Twin Creeks Farm
After 20 years of working with cows and chickens, James Wallace launched his own dairy sheep operation as Spring Sheep's first external supplier farmer. James started with milking 500 Zealandia® dairy sheep, and now milks 680.
- Patumahoe, Auckland
- Location
- 2 FTEs, 1 lamb rearer, 1 relief milker
- Team
- 67 hectares
- Platform Size
- 680 ewes
- Animals
- 40-a-side Herringbone
- Infrastructure
- 2019/2020 Season
- First Year of Supply
Background
With his parents retiring, James Wallace and his wife Stacey were looking at what they could do with the 67 hectares. It was too small for cows so looked at alternatives and arrived at sheep. The environmentally friendly aspect of sheep dairying over bovine was another driver in entering the industry. Having a milking sheep suitable for New Zealand farm conditions was also a consideration; seeing the genetic gains that Spring Sheep's Zealandia ewes were able to achieve in a short period of time helped to convince James and Stacey that milking sheep on the farm was a viable option. Sheep dairying provides the ideal work-life balance for James, his wife Stacey and their four children. “It’s really friendly on the environment, we enjoy doing it and it’s something the kids can do as well. To have no pugging on our heavy soils is just one of the reasons why sheep milking works for our farm. The lower environmental footprint is a biggy and the sheep milk industry is providing a pathway for dairy farmers to still obtain farm ownership and be profitable amongst incoming environmental regulations. The industry is led well by a capable group of people, from the farm managers to the people behind the scenes in the office who are all working together. We’ve had a lot of support from the Spring Sheep team, and I couldn’t be happier. Some of their staff have been here with their gumboots on during lambing helping us out. It feels like a big family, they welcome you in and they just want you to succeed."
Overview
A bit of background about our farm: We're a pasture-based system, with chicory, lucerne and clover to supplement, along with in-shed feed and silage. Effluent is spread onto the chicory, which acts as a bit of moisture come summertime. The girls diet is 2.8kgs – 3kgs throughout the milking and dry period. To control grass quality, we use some neighbouring cattle and make silage. It can be challenging to meet the residuals you want with the sheep, so having tools to manage this is important. We had a very tight lambing period, aiming to maximise our milk in the vat earlier in the season. Our lambs are reared onsite in the shed and we give away ram lambs. We also rear calves. We monitor animal health very closely, particularly in lambs; foot scold, pneumonia, scabby mouth and pink eye are potential animal health priorities at lambing. With a focus on facial eczema over summer and early autumn, the regular drenching of young stock with quality drench. Shearing of the ewes occurs twice a year, in November and June. And the ewe lambs are shorn in December. November shearing helps to relieve heat stress and minimise fly-strike and June shearing encourages the ewe to seek shelter when in labour so the lamb isn't exposed to the elements.