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STUD MANAGEMENT
Our aim at Wellwood over several generations, has been to produce sheep that are adapted to natural conditions on the farm, with well-defined, high quality wool and an economically productive animal for both wool and meat value. All Wellwood stud rams and ewes are tested on extensive veld conditions prior to selection at 11 months of age.
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Ewes
Wellwood Stud has consistently focused on the quality of their ewes and believes that the breeding value is in the ewes which are strictly classed every year.
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Rams
At our on on-farm auction we aim to sell 50 veld-performance tested, fed rams.
We select and use our best 18-month-old rams in the stud every year. After we have used them, they are on auction at the National Merino Sale in July.
Wool clip
The Wellwood flock wool clip has an average fibre diameter of between19 and 20 microns, depending on the conditions that year.
Mating
Mating takes place in April for a Spring lambing season.
Each year the best 10 – 12 eighteen-month old stud rams are mated to
60 or 70 stud ewes each. These rams are then offered on the national sale
in August.
Lambing
Lambing takes place on the veld in
spring on Wellwood apart from 200 ewes that lamb on pastures in
Nieu Bethesda where lambing percentages of between 160 and 175 % are consistently obtained.
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Ewes that do not conceive are
culled and sold.
Performance Testing
Stud Ram and Ewe lambs are performance tested under natural conditions at ten months of age in flocks ranging from 300-1000 as we are moving towards higher density adaptive grazing.
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