Rachel and Rick Pettigrew

Rachel and Rick farm 360 ha of hill country property, with 182 hectares located at Apiti and the balance at Kimbolton. Here their Romney ewe flock and ram hoggets are run, plus they run a small Texel flock, in lamb ewe hoggets and a purebred Finn Flock which is a joint venture with Rissington Breedline. The Finn flock is easily the biggest in the country with 200 ewes. They source their Texel genetics from one of the few Texel breeders who puts emphasis on maternal traits in his flock – very important when using Texel as part of a crossbreeding programme.

Their Te Ohu stud of 1400 recorded ewes was established in 1979 with emphasis on fertility and growth rate and more recently hogget lambing with the aim of increasing the profitability of their commercial farmer clients.

They are committed to achieving continual improvement in their flock, utilising  the latest technologies to obtain accurate and meaningful objective measurements. This provides them with the data, used along with mating ewe hoggets and using ram lambs, to ensure maximum genetic progress is made. Continuing work with Trigg Romneys in progeny tests , carcase evaluation and across flock analysis is another tool in ensuring genetic gain. 

“We are very committed to the ongoing development of our Romney, Finn and Texel flocks. We believe crossbreeding using the best purebreds available has tremendous benefits. Hence we see ourselves well placed to supply rams to anyone wanting to enter a crossbreeding programme. “ Anyone thinking along these lines is welcome to call and discuss or view crossbred and purebred stock on the properties.

Available this season;

Romney

Finn

½ Romney ½ Finn

Texel

¾ Texel ¼ Finn

½ Texel ¼ Finn ¼ Romney

½ Texel ½ Finn

At this stage , apart from Romneys and Finns, the others are only available in March as ram hoggets as in the past, Rissington Breedline have purchased these lambs from us at weaning and on-sold them in March as sires. Moving forward if clients wish to buy 2ths in the future we would look at doing so with orders.

‘Our aim is for our genetics to be your financial gain.’