Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here's a good yarn for you today on the Country
on a Monday. When I first ran into our next
guest on the Country, he was the sheep genetics manager
at Mount Linton Station in West and South and one
of the most beautiful big farms in New Zealand, or
it certainly was back in those days. His name is
Hamas Shbowski. More recently he's become well known as one
(00:20):
of the country's leading regenerative farmers. And if that's not enough,
he's a sharer. And if that's not enough, he paid
twenty four and a half thousand dollars for a self
shedding ram last week. Hamoush, Welcome to the country. Good
to have you back on again, mate. What is it
about you sharers? We had Quentin Whitehead on the show
(00:41):
on Friday. You today, you're both paying big bucks for
animals that don't produce wall or don't need shared.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yep. Thanks Jamie. I know the irony's not lost on us.
But if we want to go out sharing to have to,
you know, do any inputs to our own sheep. And
I think the future is I mean, it's all a prediction,
isn't it. But I think the future of chemical resistance
(01:12):
with drenches and lice and fly is going to get
more and more intense. Ossie green flies really dug its
toes in down here in the last decade. And if
we if we can just rip the crutch and the
belly off to start with, well there goes like eighty
percent of the workload. And if in the end we
(01:34):
just share once a year these peelers that have excellent
growth and milk and lots of lambs away to the works,
well we can go sharing, or go boating, or do
whatever you like. But you've got the options there. And
I just struggle.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
To see how wool is.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Going to pay enough in the future to justify the
costs and the inputs.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Okay, so fill me in here. You talk about these peelers.
So are you saying you're still going to share these
self shedding sheep or take the remainder of the wall
off them once a year.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, it's going to take a while to get the
wall fully off fully shedding, and on the way. The
aim is not to lose any productivity just to get
the wall off. So as we go, if wall improves,
then we might just go, well, let's keep a bit
of a fleece on and if the wall stays down,
we can take it off. You've got options, but the
(02:27):
main aim is to keep the genetics productive and not
you know, single trait focus and lose productivity.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
If it's not a rude question, Hamish, how old are you?
Because I've known you for a number of years, I'm
assuming you're you might have kissed your thirties goodbye, have you?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, I'm forty eight at the moment.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
What are you doing out on the handpiece? Are you
moonlighting as a sharer?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Well? Last year was like brutal and so to make
the budget meet, we just went back. I was went
big out sharing for a good gang here Jason Gilder
and open run and so this year I thought, well,
we'll do it again. The prices didn't look good, and
actually the prices that have improved dramatically, so I probably
didn't need to, but I enjoy it that much. I
(03:16):
just thought, well, I'd love to do a season or
more and yeah, put my hand to it.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
What tally is you getting?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Ah, we're around about two fifty to two seventy years
and funeral lambs, so we're just sort of this is
my first real main share I guess last main share
I did was year two thousand when I was at
Lincoln University.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Geez, yeah, exactly right. So the ram you bought, because
when we were talking to Quentin on Friday, and I'm
still amazed at the irony of you two sharers buying
self sharing sheep. But his was an Excellana Wiltshire Nudy Cross.
I think the one that you paid twenty four and
a half thousand dollars for. That's a lot of money
for a ram was Excelana Wiltshire Across.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, and it was out of an older Wiltshire. You
and the ram was a half Eflanta Wiltshire. But yeah,
he just had such good feet, such good type, and
really good balance of figures, which is really rare to
get all that in one package. And the shedding sheep
(04:26):
aren't they're not. You know, it hasn't been around that long,
so there's still a few faults that you can get
in them, and we just don't want to buy any
genetics that bring in faults to what's already a good
decades of breeding in New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Okay, well, I asked the sorry I asked this question
of Quentin I'm going to ask it of you as well.
When you've spent that much on a ram, are you
going to start up a start operation or is this
just for your own breeding purposes.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I know we've got a poll horse that start already
and we're just going to breed a pole Dorset and
meat maternal type sheet that requires very little imput And
the other four partners that are in with me I
meant to do similar stuff, so it's without them this
(05:12):
wouldn't have happened. So I'm very grateful.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Before I let you go, because I know you've got
to get back on the handpiece now that you're moonlighting
as a share of Hamishbelski. How's the regenerative farming going
in South Otago.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
She's pretty relaxed at the moment. Don't get much topping done,
so I'm a little bit behind. But the lambs have
been growing really well. We're probably the best season we've
had since I've been here, and yeah, I'm it's a
big relief, I guess, and takes a lot of the
pressure off. But just also you know, I just better
(05:49):
mention Dan Wheeler, who's also a partner up in North Canterbury,
who's done a huge amount for the ram breeding industry.
And Chris Wheeler of Richmond Crescents or Richmond Farm, who
sells female stock. He's got a shedding flock of two
thousand i'd use, and he's not he's a commercial farmer,
(06:09):
but just loves pop genetics. And then one other breeder
down here that wants to remain unnamed. So that's the
four crazy guys, and we're looking forward to a good
future and ripping the costs out of our sheep.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Yeah, why by the farming for wool when you can
have recreational and fun times out on the handpiece at
forty something years of age, Amas Shpowski. Look, I tip
the hat to you, and I guess when we get
twenty four and a half grand and we divide it
by four, that's not bad buying at all. We'll follow
this story with much interest. We better let you go.
(06:45):
Time to get on for the afternoon run.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Thanks a lot, Jamie, I appreciate it.