Lance and Bev Wilson, of South Hillend, who have been some of the region's key players in Coopworth circles, are intending to retire nearly 40 years after establishing their Te Rae stud.
They have sold their stud Coopworths to Neville Caldwell, of Moeraki Downs. They still have last season's ram lambs and fully recorded ewe lambs to sell as two-tooths this season.
Their trip to the annual Coopworth sale in Gore in January next year to sell their two-tooth rams will be the last for the stud.
Grandson Christopher Wilson has bought their crossbred Coopworth-Texels and will continue breeding that part of the stud, Mrs Wilson said.
''He is keen to learn and we will be keeping eye on him.''
They then intend to build a house in Winton and retire there.
Mr Wilson's grandfather, Harry, first bought 600 acres (240ha) at South Hillend in 1918 and ran sheep, beef and and a few milking cows.
''He named the farm `Te Rae', meaning the view or lookout,'' Mr Wilson said.
''It was pretty rough land then, with the paddocks in tussock. It all had to be drained and ploughed using a six-horse team.
''My grandmother used to milk cows by hand.''
Mr Wilson's father, Cecil, took over the property in 1943, running Romneys, and Lance took his turn in 1964.
''Dad had done a lot of development in that time and he had 1200 Romney ewes, 300 to 400 hoggets and about 70 shorthorn cattle.
''It was not an easy farm to develop with a lot of rocks and he spent a lot of time gathering them before sowing.''
When Mr and Mrs Wilson took over they also ran Romneys, but a few years later bought their first Coopworths from neighbouring breeders, in the early 1970s.
''With Dad's Romneys, he was happy with 113% lambing,'' Mr Wilson said.
''I realised we had to increase productivity if we were going to survive. I could see they [Coopworths] were more productive, high-yielding, with good weight gain and with more lambs and they were good mothers.
Mr and Mrs Wilson first registered their Coopworth stud in 1976.
''We carried 2300 ewes, including about 800 recorded ewes, and 650 to 700 hoggets and 100 acres of crop.
''The Coopworths lifted the lambing percentage quite quickly. The stud had near 200% lambing and we only bred for twins.''
The sheep also had 38 to 39 micron wool, with the top ones producing about 6kg of fleece each.
Mrs Wilson said prior to registering the stud they spent a lot of time recording their ram lambs.
''It was really a farm adviser who said to us we were doing all the work so why don't we start selling rams on our own account,'' she said.
Since then they established a clientele and also sold at ram fairs.
''We only sold rams from a 200% background - an average of 200% lambing over the ewe's lifetime,'' Mr Wilson said.
''We sold 10 rams at last year's fair in Gore and have done so during each of the last six years and no-one else has done that.''
Mrs Wilson said they had many satisfied clients.
''We often get faxed killing sheets [from clients] to show us how pleased they are with the yield.
''However, selling takes a lot of time and we don't have much time to do anything else.
''The clients make it all worthwhile and some we have known for a long time,'' she said.
They stopped farming commercially about 12 years ago and son Kerry has since taken over, turning part of the farm into a dairy, leaving his parents with the stud.
''We were looking for to make life a bit easier, but we are not sure that has happened,'' Mrs Wilson said.
They also introduced Texel into the mix, adding ''a bit more meat to the animal'' and achieving higher growth rates for their crossbreds.
Two of the Te Rae stud's clients have won the New Zealand ewe hogget national final, including Ian and Karen Pullar, from Pukerau, in 2007, and John MacGillivray, of Boggy Burn, prior to that. Several others have been in the finals.
''The Southland Breeders Coopworth Club held fleece competitions for two-tooth rams, which we won eight years out of nine until they ceased having the competition,'' he said.
Even in retirement they intend to follow the Coopworths, and continue with their interests including Rotary, fishing, gardening and sport.
- Yvonne O'Hara