An elite ewe auction is one of the highlights of this week’s Southdown sheep tour in Canterbury, celebrating 100 years of the Southdown Sheep Society of New Zealand.
The auction will be held on Wednesday evening in conjunction with a tour dinner at the Benvenue Hotel in Timaru and also utilising the Bidr online auction platform.
To be held between the main course and dessert, the auction will comprise ewes given by the Wiri, Merrydowns, Omihi, Riverside and Clifton Downs studs and all proceeds will go to the society’s promotional fund.
The tour begins today with a council meeting and annual meeting in Christchurch. Tomorrow, there will be visits to the Flockton stud of John and Melissa Jebson and the Longlee stud of Sam and Anne Hughes.
These will be followed by a visit to Riccarton House, the original home of the Kirkstyle Southdown flock — the first registered Southdown stud in New Zealand, founded by John Deans in 1863.
After lunch at the Makikihi Country Hotel in South Canterbury on Wednesday — voted best South Island rural hotel last year — the tour will head to Chris and Shelley Medlicott’s Clifton Downs stud, followed by John and Macaulay’s Tahrua stud.
It wraps up on Thursday with a visit to three studs — Stuart Brannigan (Musburg), Christey family (Mapua) and Brent Macaulay (Maclaka) — plus a large-scale dairy farm milking about 4800 cows.
The Southdown originated in the United Kingdom and is the oldest of the terminal sire breeds, originating from the native sheep which roamed the South Downs in the south of England for hundreds of years.
The Southdown Sheep Society was formed in 1926 after becoming strong enough in its own right to move away from the Sheepbreeders Association where it had been a founding breed.
The number of Southdown studs peaked in the late 1950s and early 1960s — up to about 1800 — and today there are 46 registered flocks.
In those 100 years, the society has only had three secretaries, including long serving incumbent Christine Ramsay. Chris Medlicott, who farms at Hook, near Waimate, is president, while Don Murray of Waitahuna, is chairman of the centennial organising committee.
The Medlicott family’s Clifton Downs stud was founded in 1956 by Chris’ late father Bill, when he left school, and grandfather Jack.
Both shared a passion for the prime lamb industry and they started a stud because they could not buy rams with the conformation they wanted.
Their stockmanship has been handed on to successive generations, both Chris and his son Miles, who is a livestock representative for Anzco Foods.
And they have also shared their knowledge; young farm worker Lave Masila knew nothing about sheep when he landed in New Zealand from Tonga.
Now a key figure in the Medlicott’s farming operation, he had become part of their family and Chris has helped him to establish his own Southdown stud.
Mr Medlicott said the best part of the breed was the people: those involved in the breed were committed, passionate breeders who were trying to keep it relevant to the times.
It was a purebred breed which had stood the test of time and been able to adapt to market-led changes. "I just think they are extremely efficient and have never let me down," he said.
The family has an on-farm ram sale and sell about 70 rams per year, from East Otago to North Canterbury and also into the North Island. It had been a great year and it was good to see the confidence in the sheep industry, he said.
