Performance from all angles.

  • Breeding Philosophy

    We aim to breed tough, sound, fertile dual-purpose sheep with data to prove genetic gain. Our very steep hill country will only support a hardy hill-climber who wants to forage for food. Our ewes must lamb untouched on this country, triplets included. A balanced approach is necessary when breeding tough resilient sheep, extreme data often compromises structural soundness but we are committed to breeding that ram of a lifetime.

  • Technology

    Advancements in genetic testing and reporting are happening all the time. We need to adopt new technology to ensure our rams are fit for purpose in 20 years time, not just today. We have partnered with Zoetis and Datamars to help us on this journey.

  • Wool

    How do we ensure the most adaptable, renewable natural fiber on the planet makes it into every home around the world? We are passionate about breeding Dual-Purpose sheep. Most sheep grow the stuff, it may as well be good.

SIRES

398 is a homebred Sire who has managed to tick all the boxes. He weaned at 43.5kg as a twin and carried on to eye muscle scanning with a top meat index. He has a HIGH Carla score and is unphased by worms. He was drenched once at weaning, with the rest of the age group. 398 is out of an old ewe who has had twins every year and milks like a machine. He has been low dag all the way through and carried a 32micron fleece as a 2/s hogget. We hope to breed many more sheep like this ram

398/22 - Albie

For good hill country sheep, the industry has headed to clearer pointed animals, with a bit more leg but maintaining good engine room and capacity for growth. We bought George from Grassendale in 2022 and immediately thought he would add to the alert and vigorous type of Romney we breed. He is well sprung in the back end for good drive uphill, he’s a very free ram and although he’s clear pointed, carried one of the top fleece weights for his age group at Grassendale. George has stayed very clean for dag since he’s been here at Kaituna and being so on top of his toes has maintained good feet which doesn’t happen often with rams bought in from outside. George covered 235 ewes last mating - he understands his job!

Grassendale 249 - George

Hamish is another ram bought in 2022 from the team at Te Whangai. Our philosophies in breeding sheep are so closely aligned with Te Whangai and we respect the de Lautour family tremendously for beginning to breed low input animals when many didn’t think it mattered. Now well established, the Te Whangai stud keeps producing strong resilient meaty animals. The meat this Sire has left in his progeny might rule a terminal sire obsolete one day. On top of the outstanding growth and toughness this ram leaves, he carries an excellent white fleece that was 32micron as a hogget.

Te Whangai 196 - Hamish

Edmund is a lively hill climber (obviously) and offers a bit more length of carcass. We love the structure of this ram and the soft muzzle but his best feature is length. We are mindful of stretching sheep out too much, the best 4WD vehicles have a wheel in each corner. With that in mind we will use this sire selectively to increase the size and growth capacity of our sheep. He’s very easy doing and another excellent WormMaster sheep.

Kaituna 258/22 - Edmund

Kaituna 71/22 - Brick

Brick is by a foundation Sire of ours from Oregon called Tank. Brick is a barrel of an animal with thickness right throughout. He always looked in good knick through our autumn parasite period and has carried on to be a robust looking young ram with the best fleece out of the age group.

Breeding a Terminal sire for us is a combination of meat, growth and toughness. We want our terminal rams to last, and it is hard to shake many of the maternal philosophies the Romney has taught us. We bought this Ram from Hemingford in Canterbury from Sam Holland and love his conformation. He has some Texel influence but outstanding dark colour, as good as a Suffolk. He is a barrel and has great vigour - a will to survive.

Hemmingford - Sam