincoln, and his team, have now proved that there is a genetic factor in pneumonia.  The lungs of the progeny of many sires were examined at slaughter to assess the damage caused by pneumonia.  Their findings showed that the progeny of some sires were more susceptible to this disease.  Bear in mind that this was in Canterbury where this disease is not the killer that it is in the warmer regions of the country.

Leading the field in worm resistance In the national SIL - ACE rankings for worm resistance, Kikitangeo sires gained the top five placings.  More than 50 ram breeders have about 1,000 sires in this assessment.  It covers many breeds and breed combinations.  It is interesting to note that the Nithdale Stud of Andrew Tripp in Southland was given credit for being a leader in the field of worm resistance in a recent article in the Farmers Weekly.  However, I  note in the SIL – ACE ranking for ‘worm FEC’ Andrew’s top ranking rams were ranked 24th, 26th and 30th. Kikitangeo by contrast not only had the top 5 placings, but 10 rams in the top 21.

Scotch Thistle Gall Fly About 15 years ago, the local monitor farm group – led by the late Mr John Foster – took the initiative and introduced an insect to control Scotch Thistles.  As we made a contribution towards to original costs, a release of these gall flies as made at Kikitangeo.  The fly – about half the size of a housefly – lays eggs on the forming flower heads of the thistle.  On hatching the grubs burrow into the seed head and devour the seed.  The net result after more than 10 years is that there are far fewer seeds around and the actual thistle numbers are considerably less.  If you are interested, I will have a display of thistle heads affected by this parasite at my sale.  Hopefully there will be some thistles with these bugs available for you to introduce to your property.

Finally, if you have any problems with the rams that you have purchased at Kikitangeo, please let me know.

Look forward to seeing you at our sale in December.

Regards
Gordon Levet

Greetings to you all.  How things have changed in just 12 months. From the highs of 12 months ago, it’s now back to reality.  Those farmers lucky enough to sell store lambs last December at $140 benefited greatly, but sadly this was at the expense of those who bought them.  It is a sad commentary over the past 40 or so years that sheep and beef farmers have had very brief highs and very prolonged lows.

Over the past 12 months, I have been quite heavily involved in – as a member of the newly formed (in June 2010) Landowners and Contractors Protection Association (LCPA).  This resulted in myself and John Turner (a former president of the Angus Association) placing submissions before a Parliamentary Select Committee on local body governance and environmental concerns.  We also met with our two new northern National MP’s with regard to Government funding of the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) and the RMA, as to how this group, and this law, are negatively affecting those involved in agriculture and development, and the wider community.  A deal of time has also been involved in taking up cases of rural people who have quite clearly been bullied by Auckland City officials.  We may not win all these battles, but at least in trying, we have some effect, and I believe our actions tend to temper the excesses of some of our more aggressive bureaucrats.

The past year has been a dream run for us here at Kikitangeo.  I cannot remember a better summer, autumn and early winter.  Back prior to 1965, we had some very good periods.  Sheep health has been great in stark contrast to last year (and other recent years) when stock health has been a major problem.  Last year, we battled with the ram lambs right through, first with pneumonia and later with yersinia.  When such diseases are present, the pasture is loaded with fungi and other micro-organisms, some of which produce toxins which affect animal health and in particular, lambs.  By sale time last year, the rams were still suffering the after effects of these conditions, so lacked size and condition, and did not show their true potential.  However, such environmental influences do not affect the genes they carry.

In contrast, this year’s rams had better than normal weaning weights, due to the kind spring.  Over the summer, in spite of regular rains, which was ideal for worms, pneumonia had little effect, due, I believe to a February which was much cooler than usual and with much less humidity.   (Over the years, it has been noted that when there is high humidity over the late summer period, pneumonia is most severe, with between 5% and 10% losses and a lot more very sick animals)  All the lambs had one drench while still on the ewes in mid November, and about one third of the ram lambs went through the summer-autumn period without further drenching.  This year, I plan to dispense with this early drench.  Yersinia was not a problem this year.  (This disease is ever present in the soil, but generally does not show up until May through July and can cause considerable losses with young deer calves as well as lambs.  Similar to Salmonella, it causes severe scouring and losses will occur within a week.  (Can be stopped with antibiotics) This June, some ram lambs started scouring, but still looked healthy and on sending dung samples for analysis, the finding was a mild form of Yersinia.

This year, I will be offering a few less rams for public auction, as in the last year or so there have been some passings.  However, there has always been the fear that some large station will come and purchase a large number of rams thus leaving my regular clients short.  So this year, I will have a number of good rams for private sale, but the prices for these sheep will be above the auction ‘upset price’.  I am intending to add more information to this year’s catalogue.

This year, the ewes were in much better condition at mating and I believe there was lower population of harmful fungi in the pasture.  The result has been fewer dry ewes and more twins.  Although a final tally has not been made, at this stage, I am confident there will be 100 to 150 more lambs surviving this year.  The ewes have been excellent, with few dead lambs and the ewes being great mothers.  Because most ewes are in prime condition the lambs are looking good, with very few tailenders around.

This year, as you have discovered, we've developed a website. I am hoping that this website will make more farmers aware of my efforts over many years. Please spread the word and a link to the site amongst your friends and colleagues.

Over the past 12 months, I have been able to visit several clients and gain a ‘feel’ for their farming operation.  This has been a pleasure and I have gained a lot from these visits.  If you would like me to visit to see your farm and your sheep, do not hesitate to ask me about it.

If I do not see you at my Sale, I wish you all the best for the coming season.

Regards
Gordon Levet