Morrison Farming

10/06/2026

The start of June is when we start feeding the Kale crops at the Fern Flats. This is electric fence fed to 240 R-2-Yr old females (mostly in-calf and some growing for the works). There are 14 hectares. The crops are very good this year and they will keep growing through winter. Currently they yield around 14 Ton of dry matter per hectare. This is fed daily with Lucerne baleage. The heifers love it!

08/06/2026

Yearling bulls like this…. become sire bulls like this!

Wow! There are some Red-Hot bull sales right now. But, if you missed out on your picks, or they don’t quite fit your budget, or you need a better all-around performance package, relax and remember that there are spring bull sales.

Morrison Farming will auction 140 bulls on September 22.

Performance. Carcass. Growth. 65 years recorded breeding. 165 years farming. One of New Zealand’s leading recorded stud cattle herds. GREAT FOR CROSS-BREEDING!
NZ Herefords PGG Wrightson Genetics

30/05/2026

From across the Tasman - it will be sad to see the dispersal of the Wirruna Poll Herefords . But with a hundred young cattle sired by Ardo Trust 2003 and Ardo Ajax 1015, it will be really interesting to watch!

19/05/2026

We carcass scanned 250 recorded Wiltshire and Ezicare ram hoggets last weekend. An ultrasound scanning machine measured Eye Muscle Area (EMA), Fat Depth and for the first time Intra-Muscular Fat (IMF). We also recorded a weight and a dag score. This information is submitted to Beef + Lamb NZ Genetics, to generate the SIL (Sheep Improvement Ltd) breeding values and indexes. This adds to the other traits that we record including:
Number of lambs conceived and weaned,
Weaning weight,
Shedding,
Bare points,
8 month weight,
Body Condition Score,
Ewe weight,
Parasite resilience (CARLA),
Facial Eczema tolerance (RamGaurd).
What have missed?
It’s a big job and a big investment. But it’s important!

10/05/2026

08/05/2026

The R-3-Yr heifers are doing well and looking great. 120 have entered the Ardo stud cow herd at Mangara Station. They have reached the top from a calf group of 300 stud heifer calves. They achieved 96% in-calf at their yearling mating and 95% at their second mating. The commercial lines have been sold. The dries and culls are in the middle of being finished, from Fern Flats, at 270-300Kg carcass weight. It is always interesting to watch who will be the mums of the stud bulls, who will become the Benchmark Dams, who will deliver the top weaners year after year and who will still be on the Mangara Station hills in 2036.
NZ Herefords PGG Wrightson Genetics

02/05/2026

On Friday we had a Morrison Farming field-day. We knocked off work at lunch time and meet at the newest property, Franks Road, for a farm tour and discussion. Topics included the R**e crops, ewe hogget mating, autumn pasture covers and the design of the new water scheme. Then we had drinks and a BBQ as we farewelled Will Bishop, our Mangara Station shepherd, as he heads overseas. It was a cool afternoon, a nice evening and now we are looking for a new team member. Let us know if this looks like you or someone you know:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/jobs/agriculture-fishing-forestry/farming/manawatu-whanganui/rangitikei/full-time/listing/5885326728

30/04/2026

Sheep parasites, particularly intestinal worms, have long been an issue in sheep farming. But the growing national issue of worm drench resistance is making management and treatment even more difficult and costly. Addressing this issue has become a big part of our sheep breeding strategy. It is as important as fertility, growth, carcass and Facial Eczema resistance. So to help make genetic progress, we have been CARLA testing our ram lambs. This is an annual test, for each young ram, that measures it’s natural antibody response, that helps to protect the sheep from the worm larvae it eats with it’s grass. The earlier the sheep has antibodies, the higher the level of these antibodies, the better the sheep is able to tolerate worms and to keep growing and performing. We did our testing on April 13 and this showed that most ram lambs had antibodies, with 75% having a high level of worm protection. We have also been the 2nd-highest naturally protected flock tested nationally this season.